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Terfex.com - The Murder of JFK: A Revisionist History
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List Price: $19.98
Our Price: $17.99
Your Save: $ 1.99 ( 10% )
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Manufacturer: Mpi Home Video
Directed By: Matthew White
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780788607196
Format: Color
ISBN: 0788607197
Label: Mpi Home Video
Manufacturer: Mpi Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Mpi Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2006-02-28
Running Time: 180
Studio: Mpi Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1999
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Editorial Reviews:
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More than 40 years have passed since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. The Murder of JFK: A Revisionist History takes a comprehensive examination into the theories behind the assassination itself. It also explains the tragedy within the context of the existing U.S. political and cultural climate, and the global context of the Cold War. The Murder of JFK: A Revisionist History includes: The first digital rendering of the Zapruder film, mastered from the original. The only known color footage of Lee Harvey Oswald. Cuban source material on the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis. First-time use of audio material from Robert F. Kennedy¹s oral history. Interviews with Arthur Schlesinger, John Frankenheimer, Jack Anderson and Sam Halpern.A link between the film Psycho and the FBI’s report on Oswald. Newly discovered footage from local television archives and foreign news sources, including Lyndon B. Johnson’s thoughts concerning a conspiracy.Winner of the 1999 IDA/ABCNews VideoSource Award for the Best Use of News Footage in a Documentary.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Good for Archival Footage, Not Much Else
Comment: I've read about 30 books on the Kennedy years and Kennedy assassination, as well as the Warren Report, and countless programs about it. I feel I have a pretty solid base for a description - and if you're looking for anything new regarding the assassination, you won't find it here.
The first half of this film is top-notch, discussing some key events of Kennedy's presidency and providing excellent archival footage and interesting analysis. The assassination itself was described very quickly and without much detail, which is fine - I mean, what are we going to hear that we haven't heard before? So by that point in the film, I was thinking it was going to continue to be terrific.
I was wrong. At that point it devolves into incredibly broad generalities that are all directed toward one thing - suggesting that there was definitely a conspiracy in the assassination, that the Warren Commission were little more than lackeys to the FBI and set out with a deliberate agenda to arrive at the conclusions in the Report, and to give a great deal of air-time to several nicely-dressed conspiracy nuts.
My problem with that is that there was no balance. They showed Gerald Posner for about 10 seconds and mentioned his book, then allow it (with no evidence presented) to be trashed as a book of lies. And while there were plenty of problems with Posner's book, it was more responsible to fact than most books on the subject, but would leave the casual viewer with the impression that to arrive at the same conclusion as the Warren Commission, you must be full of it.
Basically it became just another conspiracy program. It offers all kinds of speculation and no proof of anything, which was an incredible disappointment. This was one half of a terrific program, and was worth the $15 just for that first hour or so. The last half is pretty irresponsible and could not be taken seriously by anyone who knows more than a little about the case.
It's okay. Worth a look for that first half. Watch the second half to see if you concur with me - and if you do forget that last half and watch the first half again. That half is definitely worth having.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A little intense, but worthwhile.
Comment: JFK: A Revisionist History helps the viewer to understand that the [...] of John F. Kennedy was far more complex than having been committed by a lone, crazed gunman named Lee Harvey Oswald. In fact it makes a good case for the whole thing not having been committed by Oswald at all. This even goes into all the political events and those who may (or may not) have played a part in doing this horrific act. It also goes into a lot about the autopsy and whether the shot to the President's head did damage that looked like this or that. It also explains something about who may have controlled things and why, so that the Warren Commission was so resolute in it's final assertion that Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole shooter, inspite of the overwhelming amount of information to the contrary. A very good DVD to see to add further information to the knowledge on this event in history.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Cornerstone of a Conspiracy Theory
Comment: Excellent DVD! The historical footage as well as enigmatic soundtrack added to the documentary without being overly dramatic or campy. The historical background material adds perspective to the whole issue. When watching "JFK" (Oliver Stone, starring Kevin Kostner), the movie very poorly touches on the issue of the mafia...although I knew the history of the Cuban revolution, I never connected why they might want to shoot Kennedy. Or the Mafia for that matter! "JFK" leaned heavily on the Coup-de-tat end of the conspiracy theory, while this documentary evened things out more and made more sense of the history that would have contributed to Kennedy's assassination.
