A Thread about the film JFK

"oh...no..."

***shot of sinister clock***

"h-how bad?"

"there's no woid yet, but they think it's in the he-ahd"

"You're way out there, boss, taking a crap in the wind, and I for one am not going along on this ride!"

i assume this poster was made for a country where Joe Pesci is more popular than Kevin Costner.

"Is this off the record Daddy-O? Good. In that case, let me sum it up for you real quick. If I answer that question you keep asking, if I give you the name of the big enchilada, you know ... then it's bon voyage Dino. I mean like permanent. I mean like a bullet in my head, you dig? You're a mouse fighting a gorilla. Kennedy is dead as that crab meat. The government's still breathing and you wanna line up with a dead man?"

x-post YO!

JIM
I don't know what to tell them. How 'bout the
truth - I'm doing my job to make sure they can
grow up in a country where justice won't be an
arcane, vanished idea they read about in history
books, like the dinosaurs or the lost continent
of Atlantis.

LIZ
That sounds dandy, but it doesn't replace a
father and a husband on Easter Day.

JIM
(angry, turns away)
It's going to get worse, honey.

Quote from Pesci about JFK: "[I was happy to see the Supporting Actor nomination go to Tommy Lee Jones.] When I see that I say, I helped. He worked with me and I helped him be good."

You know, I wonder if there's any behind-the-scenes footage in some vault of the filming of the party scene (where Pesci helped Jones be good).

LIZ
(groggily)
Huh?

JIM
(strangled)
He won ... and they killed Robert Kennedy. They
shot him down.

LIZ
(realizing, with terror)
Oh no! No! I can't believe it. I can't
believe it. Both of them, both brothers, oh my
God!

She clings to him, horrified. He caresses her hair. They look in each
other's eyes.

LIZ (CONT'D)
You're right, it hasn't ended, has it?

He kisses her gently - They start to make love, numbed, needing each
other, needing their love in an increasingly terrifying world.

Here's a question, who should have been the Criswell figure for this film, reading out that stuff as a narrator?

We see the four men in drag, smiling for the flash camera, champagne
bottles in hand. Ferrie sniffs some poppers, then shoves a popper in
Shaw's face.

FERRIE
(to Shaw)
You're mine, Mary. Go get the fucking tools
out, bitch. Now! I want some ass.

Ferrie forces more poppers on Shaw. The camera movies to Shaw's
bedroom, where Ferrie scatters a drawer full of leather tools.

FERRIE (CONT'D)
(to Shaw)
Come here, bitch.
(Ferrie grabs Shaw by the hair)
You want this? The only way you get this is do
what I say.
(Ferrie whacks Shaw)
I'm the man. Don't ever forget it.
(Shaw begs and whines)
You want it? You want it?
(Ferrie spits on Shaw)
Fuck you and your rich friends. You're nothing
but a rich whore! You're my woman! Get the
cat!
(to young man)
Strip! Now, woman. I want to see skin.

They all stop, look.

SUSIE: Who?

BILL: Grab your socks and pull ... Clay Bertrand is Clay Shaw ...

SUSIE(stunned): No! ... Shaw! Director of The Trade Mart? This is incredible.

NUMA: Pillar of the community by day, gay bars at night.

Liz Garrison is the most shaken, as she pours a fresh pot of coffee.

"Dallas was a slow town back then. You chewed toothpicks, played dominos, spit and dated policemen."

"He said, "Beverly, this is my friend Lee ..." and [INSERT LAUGH THAT SPIKES THE MIC LEVELS HERE] I didn't catch the other guy's name. He was a weird-looking guy with those funny little eyebrows."

"When I saw him tow weeks later on the television, I screamed, "Oh, my God - that's him! That's Jack's friend!"

"If they can kill the President, do you think they're gonna think twice about a two-bit showgirl like me?"

JIM
No one's trying to buy you, Willie. It's
important to know why you're telling us this.

O'KEEFE
(pauses)
You wanna know why? 'Cause that mother fucker
Kennedy stole that fuckin' election, that's why!
Nixon was gonna be one of the great Presidents
'til Kennedy wrecked this fuckin' country. Got
niggers all over the fuckin' place asking for
their rights, where do you think we got all this
fuckin' crime now, 'cause Kennedy promised 'em
too damned much. Revolution comin'. Fascism's
coming back. I tell ya this - the day that
Communist sumbitch died was a great day for this
country. I jes' hate to think they're blaming
it on some silly fuckin' Oswald who didn't know
shit anyway. People should know why that
sumbitch was killed. 'Cause he was a Communist.
Put me on the stand, go ahead, I'll tell the
same goddamn story, I'm proud of it, don't
matter fuck all to me, things don't change.

As he talks, Jim shares a sickened look with Bill. Whatever truth he
may be telling is necessarily compromised by an attitude that could be
destroyed in court.

I wonder if the shooting script for Year Of The Dragon is available.

JIM: Where you off to, son?

BARNES: Vietnam, suh! To fight for a grand cawse.

JIM (eyes moistening, voice choking): You--you be careful there, you hear me?

BARNES (giggles): Don't worry 'bout me, you jus' worry about Charlie!

Jim nods sadly, turns, and walks into history.

X steps into frame and turns to the camera.

X: And that was the day Vietnam started.

"Women! Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em."

(we need gear)

MARTIN
Chief, maybe you had a little too much to drink.

BANISTER
Bullshit!
(yells across the room)
Bartender, another round ...
(finishes drink)
Here's to the New Frontier. Camelot in
smithereens. I'll drink to that.

He bows his head, holding it in his hands, and his wig starts to come
off in his hands.