Posted on 10/11/2009 5:14:51 PM PDT by mlo
Is there anything left to be saidor seenwhen it comes to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy? Just you wait. JFK: 3 Shots That Changed America, a two-part, four-hour special airing on History [Sunday, October 11, 9/8c and Monday, October 12, 9/8c] takes viewers back to November 22, 1963 and tells the story via a timeline using only archival news footage, much of which will be new even to assassination buffs. There is no narration (sorry, Peter Coyote). There are no talking heads. The projects exec producers Nicole Rittenmeyer and Seth Skundrick used a similar technique in last years 9/11-themed special 102 Minutes That Changed America on History, which went on to win three Emmys. TV Guide Magazine spoke with Rittenmeyer about her so-retro-its-radical approach to the JFK tragedy.
JFK: 3 Shots That Changed America unfolds like a gripping, interactive thrillerall the more amazing considering we all know how things turned out. Watching it, you cant help but feel that todays documentary makers take the easy way out by relying too much on narration and experts to do the storytelling. Its hard for me to watch documentaries with voiceover now, for that very reason. Theres a relief in not being told what to think by a narrator. When the audience is busy listening to whats being said, and processing what theyre being told, a documentary can become like wallpaper. Without narration, theres a whole different level of appreciation.
But much tougher to pull off, right? Listen, there were a couple of times when we were like, God, if we could just write a couple of sentences to help us [bridge the missing material]. It would be soo much easier! But when you dont rely on a script to fill in the blanks, it forces you to beat the bushes and find more interesting footage. The JFK assassination was not like 9/11 where we have a video record of almost every second. But we did the best we could.
Your project really captures America trying to comprehend the incomprehensible. Now we live in such a shocking world, were always waiting for the next catastrophe. In 1963, the murder of the President was a very hard thing to grasp. Its such a cliché to say it was a more naïve or innocent time, but the commonality of the experience is fascinating. The entire world stopped, and that just doesnt happen anymore, except in the case of 9/11.
Youve found some surprisingly obscure video and audio material that helps bring a fresh perspective to an overtold story. Howd you score that stuff? The material is there and available at the 6th Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. Also CBS is a goldmine of footage. The thing is, when traditional documentaries on the assassination are done they focus on finding video that matches the script theyve written. They dont need or want the material we used, like the Dallas talk show that was airing a fashion segment when news of the assassination broke locally. They dont want the As the World Turns scene and the Nescafe commercial that was airing when CBS reported the news. For our timeline, that material is incredible. It reveals what life was like in America back then.
You rely on TV reports by a slew of anonymous Dallas newsmen, as well as the nationally known Dan Rather, Howard K. Smith, Harry Reasoner and Eric Sevareid to reveal the events of that weekend. What are your thoughts on the evolution of media coverage since JFKs death? The assassination was the moment that changed TV news coverage forever. Whats interesting is how unbelievably professional and together the reporters were, given what was happening around them. Most of those guys were on air for 48 hours. Only a couple of times do they break downand of course we include thatbut theres such a consummate professionalism about those old time news guys. I wonder if were that good anymore.
Is there a Holy Grail of JFK assassination footagematerial you believe is out there somewhere that could change the story as we know it? There may be for 9/11. There is surveillance footage that the CIA and FBI and others swept in and took for their investigations and havent released yet. But in 1963, that sort of thing didnt happen. Still, when you see shots of the crowds at Dealey Plaza there are a lot of people with cameras capable of shooting the assassination from a million different angles. You just know theres more footage out there. There has to be. Hopefully, itll turn up before it disintegrates. Is there footage on the level of the Zapruder film? I dont know. Perhaps. To this day, new Hitler footage is still turning up.
There are some eerie, prophetic moments early in your film, such as the video of JFKs last speech given at a Fort Worth breakfast on the morning of the assassination in which he says This is a very dangerous and uncertain world You come across footage like that and the hairs on your arms stand up. And when the boys choir at the breakfast sings The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You it freaks me out no matter how many times I watch it. And you cant help but get in the action. Every time the guy walks through the Dallas jail holding Oswalds rifle in his hand youre like, Get your fingerprints off that!
You purposely avoid using some commonly seen material, like footage of the presidential motorcade riding into Dealey Plaza and Walter Cronkite confirming the death of JFK on CBS. Whats up with that? I think that when you start seeing that motorcade, or you see Cronkite take off his glasses and look at the clock, you literally stop engaging because youve seen it so often. You kind of shut down. You watch it and go, I know what this is. I dont need to participate in it. Our collaborators at History said, Everybody wants the Cronkite shot. But we said Lets be cooler than that. Lets defy that expectation.
None taken, but it's probably not what you think. The conspiracy questions are only part of the show.
Where is the photo of the “not this sh*t again” guy ?
I don't know that there is anything left to reveal.
. I think there is some validity to your statement. America was still a can-do country in 1963. We were still fighting Communism abroad and racism at home, but a society populated by war proven WW2 vets was building the most modern nation non earth. Roads, colleges, schools, consumer goods, inventions, improvements in the standard of living were happening regularly and expected to continue.
