Parkland (2013)

A recounting of the chaotic events that occurred at Dallas' Parkland Hospital on the day U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Director:

Peter Landesman

Writers:

Peter Landesman, Vincent Bugliosi (book)

Stars:

Zac Efron, Tom Welling, Billy Bob Thornton

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Marcia Gay Harden	...	Nurse Doris Nelson
Matt Barr	...	Dr. Paul Mikkelson
Zac Efron	...	Dr. Charles 'Jim' Carrico
Mallory Moye	...	Emergency Room Nurse
Paul Giamatti	...	Abraham Zapruder
Elizabeth Tulloch	...	Marilyn Sitzman (as Bitsie Tulloch)
Ron Livingston	...	James Hosty
Jason Douglas	...	Ken Howe
David Harbour	...	Gordon Shanklin
James Badge Dale	...	Robert Oswald
Larry Jack Dotson	...	Acme Brick Supervisor
Austin Nichols	...	Emory Roberts
Billy Bob Thornton	...	Forrest Sorrels
Jonathan Breck	...	Winston Lawson
Eugene Lee	...	Orderly

Storyline

Recounting the chaotic events that occurred in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963, Parkland weaves together the perspectives of a handful of ordinary individuals suddenly thrust into extraordinary circumstances: the young doctors and nurses at Parkland Hospital; Dallas' chief of the Secret Service; an unwitting cameraman who captured what became the most watched and examined film in history; the FBI agents who nearly had the gunman within their grasp; the brother of Lee Harvey Oswald, left to deal with his shattered family; and JFK's security team, witnesses to both the president's death and Vice President Lyndon Johnson's rise to power over a nation whose innocence was forever altered.

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Plot Keywords:

john f. kennedy assassination | secret service | assassination | motorcade | year 1963 | 

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Taglines:

November 22, 1963 was a day that changed the world forever.

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Genres:

Drama | History | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for bloody sequences of ER trauma procedures, some violent images and language, and smoking throughout

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director and screenwriter Peter Landesman spent three days with FBI Special Agent Jim Hosty before he died in June 2011. "To me, he is the most tragic figure, because he was doing his job, the job he loved, but he always felt that the FBI and others blamed him for the assassination."

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Goofs

In the film, Kennedy's body is wheeled into the hospital with the head and upper body exposed. Secret Service agent Clint Hill draped his suit coat over Kennedy's body before it was moved to prevent anyone from seeing the President's wounds.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Title Card: On November 22, 1963, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, made a political trip to Dallas, Texas with his wife, Jacqueline, and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Title Card: Less than an hour after landing in Dallas, Kennedy was assassinated.
Title Card: This story is based on the true events that took place on that day, and the three that followed.

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Crazy Credits

Although based on a true story and depicting real-life people the end credits state: "All characters in this film are fictional and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental."

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Connections

Features Zapruder Film of Kennedy Assassination (1970)

User Reviews

No matter how often this story has been told it is still very moving

Parkland was the name of the hospital that President Kennedy was taken to after being shot in Dallas and Peter Landesman's film deals with the events of that day and the days that followed. It's a somewhat better film than the critics gave it credit for though it doesn't add anything to either the truth or the legend and prefers instead to concentrate on how the assassination affected the people on the ground, the hospital staff, the secret service agents, the Oswald family etc.

It's well cast and well played by some very talented players, (Marcia Gay Harden as a nurse, Billy Bob Thornton, Ron Livingston and David Harbour as secret service men, Paul Giametti as Abraham Zapruder, Jackie Weaver and James Badge Dale as Oswald's mother and brother; even Zac Efron as a young doctor who fails to save Kennedy's life is excellent). Landesman shoots it in a semi-documentary style which is fine though perhaps the editing is a little on the busy side; he doesn't seem to like to hold a frame for more than a few seconds at a time. I don't know, of course, how close any of this is to the facts but presumably the film was researched to within a few inches of its life and no matter how often this story has been told on screen it continues to be very moving.

Details

Official Sites:

Production Notes

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 October 2013 (France)

Also Known As:

Parkland

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$310,246, 6 October 2013

Gross USA:

$653,651

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,412,181

Company Credits

Production Co:

Exclusive Media Group, The American Film Company, Playtone

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1