CHAPPAQUIDDICK Movie Thread--Premiere's Today

Rotton Tomatoes ^ | 4/06/2018 | Nikos1121

[nikos1121]

On July 18, 1969, Sen. Ted Kennedy drives his car off of a bridge on Massachusetts' Chappaquiddick Island. The accident results in the death of passenger Mary Jo Kopechne, a 28-year-old campaign strategist who worked for Kennedy. The ongoing investigation into the mysterious and scandalous events forever alters his political legacy -- and ultimately changes the course of presidential history, and let's be honest, America as we knew it before Ted Kennedy.

[nikos1121]

No autopsy was ever done. The embalmer said she suffocated.

[nikos1121]

Sorry Folks!!!! 8 times?

[Avalon Memories]

Thanks for the thread and your summation of the movie. I still find your belief that Kennedy was not in the car both infuriating and sad. Sad that someone of your obvious intelligence could reach such a flawed conclusion. Infuriating because you absolve Kennedy of the central crime he committed.

Ted Kennedy, at minimum, was guilty of negligent homicide (aka involuntary manslaughter). Because he could have obtained help within minutes (nearby homes and fire station), he could easily have been charged with voluntary manslaughter or even murder -- 1st or 2nd degree depending on state laws at the time.

Yet you insist on saying Kennedy wasn't even driving the car when it went off the bridge. Do you not understand that you absolve him of all guilt? Even if, as you believe, Kennedy happened across the accident scene after walking some distance to the bridge, that absolves him. In your scenario, he wasn't involved, didn't know Mary Jo was still in the car, and just didn't report the accident until the following morning. Your scenario makes zero sense considering all of the court testimony and contemporary news accounts.

[freespirit2012]

think you may have set a freerepublic record with that..

[Guenevere]

You have spammed this thread....
....what gives

[nikos1121]

It kept saying that it was NOT posting, when it was. Wholly Toledo! I’m sorry. Terrible.

[oldvirginian]

“Sorry Folks!!!! 8 times?”

Were you reaching for the record or a personal best? :-)

[2harddrive]

The Conspiracy Theory I heard stated that Ted Kennedy snuck out from the party with another politician’s wife to have sex with her off-site, and did not know that Mary Joe had left the party house, tipsy, sleepy, and tired of the party noise, to sleep it off in the back seat of spacious Oldsmobile Delta 88. When the drunk Ted drove it off the bridge, Ted and the politician’s wife got out, but not even knowing Mary Jo was there, they left her behind, while the other two took off to work on their alibis. The slutty wife’s identity was protected, while Teddy was amazed that there was anyone else in the car, so he had to quickly improvise his “story”.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Wow! A new record! TEN dupes of a single post. I am in awe!

[nikos1121]

I’m willing to debate you on this, plus I’m not alone in this assumption. Many people, I guess with more intelligence than you give me credit having have agreed. I have never found any logical explanation on how Kennedy got out of the car. Detectives for the county and the insurance carriers came up with the same belief. So did the diver. It only makes sense when you figure he wasn’t drving.

How do you explain the following?

1. The doors of the car were locked.
2. The damage to the car was to the passenger side, yet Mary Jo did not have any scratches on her none, as you would expect to see for the driver.
3. How did Kennedy, over 6 ft tall get out when she didn’t and how?
4. He had reason not to be in the car as Officer Look had come up to the car.
5. Kennedy was very familiar with that bridge.
6. The car was going over 35 mph
7. Mary Jo drove a Volkswagen and the Kennedy’s car was big in comparison, plus she had 0.09% alcohol.
8. By having him driving, he becomes the hero.

In short, Kennedy said he was in the car. He and the people around surmised that it would be better for him to say so, and plead guilty compared to the aftermath of saying he wasn’t driving. It would look cowardly if he said he wasn’t driving. How would he explain, being seen in the car earlier, then a single woman drowns in your car, being drunk (4 to 5 rum and cokes and beer reportedly), going down a dirt road, leaving the party, etc etc.

I think that he blacked out, and probably has no recollection of being in or out of the car. I’m not even buying that he went for help. I think he went back to his room and told no one about it.

The movie has him driving the car, and going back to the party for help.

TEd Kennedy was the most despicable person to be elected to the Senate of the United States. I maintain, that everything he did was dastardly, cowardly, hideous and pathetic. No way he was driving. That’s my opinion and the opinion of many many others.

[nikos1121]

This is true, and I think there’s a guy named Nelson with this theory.

[Aliska]

It could have been true. He would also have known if she had water in her lungs and other indications of how long she might have suffered, not as much as an autopsy would have revealed.

I have never believed it was intentional to let her die. But it's blurred when he failed to get help any number of ways he could have much sooner.

I wanted to see where Chappaquiddick was in relation to Martha's Vineyard and the mainland. In the process, I found a very good blog which encapsulates the father's ambitions, the family, particularly Ted, and Rosemary. Also one black and white photo of the bridge which I understand no longer exists.

The blog profile is pretty brutal but if that was the reality, then so be it.

http://huntfortrends.blogspot.com/2009/08/mary-jo-kopechne.html

Now I need to check on his wife Joan, if she is still living, haven't heard anything about her for a very long time. Looks like she could be. She quietly attended Ted's funeral.

[Aliska]

PS. Suffocation, if true, would suggest an air pocket with the oxygen depleted.

[nikos1121]

TheMovie Depicts Kennedy as being a coward. And I think he was.

[nikos1121]

The trunk was full of air.

[Mears]

“I wanted to see where Chappaquiddick was in relation to Martha’s Vineyard and the mainland.”

---

Chappaquiddick IS Martha’s Vineyard and part of the town of Edgartown.

.

[willk]

Thanks for the review. I also think he was not driving. I don’t think he followed her to the bridge after seeing the cop. He went back to his hotel. I don’t think he realized that she had died until he was told the next morning because witnesses said he was calm and cheerful until 2 men came up and pulled him aside. What he done was still horrible and so was what he did to this country. I think this documentary best explains what happened:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEOd7AOR6ic

[Mears]

Joan is still alive but their daughter Kara died a few years back.

.

[raccoonradio]

An A from Boston Herald

http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/movies/2018/04/chappaquiddick_takes_hard_captivating_look_at_ted_kennedy_scandal

Saw it today in snowy Woburn MA.Good acting and script, showed his bungling attempts to get out of it. “The neck brace
was a mistake, I know that now.”
Voters of MA re-elected him in 70, 76, 82,
88, 94, 00, and 06. He went sober in 09 when he assumed room temperature.The fake Indian is up for re election in what had been his seat.

[scott7278]

So, is Chappaquiddick worth seeing?