By the end of 1963, America was still the major hope of the world and the major influencer of culture for a world eager to recover from the destruction of WW2.
The golden age of rock and roll and pop music, 1956-1963, seemed like it would continue unabated.
The assassination of JFK was like the innocence and unbridled optimism of America was assassinated as well. You knew that nothing could or would ever be the same after such a horrible deed, one that was played out on our TV screens. You knew also that something had been taken away forever, a bright future track that would never be the road America would travel again.
Two and a half months later, the Beatles would land in NY, taking a depressed America by storm and changing the flavor of music forever. Also in 1964, the race riots began in the summer, forcing America to confront racism.That same summer, the Gulf of Tonkin incident involved us in a war that would shake the very foundations of our civil society, and start a decline that would not even abate until Ronald Reagan insprired us to greatness in the campaign of 1980.
In 1965, there were more race riots in the inner cities, and the images of battles in a far away jungle land called Vietnam, and mounting casualties would shock a nation. The British invasion of culture, art, and music intensified.
By 1966, folk music, long hair, hippies and the beginnings of flower powerstarteed to take hold. These were foreign tokens of culture, not even imaginable three years before. The stress cracks in society were beginning to form.
By 1967, the war in Vietnam was going full tilt, with success being assured by mounting body counts of the Viet Cong. Facial hair on men, sideburns,tie-dyed clothes, psychodelic pop art, Eastern influences on music, more race riots in the summer, the emergence of war protest, hawks and doves on Vietnam seemed to continually drive stakes into the heart of mainstream AMericanism and culture. Change was coming.
In 1968, multiple assasinations of political figures, the Tet offensive in Vietnam, the My Lai massacre,war protests, hawks and doves beating each other in the streets, sit-ins, protests against all authority, especially on college campuses was unchecked all over the country. It felt like America was coming apart at the seams. Like Humpty Dumpty, it was about to fall and explode, never to be put back together again.
From 1969-1972, the same old, same old happened again, with America seeming to fracture more and more.The popular music reflected the national mood, nothing like the upbeat innocent songs of a five or six years before.
Then in 1973, there was an end to America's war in Vietnam.There was hope that Vietnam could be put behind us, a war widely viewed as the first we had ever lost. But then the Watergate break-in had been exposed, and this cancer ate away at us daily until Nixon finally resigned the next year in disgrace.
As 1973 turned into 1974 we then had our first oil crisis, gas lines, doubt that there would ever again be enough energy for America, this uncertainty, a first in American history, lasted until June when oil and gasoline supplies returned to normal. Even with gas 50% higher than before the shortage, America was just happy to return to normal.Then in August, 1974, Nixon resigned the Presidency in disgrace, leaving behind a split country. It seemed to me a day as dark as the day JFK died,as this was another American first.
I could go on, but the 1970s continued a slide in American prestige, national will, and identity, helped along by another oil crisis and a national economic meltdown in 1979-1980, the Iranian hostage crisis during the same time period,leisure suits, and one bright spot--the rise of disco around 1977. The 70s also introduced us to "issue" and "relevant" TV sitcoms, wherein we were bombarded and indoctrinated on the proper way to think by the likes of Norman Lear and his cohorts in Hollywood.
Only a B-movie actor who came along in 1980 made us believe in America again. He fought Communism relentlessly, overcoming it, and making it possible by 1991 for the breakup of the Soviet Union and freedom for over 500 million peoploe behind the Iron Curtain.
It is hard to believe that 20 years after Reagan left the White House, it is inhabited by Marxist Muslim who hates everything this country has championed and accomplished for over 200 years.
But yes, I would agree with your statement. The 1963 America of my boyhood I saw again only during the ascent of Reagan and briefly again after 9/11/01, when this country was united, before the Democrats started again to tear the country apart for their political purposes. 1963 was a golden year. I am grateful for the America of my boyhood, when dreams could be dreamed and optimism knew no bounds.
I only wish it again for others, knowing full well that the present leadership in Washington is committed to the demise of what this country was destined to be.
Take a look at the music and TV sitcoms of 1963--that will give you a glimpse of the America I remember, faults and all.
And remember the one thing that has remained constant all that time--Democrats are the enemy of freedom.
Or a documentary that isn't about Hitler.
Kennedy was already too busy with his own "twist" on what was meant by the Monroe Doctrine.
(BTW twist is just "lisp-synch" for "tryst")
Let’s see, John was doing Marilyn, Bobby was doing Jackie...
I don’t know if I want to know what Teddy could have revealed.
3 shots tells me all I need to know, but we’ll see.....someone here will watch it...
Kennedy died on Nov.21, 1963!
Enough of the Kennedy's already!
We as a nation have a future to look forward to. No more!
There are a lot of cable channels to fill.
I don’t watch them anymore...
In fact, I don’t watch them at all.
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