I believe there was a conspiracy...but watching the real Zapruder film of the shooting, unedited, in this documentary, leaves me with only more questions. The shot would have seemed to come from the back (a head bobbing back when shot from behind isn't uncommon...its not the force of the bullet as much as the muscles relaxing). An exit wound is far larger and messier than an entrance wound. In the Zapruder film, its obvious that the messy wound is in the front, indicating he was shot from behind. The angle of the shot seems wrong, however and the autopsy footage clearly shows and exit wound at his neck. There seemed to be some evidence, watching the Zapruder film that the exit wound was up near the temple, not the neck. It is hard to see on such a small film.
Anyways, fascinating. Watch this, watch JFK. Compare the two. Both great movies.
Customer Rating:
Summary: ACTUALLY, A PRETTY GOOD DVD
Comment: As the leading civilian authority on the U.S. Secret Service (and President Kennedy's interaction with the agency), I was much interested in this DVD by Matthew White. Quite frankly, I didn't expect much, but the technical brilliance of the program---and the archival footage contained herein---make this a worthwhile purchase. Get this. vince palamara
Customer Rating:
Summary: Some Great Archival Footage In Here; Several Rare Film And Video Clips; Definitely Recommended For JFK Collectors
Comment: "The Murder Of JFK: A Revisionist History" makes a very nice addition to any collection of John F. Kennedy-related materials (regardless of whether you're "pro-conspiracy", "anti-conspiracy", or somewhere in between with respect to your particular beliefs regarding President Kennedy's assassination). Although a definite thread of conspiratorial belief most certainly is woven into this documentary, it's not shamefully brazen or overly ridiculous-sounding in terms of conspiracy, which is unlike many of the other outlandish JFK theories and plots that have been postulated in the various books, films, and documentaries over the years.
What this program fails to do, though, is to delve in any depth whatsoever into the life (and more importantly, the mind) of Lee Harvey Oswald....a man who I believe killed John Kennedy all by himself in 1963.
Oswald's role in the assassination is pretty much glossed over here; and, strangely, Jack Ruby (the man who killed Oswald on 11/24/63) is barely even mentioned in this documentary. There's a short clip of Ruby murdering Oswald in the police basement, but after that snippet the subject of Ruby comes up (as I recall) only one other time, during a rather strange film clip showing a group of protestors demanding the immediate release of Dallas prisoner "John Ruby". (Oddly, these protestors didn't even seem to know the true name of the man they were fighting so hard to have released from jail.)
"A Revisionist History" is a lengthy program, with a running time of 140 minutes (not the 180 minutes that is advertised on the DVD). It was made in 1999 and won an award for "best use of news footage in a documentary". And I can see why. This DVD is loaded with rare news snippets associated with JFK's terrible murder, which occurred in Dallas, Texas, on November 22nd, 1963. There are many news clips presented here that I had never seen before, including quite a bit of footage taken during the years leading up to Kennedy's death.
"Revisionist" hints at a possible "Cuban connection" with respect to JFK's ultimate demise, and thusly this documentary features several video and film clips taken in Havana around the time that Fidel Castro gained control of Cuba. One such interesting clip was culled from "The Ed Sullivan Show" of January 5, 1960, where Sullivan puts on his interviewer's hat and asks Castro some hard-hitting questions. Fidel, in a classic bit of irony, informs Mr. Sullivan (and, hence, America) .... "You can be sure that Batista will be the last dictator of Cuba".
Some of the video footage seen in this program can also be found in another excellent, must-see documentary film on the Kennedy assassination, that being 1964's "Four Days In November" (narrated by actor Richard Basehart).
"Four Days" in many ways serves as a good companion program to "A Revisionist History", insofar as presenting a large dose of vintage filmed materials relating to the JFK case.
