From JFK to `JFK': echoes of an assassination

November 21, 2003|Glenn Lovell, Knight Ridder Newspapers

The events of Nov. 22, 1963, have been echoed, reenacted -- even presaged -- by a number of assassination movies. Here is a sample: "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962, MGM/UA). Released less than a month before President Kennedy's assassination -- then virtually buried by United Artists until 1988 -- John Frankenheimer's film mixes black humor and prescient Cold War commentary to tell the story of a Korean War hero (Laurence Harvey) who becomes a lethal pawn in the hands of the Chinese.

"Targets" (1968, Paramount). Although loosely based on Charles Whitman's killing spree on the University of Texas at Austin campus in 1966, Peter Bogdanovich's first feature, about an all-American sniper, reminded many of Dallas and Lee Harvey Oswald.

"Executive Action" (1973, Warner). Hollywood lefties Burt Lancaster and Will Geer, abetted by Hollywood 10 screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, dispute the Warren Commission's single-gunman theory almost 20 years before Oliver Stone reached the same conclusion.

"The Parallax View" (1974, Paramount). This conspiracy thriller stars Warren Beatty as a reporter who witnesses the shooting of a political candidate and then is marked for elimination.

"The Conversation" (1974, Paramount). Professional snoop Gene Hackman can't believe his own ears as he eavesdrops on a plot to assassinate a corporate executive. Francis Ford Coppola considers it his best movie.

"Taxi Driver" (1976, Columbia). Robert De Niro's sociopathic Vietnam vet, who tracks a New York mayoral candidate, obviously was inspired by Oswald, Sirhan Sirhan, James Earl Ray, et al.

"Winter Kills" (1979, Anchor Bay). Jeff Bridges is the brother of a slain president who uncovers everything the conspiracy nuts always have maintained: The shooting was masterminded by the FBI and the military-industrial complex and carried out by the Mafia. Something of a head trip, the film was financed by drug money, according to Bridges and director William Rickert.

"Blow Out" (1981, MGM). John Travolta plays a Hollywood sound man whose boom mikes pick up an assassination in progress. Directed by Brian De Palma, a master of paranoid fantasies.

"The Dead Zone" (1983, Paramount). In David Cronenberg's twist (taken from the Stephen King novel), Christopher Walken uses newfound psychic powers to stop a corrupt politician, played by Martin Sheen.

"To Live and Die in L.A." (1985, MGM). William Friedkin's thriller opens with a hushed-up attempt on a US president's life by an Iranian terrorist.

"JFK" (1991, Warner). The ultimate conspiracy-buff movie is by -- who else? -- Stone, who blends newsreel footage, reenactments, and wild speculation to make his case for an inside job.

"Interview With the Assassin" (2002, Showtime). Neil Burger's faux-documentary profile of the "other gunman" on Dealey Plaza is both conspiracy-theory satire and unnerving thriller.