JFK . Austin Chronicle . 11-30-98

JFK

DIRECTED BY: Oliver Stone

REVIEWED: 11-30-98

November 22, 1998 marked the 35th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and there's no better way to look back than with a screening of JFK, Oliver Stone's study of Jim Garrison's (Costner) investigation into the president's assassination. Stone's masterpiece is now available on DVD, with 17 minutes of restored footage that Camelot enthusiasts should find rewarding. Included among the restored scenes is a long passage about George DeMohrenschildt, a Nazi sympathizer who befriended Lee Harvey Oswald (Oldman) and later betrayed him to the Warren Commission. There's more about Bill Broussard's (Rooker) defection, and a scene of Garrison later being accosted in an airport. Extra witnesses are paraded through the final courtroom scene, and, most peculiarly, there's a restored sequence of Garrison's appearance on the gaudy The Jerry Johnson Show, with John Larroquette as the smarmy host. The chapter index is helpful in pointing out which scenes have added footage (unfortunately, the numbering is off on side two of the "flipper" disk, so be warned). Presented in 2.35:1 widescreen and with full Dolby Digital sound, the DVD edition of JFK holds dozens of new secrets waiting to be discovered. The Zapruder film is much more vivid than on videotape, and when those shots ring out, they echo through the room, a haunting memory of what's gone before. At a running time of 206 minutes, this special edition of JFK may not be for everyone. But at least you don't have to rewind.

--Christopher Null

Other Films by Oliver Stone
Any Given Sunday
Nixon
U-Turn

Film Vault Suggested Links
Rob Roy
Panther
Saving Private Ryan

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