Rating: 
Summary: GARBAGE
Review: Plain and simple: ABC upholds the lie in accordance with the majority of media outlets. How anyone can ignore something as glaring as a totally inept autopsy in the crime of the century, is inexcusable. That's just for starters. Throw in a "lone nut" with a poor weapon, and an incredibly super bullet and you have the fairy tale that ABC upholds. Please, enough. We the people find the truth closer to JFK than we do the Posner crowd or this ABC after school special! THIS IS GARBAGE.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Archival Footage, but...
Review: The first reviewer for this to come DVD encouraged me to take out my VHS version of this special and to finally sit down and watch it from beginning to end. And I agree; the archival footage alone is worth the price of admission. But...Although I don't think Mr. David R. Von Pein bases his lone nut believing strictly on this special, I would like to remind him and everyone interested in this case to read and listen and to watch everything with a grain of salt. Even Mr. Dale K. Myers, who supplies the 3-D graphics supporting Oswald's alleged shooting, has to admit that a computer is only as smart as the information you put in it. If you put in the right coordinates, you could claim Oswald was actually in the Dallas County Records building at the time of the shooting, and still pulled off the same feat (although I think conspiracists would argue that would actually be an easier shot). Further evidence that you should take this (and everything else connected up with the Kennedy assassination) with a grain of salt is Gerald Posner. Yes; good old standby Gerald Posner takes part in this special, which surprisingly doesn't really rely that much on facts (it seems more like opinions than anything...are we supposed to take them at their word?) until its last 20 minutes or so. ...I don't like Posner. It's nothing personal, it's just that with his book CASE CLOSED, he carries on like he's writing nothing but the truth, but a (fair minded) person educated with just the Warren Commission Report alone will know different. And yes, because Posner is quote 'telling the truth', he needs to tell the truth. It's because of Posner's assistance here that I give this special only four stars, and of course listen to its facts (including those of Mr. Myers) even more so with a scrupulous eye. I'm not totally convinced of a conspiracy in the death of JFK (which is why I can enjoy this type of special), but I'm definitely not convinced of the lone nut theory.
Rating:
Summary: Selected "Facts" perpetuate the big lie!
Review: The supporters of the cover story are still using selected "Facts" to perpetuate the biggest lie in American history. As Hitler said, the bigger the lie the better! If you are interested in real facts, read "JFK and Vietnam" by John Newman - explains why JFK was murdered - NSAM 263 - withdrawal of all American forces by end of 1965 - after JFK's re-election - unacceptable to the military industrial complex - "He f.....d us in Cuba, and now he's gonna f..k us in Vietnam!" Also see Logevall's "Choosing War" The Lost Chance For Peace and the Escalation of War in Vietnam If the idiot below cares to understand the military coup organised by CIA operative and General Edward Lansdale, see any books by Fletcher Prouty. As for Lee Oswald, he was a scapegoat and patsy - an inside agent who was actually outside the inner circle. Inoccent, framed, and disposed of! Sad but true!
Rating: 
Summary: no conspiracy
Review: There are many problems with a conspiracy theory in this case. Firstly, is the number of people that would have to have been involved...literally countless amounts. And yet all the people who come forward and say they were part of this conspiracy are always easily refuted. Many were no where near where they say they were, some have changed their stories over the years to fit the current conspiracy, and still others are just attention seekers looking for their place in history and willing to say anything to achieve that. Another problem is that there is this idea that if someone covers something up, it is automatically because there is a vast conspiracy. I don't know about you guys, but I try to cover my own ass when I mess up. I do it frequently and yet I have never been part of a vast right wing or left wing conspiracy.
