The Kennedy Assassination: 24 Hours After DVD

THE FLICK
In the immediate aftermath of President John F. Kennedy's assassination in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, the United States government seemed ready to split in two, though the American people never knew it. On the one hand was the new Commander-in-Chief Lyndon B. Johnson. On the other, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and a cadre of officials loyal to the fallen leader. The Kennedy Assassination: 24 Hours After uses information compiled by historian William Manchester in 1964 and 1965 to create a timeline of not only what happened in the motorcade, but also a slew of other angles not often discussed in relation to the assassination. Even if the documentary does skip over certain pieces of the narrative, it nevertheless remains a compelling and education 90-minutes.

For footage the American people have seen time and again, The Kennedy Assassination makes it feel new, with a fresh perspective and new stories under the story. This is where The Kennedy Assassination excels: setting the scene, introducing all the players and keeping the viewer riveted to the screen through the video of the assassination. Secret Service agents who normally fly below the radar are mentioned, heard from and seen in great detail as they talk about their thought processes and actions after the president was shot. With these new personalities to round out the story, director Anthony Giacchino is able to fully flesh out every aspect of this event, coming at it with a fresh set of eyes, so to speak. After the new characters are introduced, they become pivotal to the rest of the doc, showing how people not named Johnson or Kennedy reacted.

Paramount in this endeavor is the way the doc weaves information about Vice-President Johnson into the narrative, portraying him as a depressed drinker upset with his limited role as the VP. It seems as though, early on, the story is trying to paint him as the "bad guy," the man in the black hat, versus the Kennedy's, the proverbial good guys. However, as the story plays out, he's more of a tragic figure, butting up against bureaucrats who had no interest in supporting his presidency. See, after the shooting and the events America knows so well, Johnson was kept secluded from everyone, not to mention out of the information loop. As the doc tells it, for a period of time, Kennedy was dead and Johnson had not yet taken the Oath of Office. Therefore, the country had no official leader. This is but one example of a presidency that was doomed to failure from the get-go.

The material used to create the doc informs the way the story unfolds and is also used as voice-over narration designed to give the viewer an inside look into the thought processes of the participants. Outside of two clips from Johnson, he is shunted to the side, along with Jackie and Robert Kennedy. This is one of the great missteps in the productions construction. With so much of the conflict between Robert F. Kennedy and Johnson taking center stage, they should both be allowed to speak for themselves instead of allowing others to do so for them. Surely, at some point one of the men provided an audio interview or other information regarding their differences or the way they both perceived November's events. Yet Kennedy is never heard from. Lady Bird Johnson, the new First Lady, is brought in throughout the piece to discuss what she knew and observed. Jackie Kennedy, who through the entire ordeal is shown to have remained calm, aware and poised, is not featured, either. Why is this? The Kennedy Assassination would have been much richer for their contributions and, if there are no records of their thoughts in audio form, that should have been stated.

At the outset, the doc warns the material may not be suitable for all audiences. The moment pictures of Kennedy's brain are shown on film, or the fact Jackie had part of his gray matter stuck to her bracelet, the reason is crystal clear. Giacchino doesn't go out of his way to be morbid; he tells the story with as many details as he possibly can, no matter what they are. To this end, he uses a variety of historians, writers and scholars to narrate the events. Steven Gillon, the author of several history books, and Randy Roberts of Purdue University lead the charge. Both are almost breathless in their excitement over introducing the material, exhaustive in their encyclopedic knowledge of the inner workings and unafraid to turn a sacred cow on its ear. That cow, of course, is the Kennedy clan, particularly Robert. Common perception is that Johnson was a political opportunist and he took advantage of the Kennedy's at their weakest moment. Certainly, the political gears were turning in his head the entire time, though he did err on the side of caution more often than not. What we have are two different sides to the same people: Johnson the political yet sensitive versus Kennedy the upstanding and duplicitous. The early part of the film mentions their disagreements; it's in the second half where the story starts to explain them further. Even as the picture becomes clear, there's still so much more The Kennedy Assassination leaves out. Not so much in the grand scheme of the story, but in the small details, the minutiae. They're most likely outside the realm of this story, however, so this shouldn't be seen as a major negative.

For one reason or another, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover is briefly mentioned in the early going, only to be dropped entirely. Is there some kind of connection Giacchino wants to make with the man or is this a matter of name dropping, introducing a known quantity to broaden the events further? It's almost not enough of an issue to mention, with the segment lasting a very short period of time. Even Lee Harvey Oswald is nearly glossed over. Why? It's hard not to get the feeling The Kennedy Assassination isn't entirely sure. Granted, he is not a pivotal piece of the political story immediately after Kennedy died. However, there should be some mention of the information passed to President Johnson or Attorney General Kennedy. Do any of these minor quibbles really amount to anything more than that: quibbles? Not really.

THE LOOK
The doc is presented in letterbox format (more on that in a minute) and looks exactly like a television production should. Older, vintage footage-like that of the actual assassination-is grainy and somewhat distorted, though not any worse than we'd reasonably expect. The colors remain crisp enough, all things considered, especially Mrs. Kennedy's pink dress. The reenactments are much more dubdued, bathed in a combination of metallic blue and green in Parkland Memorial Hospital and a much more subdued gray, brown and black through the other segments. Blacks run appropriately deep with only slight pixelation or moire (shimmer) effects in certain objects.

Now then, about that non-anamorphic picture. The Kennedy Assassination was aired in October, 2009, on History. There is no legitimate reason this release-or anything else airing on television-is not presented in the 16:9 format. Most houses have upgraded or will be upgrading to high definition sets and what happens when they plug in this documentary? Black bars on all sides of the picture. If the vintage footage would have been compromised by making it 16:9, then keep it letterboxed and everything else anamorphic.

THE SOUND
The English 2.0 audio mix does its job without any issues. The dialogue remains clear and free of distortion. Background noise inherent in the source material has been retained in every instance. Even though there are no subtitles included on the disc, the producers were smart enough to know when certain audio footage would be hard for the audience to hear and subtitled certain passages in the doc.

THE STUFF
The Kennedy Assassination comes packed in a standard black keepcase with no insert. Aside from a dozen chapter stops, there are no extras on the disc.