Kennedy: The Complete Series – DVD Review

DVD Reviews, Reviews

kennedycompleteseries

People have always been fascinated by our presidents. Who they are, where they come from, what drives them to want to be the leader of the free world? It only makes sense then that there have been many films and television shows about our leaders from the great to the not so great. The ones in between generally arent even really worth the time. Former president Bush had a film about him in theaters before he was out of office; who knows how soon well see an Obama film on the silver screen. Well, without a doubt, John F. Kennedy was one of the greatest leaders this country has seen and in 1983 a seven-episode miniseries was produced to take a look at the troubles he faced in his shortened term as president.

Like many films and shows about historical figures whove been assassinated, Kennedy opens with the tragic event then flashes back to election night. Over the mini-series we see Kennedy (Martin Sheen) get elected, choose his cabinet, deal with Castro and the Cuban Missile Crisis, the building troubles in Vietnam, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement and a deeply disturbing J Edgar Hoover. All the while getting an intimate portrayal of the man and his family and how they all dealt, on a personal level, with these epic issues.

Television has come along way since the ’80s and despite being horribly dated, Kennedy is a well made miniseries that is still entertaining today.

Much of this is due to the astounding performance delivered by Martin Sheen. Sheen is Kennedy. From his very distinct voice to his mannerisms, Sheen seems to have a deep understand of who Kennedy was as a person and gives us that flawlessly. The rest of the acting throughout is pretty hit or miss, but none of that detracts for the tour de force that is Sheen.

The other solid and noteworthy performance is that of Vincent Gardenia as J. Edgar Hoover. Where as Sheens Kennedy seems to be ripped right out of reality, Gardenia vilifies Hoover to almost cartoonish capacities. Gardenia chews the scenery as he delivers insane over the top monologues. Very drastic shadows only add to his comic book like villainy. It makes for a very stark and entertaining contrast to Sheen.

This is a very dated miniseries and screams ’80s, however Sheens performance is so spectacular youd really be foolish not to check it out. This is an engaging and entertaining look at Kennedys presidency and does a good job of showing the good, the bad and the very human side of this memorable president.

The series is presented in 4:3 fullscreen with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound. The biggest flaw of this series is that it is seriously dated. The transfer is pretty good for a show from the 80’s but it’s age definitely shows.

Sadly there are no special features. A retrospective interview with Martin Sheen would have been great to see, especially considering that after this series he would go on to star in The West Wing.


This is a solid miniseries about Kennedy’s presidency. It’s very dated but it also offers of one Martin Sheen’s finest performances. If you’re an avid Sheen or Kennedy fan you’ll probably want to own this, otherwise I’d stick to renting it. Either way it is certainly worth your time.

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MPI Home Video presents Kennedy: The Complete Series. Directed by Jim Goddard. Written by Red Gadney. Starring Martin Sheen, John Shea, Blair Brown and Vincent Gardenia. Running time: 348 minutes. Not Rated. Originally aired in 1983. Seven Episodes on 2 discs. Released on DVD: February 10, 2009. Available At Amazon.com.

Mike Noyes received his Masters Degree in Film from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco. A few of his short films can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/user/mikebnoyes. He recently published his first novel which you can buy here: https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Days-Years-Mike-Noyes-ebook/dp/B07D48NT6B/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528774538&sr=8-1&keywords=seven+days+seven+years