In my own opinion, "Four Days In November" (which consists of almost nothing but vintage, archival news footage, circa 1963) is superior to all other Kennedy films and documentaries, with a musical score by Elmer Bernstein that is also second to none. But this "Revisionist History" program has its own set of high points in the "vintage footage" department as well, making it a pretty good bookend piece to "Four Days".
Some of the highlights worth noting from "A Revisionist History" include:
>> A good-sized portion of a June 22, 1964, interview with Texas Governor John Connally (via KRLD-TV in Dallas). Mr. Connally, after having recounted the entire assassination sequence which had occurred exactly seven months earlier, becomes quite emotional at the end of this footage. This black-and-white clip (which appears to be on videotape and not film) exhibits super-sharp video and audio quality.
>> Footage showing John Connally introducing Lyndon Johnson as a candidate for the Presidency at the Democratic National Convention on July 10, 1960.
>> Two brief rarely-seen film clips (in color) showing Lee Harvey Oswald during his altercation with police on the streets of New Orleans in the summer of 1963. (This is evidently the only known color film footage of Oswald in existence.)
>> The November 29, 1963, telephone conversation between new President Lyndon Johnson and Senator Richard Russell, discussing the creation of LBJ's Warren Commission, of which Senator Russell was strongly opposed to being a member (as can be heard in this phone call). Excellent audio quality attached to this clip, too.
>> Very, very rare film clip (I'd never seen it before) showing Warren Commission members standing outside the Texas School Book Depository Building in Dallas in July 1964. This B&W film footage is accompanied by audio as well, with the microphones picking up some comments made by Allen Dulles and David Belin. This unique footage also shows Dulles and Belin looking out at Elm Street (where JFK was assassinated) from behind the picket fence atop the now-famous Grassy Knoll in Dealey Plaza.*
* = I thought that that particular "Behind The Picket Fence" portion of this 1964 footage was rather interesting, in that it certainly indicated that the Warren Commission members were, in a sense, not totally ignoring the idea that one or more shots on 11/22/63 could have conceivably come from behind that fence -- otherwise, why would the Commission and its staff have even bothered to have a look for themselves at the view that a potential assassin would have had from that Knoll vantage point? (Conspiracists will no doubt argue that the Commission members were merely "going through the motions" for the press, which was following the WC's every move in Dealey Plaza that day, as can be observed in these film clips.)
>> Portions of a BBC-TV special entitled "The Death Of Kennedy", in which the Single-Bullet Theory is discussed (and even re-constructed on camera using mock-ups of victims Kennedy and Connally). This BBC clip, which is in B&W, also includes comments made by Warren Commission counsel member Arlen Specter, as Mr. Specter defends his position aggressively with these words: "You call it the theory; I call it the conclusion; it was a theory until we found the facts; that's why I refer to it as the Single-Bullet Conclusion".**
** = Note: The DVD claims this BBC program aired on January 27, 1964; but that's an obvious error/typo. The SBT had not even been postulated by Specter and the WC as of that January '64 date. The Commission, in fact, as of that date in early 1964, had barely even begun their work. That BBC broadcast is probably from 1965.
>> Rare color footage of a portion of the FBI/WC re-enactment of the assassination from the 6th-Floor window of the Book Depository (as seen through the scope mounted on Lee Oswald's Mannlicher-Carcano rifle). I didn't know that color footage of the FBI re-creations even existed until viewing this DVD. This snippet is very, very short, but it's quite interesting seeing it in fairly-vivid color.
>> A September 27, 1964, news clip from a CBS-TV special ("Report On The Kennedy Assassination"), with Walter Cronkite giving a general overview of the just-released Warren Report. Cronkite speaks forcefully about the facts and evidence of Oswald's guilt during this B&W news clip. I especially enjoyed Mr. Cronkite's first blunt and to-the-point observation re. the Warren Report: "Oswald was a liar". (Darn right he was, Walter. LHO never stopped lying from the minute he was arrested in the Texas Theater. And it's great hearing a newsman reporting it like it is.)
