This low budget film makes the plausible case that the assasination of JFK did not involve a huge government conspiracy or mafia involvement. It shows how just a handful of powerful people using "Black Operatives" could have pulled it off. The framing of Lee Harvey Oswald is also quite convincing. The one flaw in the movie is when the right wing power brokers say they can't find any evidence of JFK's sexual activities. That proves how well covered up his sexual trists were by the media at the time and well into the 1970s. This movie is well worth a look and using the most basic of facts makes a stunning case for conspiracy.
August 25, 2008 |  | Right on the mark! Top Notch! |  |
This film is so on the mark it almost looks like one of the assassins wrote the script! In the first place, anyone who believes the Warren Commission is an idiot! Lee Harvey Oswald couldn't hit the floor with his hat, much less cock a bolt-actiob rifle 3 times in six seconds and score 2 hit out of 3-Few if any military snipers could. This film takes a theory and almost makes it fact, it's that good. Virtually every scene is plausible, the basic theory is sound, and as most conspiracy theorists agree, EXECUTIVE ACTION, behind JFK, is the BEST movie ever made on this subject.
July 28, 2008This forgotten drama depicting a conspiracy behind the assassination in Dallas covers some of the same ground as Oliver Stone's J.F.K, but seems to have elicited none of the hysterical controversy, perhaps as it was released to a jaded post-Watergate audience. We see the famed image of Oswald with his rile being created in a sequence that definitely foreshadows one of the best parts of Stone's film. There are also similar scenes of Oswald being set up around Dallas as a patsy. (Stone may have learned what to avoid when studying this picture as well. His theories about Oswald work better when our frame of reference is an actor in the role. Here we see so much footage of the real Oswald it's easy to buy him as a lone nut.) Unfortunately, much of the rest of this picture is taken up with target practice and about a full third is the main characters watching images of the President on T.V.
What's most remarkable though is the completely un-ironic manner in which the right-wing conspirators are played. They could be the local Chamber of Commerce or the leads on a network lawyer show from the 70s. There's nothing menacing about them and they're allowed no pat commentary or agonizing about what they're doing. In fact, when Robert Ryan discusses his racist theories he sounds like he could be amiably plugging a book on Fox News. (Stone would never withhold judgement like that. Similar characters are portayed as so evil they give even Nixon the creeps in Nixon.)
The lone extra is a documentary around the time of the film's making where the filmmakers discuss what they're doing in kind of lofty terms. (This is punctuated by bracing insights from Ryan.)
June 28, 2008I have the VHS version but the DVD includes film shorts and info. Fellow conspiracy theorists will enjoy explanations by Burt Lancaster, Will Geer and Robert Ryan as to how they were "convinced by the evidence" and decided to do this film. Sometimes it's difficult to remember that this is fiction. Really.
June 19, 2008The title "Executive Action", refers to 50's & 60's black operation terminology for a "santioned" assassination by the U.S. government (of the time). "Executive Action" is interesting & chilling. If your looking for a big Hollywood production you won't like it. If your looking for some insite into what people were thinking at the time you'll like it, and at only 91 minutes running time it is short and to the point. (when released in 1973 JFK hadn't been gone 10 years.) VERY interesting considering what has come to light in the intervening 35 years since the release. Buy it. ;)
May 21, 2008More reviews at Amazon.com ...
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