People who cling onto this conspiracy crap really need to come up with a clear and concise argument. None of this crap about an Oswald clone or someone stealing the body of Kennedy. The problem is that there is no possible way a conspiracy happened at the level that has been too often reported. The idea that makes the most sense is that Oswald acted alone. If Reagan's assassin had been successful and then someone had killed him, there would be all the same BS stories about how there was a vast conspiracy against Reagan. Because we have the luxury of a living would-be assassin, we all know he was a wacko...just like Oswald. Some weird disturbed lonely kid who wanted attention. Is it THAT crazy to think that Kennedy was killed by a loser? Obviously there are people who try to distort history and say all this BS about Kennedy getting out of Vietnam. Earth to idiots!!! He got us in Vietnam in the first place. Now I'm not saying he was a bad president, but he really wasn't everything he is blown up to be nowadays. He was not starting a revolution. It wasn't because of civil rights. He was a moderate president!!! It was because some wacko, with American military training, decided to kill an American president.
Rating:
Summary: The truth shall set you free!
Review: They finally got it right! This documentary sets the record straight in the murder of President John F. Kennedy. For years, the conspiracy theorists have bombarded the public with misinformation and falsehoods about this terrible event. As Dr. Josef Goebbels put it, "Tell the lie often enough and it becomes the accepted truth". No more! I will comment on three items addressed in the special: the timing of the shooting, the single bullet theory, and Oswald's proficiency with a rifle. The conspiracy theorists say that NO ONE could get three shots of in 5 and a fraction seconds. This sounds reasonable but the 5 second time frame is fallacious. Visual inspection of the Zapruder Film shows Governor Connally reacting the the first shot at frame 160 by a sharp turn to his right. The fatal shot was at frame 313. At 18 frames per second on Zapruder's camera, this works out to 8.5 seconds. The next item to consider is the so called "magic bullet". Popular myth is that Connally was directly in front of, and level with the President in the car and the bullet would have to defy all ballistics to injure both men. In fact, Connally was 3 inches lower and 6 inches inboard of the President. In addition to this, his body was turned sharply to the right. If you look at their positions at the exact moment the bullet struck (Zapruder frames 223/224), their wounds line up and trace back directly to the sniper's nest. Lastly, let's examine the shooter; Lee Harvey Oswald. Holy Writ among conspiracy theorists is that he was a mediocre shot at best. In fact, examination of Oswald's Marine Corps shooting record shows that he qualified as a Sharp Shooter at a range of 200 yards. The distance from the sniper's nest to the point where the fatal shot hit was 88 yards. This was well within Oswald's capability. Conspiracy theorists should give due consideration to these points. Combined this with the "Unsolved History" episode on the same subject which recreates the shooting, Oswald's trip from the 6th floor to the lunch room, and Oswald's encounter with Officer J. D. Tippit. Do this; be intellectually honest, and you will see that you have subscribed to a False Faith.
Rating:
Summary: At last,the real truth about the Kennedy assassination.
Review: This ABC documentary shows the real truth about the Kennedy assassination with scientific evidence disproving the conspiricy buffs with their multiple and contradictary theories.
It also is the only documentary to present interviews with Oswald's relatives(including his brother)and people that knew him both in the US and the Soviet Union. They do the same with Jack Ruby. By doing this,they present a history of the characters that has not been seen before and clearly show Oswald's motives.
The topper for me was the evaluation of the ridiculous movie JFK where director Oliver Stone says "I used artistic licence in making the film". Excuse me Oliver,but wasn't your movie supposed to be about the truth! The fact is that Jim Garrison never gave the summation speech at the end of the trial(his subbordinates did)and Mr Garrison wasn't even at the trial when the jury gave it's verdict.He was in his office at the time.
The term "let the truth be known or the heavens fall" is a product of Mr Stones screenwriter. So much for his truth.