>> A portion of Walter Cronkite's September 1969 CBS-TV interview with former President Lyndon Johnson, during which JFK's assassination is openly and candidly discussed. (Note: Oddly, this particular in-color news clip with Johnson and Cronkite is shown in a 1.66:1 Widescreen format on the DVD. A few other clips on the DVD are also shown in Widescreen for some reason.)
>> March 1975 footage of the late-night talk show "Good Night America" with Geraldo Rivera -- The Zapruder Film (showing JFK's murder) is broadcast for the first time on national television. This color clip includes Robert Groden's blatant exaggeration of the number of witnesses that he claims heard shots from the Grassy Knoll on 11/22/63 ("80 percent"). Groden deliberately overstated the number of Knoll earwitnesses in order to further his own notions of a JFK conspiracy. In reality, well more than 50% of all earwitnesses in Dealey Plaza said they heard shots from BEHIND the President's car, and not from in front of it.
This same "Good Night America" footage (in expanded form) can also be found on another MPI Home Video release from 1998 -- "Image Of An Assassination: A New Look At The Zapruder Film" (which is another very worthwhile collectible DVD product pertaining to the Kennedy murder case).
>> Color film clip of Congressman Christopher Dodd interrogating former CIA Director Richard Helms on September 22, 1978, during the House Select Committee's inquiry into JFK's death. Stinging remarks by Mr. Helms can be heard in this clip, which is footage that's not in very good shape, picture-quality-wise.
In the years following JFK's murder, Richard Helms, obviously sick of having his agency raked over the coals and suspected of having a hand in Kennedy's death, always exhibited a harsh and brusk tone in every comment I ever heard him make publicly in wake of President Kennedy's assassination. Helms' comments, however, come off as rather foolish-sounding in this specific clip re. "AM/LASH".
>> Video clip of an irate Wesley Liebeler (Assistant Counsel member of the Warren Commission) in the early 1990s, wherein Mr. Liebeler publicly denounces the Oliver Stone film "JFK". Liebeler: "Your movie is a vast tissue of falsehood, deception, and distortion. .... Your movie cannot be defended on a factual basis".
>> The "Castro Playing Ping-Pong For Three Hours" video clip. (Consult the DVD for more details on this humorous footage.) ;)
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DVD Specifications:
The single-sided DVD for "A Revisionist History" offers up a clear-sounding Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo soundtrack (although some of the vintage '60s-era audio clips do show their age, with understandable limited fidelity and waning crispness).
The video on the DVD, with the exception of a few Widescreen clips, is Full-Frame (1.33:1). English subtitles are included. A Scene Selection Sub-Menu provides access to the program's 17 individual chapters. There aren't any Special Features to supplement the main program. The Keep Case packaging includes a 16-page DVD Catalog List for other titles released by MPI Home Video.
DVD Chapter List:
1. Opening Credits
2. Battlefield Cuba
3. Fidel Castro
4. Bay Of Pigs
5. Operation Mongoose
6. Peaceful Resolution
7. Test Ban Treaty
8. Dallas
9. Oswald Killed
10. LBJ And The Aftermath
11. J. Edgar Hoover
12. Warren Commission
13. Conspiracy Theories
14. Assassination Committee
15. Seven Days In May
16. History
17. End Credits
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In-A-Nutshell Breakdown Of This Program:
Pros:
>> Many rare and hard-to-find-anyplace-else news clips.
>> Good video (DVD) quality.
>> Peter Dean's solid narration. (Peter also, btw, served as narrator for MPI's "Image Of An Assassination" documentary.)
Cons:
>> Could probably have been edited down to a shorter length.
>> The music score (which isn't very impressive, IMO).
>> Not enough background information on Lee Oswald.
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Overall......
I think that conspiracy theorists and lone-assassin believers alike will be able to appreciate many things within this MPI program, with the wealth of seldom-seen film footage that is presented here, all by itself, being worth the cost of this disc for ardent collectors of JFK-related material.
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