Cinematic entrepreneurs continue to feed popular demand for filmed accounts of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy as the 50th anniversary of JFK’s death approaches.
A new cable TV documentary, “JFK: The Smoking Gun,” produced by the REELZCHANNEL network, starts principal photography in Dallas this week. A veteran police detective Colin McLaren will solve the crime, according to the producers. The unimaginative title makes a bold promise, often heard, less often fulfilled.
But the ambition is widely shared. Other would-be cultural arbiters who have definitive JFK film projects scheduled for release in the fall include Tom Hanks, Bill O’Reilly, and David Mamet. None of them is a cop, so McLaren may have an opening.
From the Muse Productions press release about “JFK: The Smoking Gun.”
“This two hour special with dramatic recreations takes audiences back to that tragic day in Dallas at Dealey Plaza where the shooting took place, to Parkland Hospital where the president was pronounced dead, to the Bethesda Naval Hospital where the autopsy was conducted and to the witness testimonies and proceedings at the Warren Commission that have remained controversial to this day. Ballistic experiments, CGI and 3D animation are also used to enhance the viewers’ experience.”
REELZCHANNEL describes itself as “the only cable and satellite network devoted to delivering entertaining and fresh programming that explores, uncovers and lives inside the magic of Hollywood wherever it happens.” REELZCHANNEL reaches 67 million homes on DIRECTV channel 238 and Dish Network channel 299.
I would have scaled replicas of the actual cars (the train locomotive-caboose combo of JFK’s parade car & the SS guards car tailgating it during the attack with actor stand-ins for everybody in both cars). I’d include all 4 motorcycle escorts too. Put it back to the way it really was, not the half baked attempts made public by early Federal investigators & most, if not all, of the TV documentaries that followed.
The issue with most folks is not how fast the rifle needed to be re-cocked and fired, the issue is could a sniper from the 6th floor TSBD ‘sniper’s window’ see the back of JFK’s head to aim, fire & shoot with the obstacles behind him blocking his view from such an alleged assassin. If a shot was possible, show it with all historical elements in place; if it was impossible it means JFK was shot in the head and killed from a sniper operating at a different vantage point.
This falls in with what the HSCA concluded back in the day with the exception being the shot that killed JFK did not come from that TSBD firing platform.
The highest point on the SS guards follow-up car was the windshield and the agents standing on the running boards (particularly the right side of that vehicle). As JFK fell more to his life & towards his wife the continental kit also may have been a point of view obstacle.
This should help end the constant bickering between the WC, LBJ & Hoover groupies, the HSCA groupies and those who have no faith in either official explanation of the violent death of President Kennedy.
The very 1st thing I look for in any re-enactment of the crime, be it a static re-enactment of the vehicle & victims or a weapons test is are the guards and motorcycle escorts represented. If not the re-enactment is worthless & a waste of time IMHO.
John Kirsch writes:[
“My approach would aim to show HOW the assassination could actually have been carried out.”
I’d like to see a completely accurate and realistic re-enactment of what the Warren Report said happened. A re-enactment involving the shots that would have been made by Oswald from the sniper’s nest with the corroded, badly scoped Carcano. The stashing of the Carcano. The flight down the stairs to the second floor lunch room.
Oswald’s clothes. His supposed encounter with Tippit. His arrest.
I’d let the American people see the official story, with the advantage of 50 years of research and investigation. I’d also post the White House telephone number.