Thank you ABC for such a balanced and truthful accouint of the Kennedy assassination.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous Program .... Tells The True Tale (IMO)
Review: This ABC-TV News production originally aired on the network two days before the 40th anniversary of the assassination of America's 35th President, John F. Kennedy. Most of the pro-conspiracy advocates will fail to find any redeeming qualities in a program like this one; a program that bases its conclusions on just the FACTS in the case, and not fanciful, would-be theories of hidden gunmen, faked photographs, and forged autospy records, etc. "Peter Jennings Reporting: The Kennedy Assassination -- Beyond Conspiracy" dives head first into the documented "facts" that we have, and presents a stylish and polished and completely acceptable documentary based on those facts (none of which has ever been proven to be inaccurate to the point of complete dismissal, including, of course, the highly-controversial "Single Bullet Theory"). With the aid of Mr. Dale K. Myers' very detailed 3-D models (which show that the SBT is far from a "Lone Nut dream"), Peter Jennings and ABC-TV paint a convincing portrait of the way things really occurred on Elm Street in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Mr. Myers' animations actually show that the Single Bullet Theory is more than just a "theory" -- it's very likely the ONLY possible explanation to account for the wounding of JFK and Texas Governor John Connally. For, without it, we would have another sort of "Magic Bullet"...a bullet that enters Mr. Connally and completely disappears without a trace! There's a lot of good-quality archival video clips utilized in this documentary, plus some new 2003 interviews with key players in the tragedy. But it's Dale Myers' 3-D mock-ups which really hit a bull's-eye here. Fascinating is the best word for them, I would say. I would have liked more of the Myers' animation shown within this compelling 2-hour program (88 minutes sans commercials), but unfortunately much of Mr. Myers' comprehensive work was not used for this ABC special. But there's still enough shown for the viewer to obviously know that Mr. Myers hasn't just slapped this 3-D computer model together overnight. He has been working on this animation project for many years. And that level of research and detail comes through in the all-too-brief demonstration of his work on this program. If you're interested in seeing further details on Dale Myers' 3-D computer models, you can check out some very interesting facts at the following web address: http://www.jfkfiles.com/jfk/html/content.htm I like the way ABC presents the case in this program, pulling no punches along the way. It's obvious to them, as it is to me, that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone killer of JFK in 1963. And, seeing as how every scrap of evidence in this murder case does indeed point in the direction of Lee Oswald having acted alone, I cannot fathom how so many individuals still seem to want to cling to the idea of conspiracy. And, no, I certainly do not believe for a single second that ALL of this evidence against Oswald could have possibly been faked, fabricated from wholecloth, or otherwise tampered with, so as to implicate an INNOCENT "patsy" named Lee H. Oswald. That notion, to me, is far more fanciful than anything the Warren Commission published in 1964. Books and videos on the subject of the JFK assassination have been decidedly one-sided, favoring one conspiracy angle or another. But, in my opinion, there are far too few pieces of material about that fateful Friday in Texas which focus attention on the idea that there was NO conspiracy, and that a lone oddball named Lee Harvey Oswald took a rifle with him to work on the morning of November 22nd, 1963, and fired three shots from a sixth-floor warehouse window, killing the President Of The United States.
This ABC program fills a very important gap with regard to video material relating to the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but too short
Review: This is a good introduction to people who want to study what happened that day but it is far too short to do justice to all the issues involved.
Personally I don't believe that any serious person who has looked at all the evidence objectively could possibly believe that Oswald is innocent-his guilt is established beyond doubt. Look at this very accurate digital reproduction of the Zapruder film and you'll see things that the conspiracy theorists NEVER show you-the TRUE relative positions of Kennedy and Connally and the tracking back of the shot to the 6th floor of the Depository.
But could there have been a conspiracy involving Oswald? Certainly not on the level that people of Oliver Stone's ilk would have you believe, and just look at the odds of even a small conspiracy: Oswald was only working in the Depository for about 5 weeks before the assassination. He only got the job through the efforts of Ruth Paine, the woman with whom Oswald's wife Marina lived. The motorcade route was only announced a couple of weeks before, and was planned by the Secret Service, fanatically loyal to Kennedy. What are the absolutely incredible odds that a man involved in a conspiracy to kill the president would benefit from such a monumental bit of coincidental luck? Pretty much zero.
Aside from that, have a look at the quality of people who dismiss the conspiracy and those that support it. Oswald's own brother has absolutely no doubt. Only a real fanatic could think Gerald Ford dishonest or delusional, and he too is absolutely convinced. And many others the same, like Peter Jennings in this DVD. On the other side you have marginal people, people with chips on their shoulders or who see money to be made. What a shame they manage to distort what is clearly a settled matter of history.
Unfortunately, it's going to take many, many other DVDs like this to make up for the vast ignorance about this case.
Rating:
Summary: Beyond The Facts
Review: This is by far the sloppiest reporting I've ever seen on the JFK assassination ever! And I've seen them all. No matter what your opinion of the assassination, Peter Jennings is a sham. Even if you believe that Oswald was the lone assassin this is truly an embarrassment to your cause.
The premise: Peter Jennings attempts to prove that Oswald committed the assassination all by himself. He fails miserably at both. All Jennings proves is that most people whom support the Warren Report never read it, otherwise his facts would not be so wrong.
1. Even the cover box is laughably wrong. The cover box states that Leon Zapruder took the only film of the assassination with a 16mm camera.
FACTS: Abraham Zapruder filmed with a 8mm, as did others such as Maureen Muchmore and Orville Nix, just like it says in the Warren Report.
2. The assassination took place in 9 seconds?
FACTS: The assassination took place in 5.6 seconds as stated in the Warren Report. We know this because of the timing of the Zapruder film (18.3 frames per second) and the tree blocking the window. The window was unblocked from frames 210 to 313, meaning 5.6 seconds.
3. The first shot missed?
FACTS: Nowhere in the Warren Report does it say any such thing. The "missed" shot Jennings is referring to is the one that hit bystander James Tague. According to Jennings the first shot was fired about frame 160, when JFK's car and Tague were on different sides of the plaza. How could the world's greatest marksman-miss the car so totally as to hit a man almost 90o to his right?
4. The Warren Commission's experts agreed that exhibit 399 matched Oswald's rifle and wounded JFK and Connally?
FACTS: The Commission's experts were split on this issue. Two ballistics experts testified that ex399 matched the rifle but autopsy doctors James Humes and Perry Fink testified the copper bullet was in far too fair condition to cause seven wounds to two men.
5. Oliver Stone called exhibit 399 "pristine" but it is not pristine?
FACTS: The term "pristine bullet" comes straight from the Warren Report. That's the whole point Stone was trying to make, far too many fragments were found for a pristine bullet to have caused seven wounds to two men.
6. Exhibit 399 was found on Connally's stretcher?
FACTS: The doctor who found the bullet, JC Thomelson never testified to any such thing. In fact when pressed by Arlen Specter on the issue, he said he'd be committing perjury if he said he found it on Connally's stretcher.
Rating:
Summary: The Warren Commission (WC) in the 21st Century.
Review: This program was a very poor attempt to show that Lee Harvey Oswald killed President Kennedy. The ABC make a number of suppositions regarding the assassinations, including that Oswald fired all the shots. This cannot be the case as a number of witnesses, not just 1 or 2, but at least 20-30, heard the second and third shots fired almost simultaneously. We hear that at one stage Oswald was uneducated and simple, then he is smart and educated and writes in Russian. Jack Ruby has no links to the Mafia, then suddenly does have links. The program looks at the locality of Connally to Kennedy, which looks compelling on computer, they did not except for 5 minutes look at the possibility of the headshot coming from the grassy knoll. What about testimonies of people at the scene, don't these people count. This program relies totally on the authenticity of a film, (Zapruder film), which the government owns, and with today's technology, one can now make film do anything. This program is weak, as it does not show any true autopsy photos, no eye witness accounts, apart from those pro WC and lacks depth in research to get to the true meaning. The program tries to place the blame squarely on Cuba, stating that the Kennedy's were obsessed with Castro. If they were so obsessed with Castro why didn't they send air support for the Bay of Pigs, why didn't thery invade during the Cuban missile crisis. Anyone who does a bit of research will find that JFK signed a memorandum which severely limited the powers of the CIA after the B of P. Don't you think the CIA would be a little pissed? Don't get caught up with who did it, but why? This case has so much depth it cannot be covered by a 2 hour program. When you understand the why, the who becomes obvious. A very good program to watch is the Men who killed Kennedy, it covers the major angles in depth and gives much more than the window dressing of this program.
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