With 22 November bringing the 55th anniversary of John F Kennedy’s assassination, we take a look at two films that focus on the lead up and aftermath. Parkland is a fictionalised account of that fateful day from the perspective those directly involved. LBJ presents a character portrait of the man who assumed the Presidency following the shooting…

Parkland

Director: Peter Landesman

Screenwriter: Peter Landesman

Based on: Vincent Bugliosi’s non-fiction book, Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

*Spoilers* Originally released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination, Parkland recounts the tragic events of the day from several interesting perspectives. Told in pseudo-documentary style, the film cleverly and seamlessly incorporates news footage into dramatized events to put a whole new slant on the subject matter.

From the outset, we are quickly introduced to the key players: the medical staff on duty at Dallas’ Parkland Hospital when the mortally-wounded president was brought in; the Secret Service and FBI operatives on whose watch it all happened; Abraham Zapruder (Paul Giamatti), an innocent bystander whose home movie camera captured the only filmed account of the assassination; and the family of the man responsible, Lee Harvey Oswald.

Eschewing the conspiracy theory angle, director/writer Landesman plays it straight, painting Oswald simply as a nutcase who the FBI already had on their radar and may have had the chance to apprehend days earlier.

Given the focus on the day of the assassination itself and the few days afterwards, during which Oswald was captured and then killed by Jack Ruby, there is little time for speculation, as confusion and grief enveloped America. Indeed, one of the film’s main strengths is that it manages to capture the pure shock that gripped all those directly involved, from the junior resident doctor, Charles ‘Jim’ Carrico (Zac Efron), who was the first medic to treat the president, through to the world-weary Forrest Sorrels (Billy Bob Thornton), a 30-year Secret Service veteran struggling to come to terms with losing the man he was assigned to protect. Elsewhere, men in suits frantically rush about trying to handle a situation for which there is simply no precedent.

Cast-wise, Parkland is an abundance of riches. Aside from Efron and Thornton, we have Ron Livingston as the FBI agent with a file on Oswald, who was accused of having had a chance to prevent the assassination, and Marcia Gay Harden as a religious emergency room nurse. There are also excellent turns from James Badge Dale as Oswald’s straight-laced brother, who can’t understand what the hell’s happened, and Jacki Weaver as his deluded mother, who is convinced Lee is a great American.

The direction is suitably urgent and evokes a real 1960s feel, while the script is solid, if a little God-heavy in places (especially towards the end).

The main problem with Parkland is simply that it’s too short (and it’s not often that’s the problem with a film). Like the assassination, this is a short, sharp shock of a movie that feels like it needs a second and maybe even a third act. There is no real plot development, it is simply an account of what happened. As a result, the excellent cast doesn’t get a chance to really flesh out their characters, and the audience is denied any kind of closure.

This is a shame as there are plenty of interesting stories to be told here; not least Zapruder, who could easily fill a whole film himself, as a simple immigrant’s son struggling with his unwanted popularity, while trying to grieve for his President.

Even now, watching the smiling, full-of-life president getting shot down in such a brutal manner has the power to send a shudder down the spine. It was one of the defining moments in US (and world) history, and, to its credit, Parkland manages to bring a sense of what it was like to be right there in the centre of the action as the unthinkable happened. It’s just a shame this is a docu-style drama with the emphasis on the ‘docu’, as opposed to the ‘drama’.

Take a look at the Parkland trailer:

LBJ

Director: Rob Reiner

Screenwriter: Joey Hartstone

*Spoilers* One of two 2016 films to focus on Lyndon B. Johnson (the other being the TV movie, All the Way), this one features Woody Harrelson as the 36th President of the USA (1963-69), who served as JFK’s Vice-President before that fateful November day when he was thrust into the spotlight.

Accomplished but insecure, LBJ was an uncouth character without airs and graces. A straight-shooting Texas native, he was able to negotiate with hard-line southern leaders on the issue of civil rights. However, he was fully aware that he didn’t have the popularity or charisma of Kennedy.

The film switches between former Senator Johnson’s selection as Vice-President, which followed an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination, and his struggles in the aftermath of the assassination. The focus is on the landmark civil rights legislation that JFK championed and which was finally passed under LBJ’s administration.

Overall, LBJ is a well-acted film that highlights a President who rose to the occasion during a tragic and divisive time in US history. While a heavily made-up Harrelson is the star of the show, his scenes with his loving wife, Lady Bird (Jennifer Jason Leigh) are effective, as are the scenes of conflict with JFK’s brother, Bobby Kennedy (Michael Stahl-David). Kennedy had no truck with LBJ and wasn’t shy in making his feelings known. Jeffrey Donovan is also effective as a pragmatic JFK, who understands the benefit of having the experienced LBJ as his VP; not least to reach southern lawmakers resistant to the civil rights movement. This element is embodied in Senator Richard Russell (Richard Jenkins), a friend and mentor of LBJ, who fought against making changes that would give black Americans equal rights. Moving forward with JFK’s civil rights agenda clearly put LBJ at odds with Russell and his brethren.

While the film is largely sympathetic to its subject, it doesn’t shy away from LBJ’s rough edges (consulting with his advisors in person while using the bathroom with the door open, for one). It also highlights the fact that while LBJ got the Civil Rights Act passed (and enacted other liberalist policies), he was also committed to escalating the conflict in Southeast Asia. During his tenure, the number of US military personnel in Vietnam rose to over 500,000 and the Vietnam War saw its bloodiest year in 1968, the year before LBJ left the presidency, choosing not to seek re-election.

This is one of the contrasts that makes LBJ an interesting, if a little unsatisfying, character study of a man who has his own place in US history.

For more on Johnson and his role in the civil rights movement, see our analysis of Selma (2014), a film which paints a controversial picture of LBJ as a figure who was an obstacle in Martin Luther King Jr’s fight for equality.

Take a look at the LBJ trailer: