terrilllankford
Interesting artifact from the 70s. Great to see Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan and Ed Lauter at work. But check out THE PARALLAX VIEW if you want a real juicy JFK parable. And the best of all these movies is WINTER KILLS.The filmmakers behind EXECUTIVE ACTION have the known, undisputed facts of JFK's assassination: the where and the when. By reverse engineering that info they create a conspiracy theory that is so complicated and implausible that it makes you realize that it would have been impossible to plan and execute it this way. A politically confused lone assassin with little planning makes much more sense than the scenario laid out here.But of course, that's what "THEY" want you to believe. Right?
vostf
As an exercise in creating a provocative perspective on the Kennedy assassination, Executive Action is successful. Basically it is as if you would take some time to listen to a conspiracy theorist able to lay out his view without too many vague allegations. Above all it is very interesting as a reflection on conspiracies (groupthink and escalating violence).It is futile because it tries too hard to fill in the blanks so it deliberately stems from a clever thought-provoking mockumentary to a crazy conspiracy movie. If you know little about the facts it holds up pretty well, which is dangerous as far as conspiracy theorists are dangerous with their loose thinking. If you want to challenge it, there is plenty of room, yet that would be futile too.The main point IMHO is that Executive Action has it all wrong as a movie. A conspiracy movie cannot be told from the perspective of the masterminds. It is usually told from the external perspective of someone who suspects it and uncovers part of it, or it can be told from someone that is only a pawn in the conspiracy. On the contrary if all the conspiracy is laid out as a clear plan with motivations also made heavily clear, where is the mystery? The tension between what we think we know and what we crave to know?No wonder Executive Action bombed in 1973, failing both as a movie and as an open for discussion account of events from 10 years back.
LeonLouisRicci
Ten Years After the Fact, this Film Combines Fact and Speculation on the Assassination of John F. Kennedy, and is one of the First in the "Conspiracy Wave" beginning in the Early Seventies, not just on the Assassination but other Important Things as well. It is a Low-Budget Precursor to Oliver Stone's "JFK" (1991).Hitting a number of "Points" that have been Regurgitated Endlessly since, it must be Credited for its Big Screen Recreation of the Anti-Warren Commission Theorists. The Movie, as were said "Theorists" (at the time), considered Absolute Bunk and Anti-American.The Movie was not received favorably among the Public and Critics and Obviously the Power Elite were Not Pleased. Long Forgotten, Little Seen Movie with Two Mega Stars, Burt Lancaster and Robert Ryan is Now Considered a Cold Tempered, Cold War, Minimalist Movie that is to the point and Endlessly Engaging, especially if one is Not of a Single and Closed Mind on the Subject.The Tone is Bleak fitting the Story at hand and makes its Case with a Calculated Effort using Real Newsreels and Ominous, Rogue Elements of Corporations and Government. Must See Viewing for Anyone Interested in Informed Speculation, Misinformation, Disinformation, and the News Beneath the Headlines.
guerre1859
The appeal of this motion-picture for me--and, I surmise, the reason it was made--is not so much to be a profitable work of art, but rather, a courageous effort to search for the truth.The obscurity of the film shows that, despite the efforts of courageous progressives who put their money where their hearts were- -Kirk Douglas, Robert Ryan, Burt Lancaster, to name just a few--the reactionary, established powers had the last laugh.Because the established order of the financial-military mafia that rules this country can only be sustained through fiction and, consequently, any social commentary trending towards fact must be marginalized or lampooned as 'conspiracy theory.'Now, down to a couple of brass tacks. I already had studied the JFK assassination quite a bit when first I saw this film, but I was surprised that a movie made in 1973 could capture so many of the key elements of the conspiracy, and do it so seamlessly, without getting lost in a morass of details.Two of these key elements treated compellingly in this film are:1) the set-up of Oswald, the 'patron', as he is termed in the movie. Step by step Farington (the character played by Lancaster) briefs Robert Ryan (one of the principal conspirators) about Oswald's very, very curious background and CV--his activities in the USMC, his Russian language training, his abrupt departure, the inconsistencies of his emergency leave, his circuitous route to Moscow, his melodramatic defection, then his return to the US, his fair-play for Cuba activities--and, all along, the almost magical manner in which these gyrations went off without a hitch, and were even expedited and facilitated by various US agencies. As Ryan concludes: obviously was an agent of the CIA or ONI, his bizarre activities were machinations to send to the USSR as a 'mole', or 'trojan horse', but the Soviets were past masters in espionnage, and didn't take the bait.2) a point so obvious that it sometimes is forgotten, or simply defies belief: a scene in the movie where a table-ful of reporters incredulously ask a Dallas police official what records, what transcripts or tapes have been made of Oswald's hours-long interrogations, only to be told--with no hint of embarrassment--that there are none. This is just one compelling example of another basic proof of the JFK conspiracy: the incredibly incompetent manner in which the official investigation of the crime was conducted. And yes, I mean incredible in the literal sense: a bit of investigatory incompetence here and there would be understandable--but the consistency of these 'errors' shows conclusively a deliberate effort to mask what really happened.Please remember that Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster also were part of Seven Days in May, which JFK asked Frankheimer to make, a movie about a right-wing military takeover of the USA.So for all those who poo-poo the idea of a JFK conspiracy and commonly dismiss believers in such a conspiracy as lunatics, consider the fact that such outstanding individuals as Douglas, Lancaster, and Frankenheimer, intelligent, and with many contacts-- BUT with a lot of DISincentives, nevertheless repeatedly made pointed efforts suggesting the existence of an organized plot to subvert democracy in the USA, doesn't this give you pause?This is a reasonable representation of how the JFK conspiracy assassination may have been planned and executed; it's muted and almost documentary in approach, but this undramatic approach only makes it more powerful.
