Oliver Stone at his peak during the ’80s and ’90s revisited the ’60s with Platoon, Born On The Fourth of July and The Doors. His questioning of what went on during the volatile decade culminated with JFK. The film probed the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Instead of creating a narrative using the White House and other federal government offices, Stone got inside the events, conspiracy and cover up by an outsider who wasn’t buying the Warren Report as legit. He bases his film around New Orleans’ District Attorney who suspects a few local citizens were tied to the killing. He took the main culprit to trial and presented so much evidence that Washington D.C. commission ignored. This proved to be a powerful way for Stone to show how little was told by Earl Warren about what happened that day in Dallas. JFK: Collector’s Edition upgrades the Director’s Cut to 4K UHD.
New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (Waterworld‘s Kevin Costner) like most of America is shocked with the reports that President Kennedy has been shot in Dallas. He is glued to the TV set as the cops arrest Lee Harvey Oswald (Sid & Nancy‘s Gary Oldman). He’s also shaken when on live TV, Oswald is shot to death by Jack Ruby (SpongeBob SquarePants‘ Brian Doyle Murray). Among those grieving are people who are thrilled that the president is gone including Guy Banister (Mary Tyler Moore‘s Ed Asner), an ex-FBI agent turned private investigator. This seems to lead to a strange collection of associates all tied to Clay Shaw (The Fugitive‘s Tommy Lee Jones). This becomes the focus of Garrison’s investigation which doesn’t get any support from the media or the government. There are a lot of people who don’t want the truth about Kenndy’s murder fully explored, but Garrison won’t back down.
JFK remains a powerful experience and still a bit of a mystery as the government refuses to release all the documents. Back in 2017, Trump promised to put them all out and then decided to hold back a large percentage of them. Are we really supposed to believe Oswald did it alone?
The film has an amazing cast of supporting actors. Joe Pesci wears a crazy wig as a colorful pal of Clay Shaw. Michael Rooker is part of Jim Garrison’s office after finally getting noticed in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Wayne Knight (Seinfeld) is part of the staff too. While not in the same scene, we’re treated to the Odd Couple of Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. Donald Sutherland locks down the movie as Mr. X. He summarizes what happened to Garrison even though there’s no way he can testify. Perhaps the most unexpected and solid performance is John Candy (SCTV) as a New Orleans lawyer. You believe that he’s from the Big Easy and not the Great White North.
The Boxset has both the 189-minute theatrical cut and the 206-minute-long Director’s Cut that was released in 1993. Director’s Cut is the way to go and the version that is on the 4K UHD disc. The theatrical cut is only on Blu-ray. Last year Shout! Studios released Oliver Stone’s JFK Revisited: The Complete Collection. You can dig deeper into what’s happened in Dallas with things Stone has learned since the film was released.
JFK brings together Oliver Stone’s time of digging deep into the experience of the ’60s. You’ll come away from the film fearing the military industrial complex.
The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The 4K UHD transfer is struck off the original negative. You get to fully appreciate Robert Richardson’s cinematography. The Audio is DTS-HD MA 5.1 and DTS-HD MA 2.0 on all the cuts of the film. You’ll hear all the conspiracies clearly. The movie is subtitled.
Audio commentary with Director, Producer & Co-writer Oliver Stone is the same commentary track on both the theatrical and director’s cut. There’s just a bit more silence on the longer cut. He talks about John Williams’s score. He gets into how he went into his theories about the killing of Kennedy and used Jim Garrison’s investigation to highlight them.
One Person Can Make A Difference (8:29) has Oliver Stone discuss JFK. He feels that the film made him an anti-hero of cinema. He wanted to put an intermission in the film to let the audience take a break and soak in the information during the break.
Stone Bold (7:18) gets cinematographer Robert Richardson to reflect on JFK and The Doors and his other films with Oliver Stone. He grew up in Hyannis near the Kennedy Compound on Cape Cod so he felt a connection to the family. He never felt Oswald acted alone. He gets into using a variety of cameras and formats to capture the imagery to match source materials.
Brave New Worlds (9:29) lets Editor Hank Corwin recount how editing a commercial for cinematographer Robert Richardson led to a being hired by Oliver Stone to be a part of the editing crew. He talks about all the footage he had access to with the UCLA footage of JFK.
Supporting the Vision (8:33) gets Co-Producer Clayton Townsend to talk about his relationship with Oliver Stone. This stretched back to working on Year of the Dragon. He gets into how they met with the surviving witnesses with Oliver Stone to learn deeper truths of that day.
Re-Creating the Unthinkable (7:44) has Special Makeup Effects Artist Gordon J. Smith admit he would have paid to make the film. He talks about travelling with JFK’s head in his baggage.
The Delicate Hands of Time (9:50) has Dallas Location Manager Patty Doherty Hess on JFK. She talks about getting to get the production to shoot on the Plaza and other locations. There were a lot of detours she had to negotiate. There was an issue when there was highway work on the kill zone. They had to get drastic to keep the pavement from being ruined.
12 Deleted And Extended Scenes/Alternate Ending (54:46) is even more of a conspiracy including Jack Ruby getting injected with cancer. We get more Brian Doyle Murray and John Candy. We get more connections from Donald Sutherland’s character. There’s an Optional Commentary by Oliver Stone to tell us why the scenes didn’t make the director’s cut.
Assassination Updated (29:40) gets into Congress debating the release of the Kennedy records. There’s a lot of papers that are proving the CIA was more involved. Media members were doing the agency’s bidding when they wrote and created hatchet jobs on Jim Garrison before the trial. We get more paperwork from the Kennedy autopsy. This was made in 2001.
Meet Mr. X (11:00) gets us to experience the Personality and Thoughts Of Fletcher Prouty. He’s the basis for Donald Sutherland’s character who connected a lot of dots for Garrison. He served as Chief of Special Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President John F. Kennedy. He talks about collaborating with Oliver Stone.
Still Gallery (3:22) includes press photos, behind the scenes shots and the poster.
Theatrical Trailer (2:22) opens with John Candy’s lips. We feel the conspiracy around all involved in this investigation.
Shout! Studios present JFK: Collector’s Edition. Directed by Oliver Stone. Screenplay by Oliver Stone and Zachary Sklar. Starring Kevin Costner, Kevin Bacon, Tommy Lee Jones, Laurie Metcalf, Gary Oldman, Michael Rooker, Joe Pesci, Sissy Spacek, Donald Sutherland, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Ed Asner, John Candy and Jim Garrison. Boxset Contents: 1 4K UHD and 3 Blu-ray discs. Rating: Rated R. Release Date: December 19, 2023.
