Mad that it’s now 56 years since the Kennedy
assassination. I have no doubt that there will be a thousand and one memes floating
around today along the lines of ‘Where’s Lee Harvey Oswald when you need him?’
Very amusing…
Personally, I just see it as a great excuse to watch
the extra-long, extended-edition version of Oliver Stone’s 1991 masterpiece
“JFK.” Whether you think it’s conspiracy theory gone extreme, or one man’s
paranoia writ large on screen, or a scarily true rendition of the events in
Dallas and their aftermath, you have to admit it’s a remarkable piece of
film-making. Something to be shown to aspiring actors, writers, editors and
directors alike as an example of what cinema is capable of if you set your
standards high enough. Some of my all-time favourite moments in movies are contained
within this one film, and it saddens me to think that cinephiles under the age
of 30 will probably rank it a long way down their list, behind most of the
Marvel releases and at least one Peter Jackson product. Donald Sutherland’s
performance as “X” will win my Best Supporting Actor EVER award if I ever get
round to doing my oft-considered “All-Time Oscars”, but it also has exquisite
turns from the likes of Walther Matthau, John Candy, Kevin Bacon, Wayne Knight
and Jack Lemmon. Cinematography is beautiful, editing is unsurpassed and the
tension that builds in some of the ‘reveal’ moments is up there with the best
of Hitchcock. It’s just brilliant.
Award yourself a prize, by the way, if you
recognised todays blog title as a lyric from the Billy Joel song ‘We Didn’t
Start The Fire.’ (which comes from his excellent 1989 album ‘Storm Front’ which
I urge you to give a listen.)
RC 22-11-19
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