Four Days in November

Buy This Item Four Days in November by MGM (Video & DVD)  Available from Amazon  $14.95  on 8-25-2008     In 1964, superstar producer David Wolper entrusted a then-fledgling director named Mel Stuart with the first documentary about the year-old assassination of John F. Kennedy. Stuart went on to a successful, diverse career, interspersing such popular feature films as <I>If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium</I> and <I>Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory</I> with an array of interesting nonfiction work, including <I>The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich</I>, <I>Wattstax</I>, and the moving <I>The Unfinished Journey of Robert F. Kennedy</I>. But with <I>Four Days in November</I>, he and Wolper paved the way for a certain modernity in the look and feel of a thoroughly researched documentary about a painful subject. Much of the film is compiled from television kinescopes of live TV coverage in Dallas on that fateful day, ordered in such a way as to offer viewers who lived through the events a sense of perspective, clarification, and perhaps closure. The myriad conspiracy theories that immediately appeared in the wake of Kennedy's death (not to mention Jack Ruby's murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, footage of which is included here) are examined and dismissed, though in fairness much, much else has been discovered since then to keep suspicions alive. The most fascinating and unexpected sequence, perhaps, is a clip from David Frost's old comedy show on British television, <I>That Was the Week That Was</I>, in which Frost, actor Roy Kinnear (<I>Willy Wonka</I>, interestingly enough), and others talk about their personal feelings regarding Kennedy. <I>--Tom Keogh</I> Reader Reviews Whether you believe Oswald acted alone, was part of a conspiracy, or was nowhere around, this film is worth the price. As a native Dallasite, I found the film footage of my hometown when it was still a great place to live to be priceless. Golly, remember when people still shopped downtown?! The film offers a very realistic flavor of both Dallas and America in pre-assassination times, it's almost unnerving to see an America that still trusted its elected representatives and institutions of authority. Richard Basehart's narration is excellent, and Kennedy's presidency as well as his trip to the south is well explained to even a complete Kennedy novice. The "man on the street" interviews that give us the reaction of both famous heads of state and average Americans immediately upon hearing the news of the assassination are interesting and sad, and the entire film will serve to transport you back in time as no present-day piece on this subject can do. Much of the second half of the film deals with the planning and execution of Kennedy's funeral, and this comes as close as anything I've yet seen to recreating what those days were like. If you're too young to remember this event, this film is a must see. Even us conspiracy theorists can overlook the assumption of Oswald's guilt (an assumption that, unlike post-Warren Commission material, is not shoved down your throat). I have been researching Kennedy assassination materials for years, and I find these contemporary efforts such as "Four Days in November" and Mark Lane's film "Rush to Judgement" to be far more valuable tools than latter day efforts, as the waters have now been so muddied by disinformation that we lose the real feel of these tragic events. Highly recommended.

Four Days in November Available from Amazon Price: $14.95 Updated on 8-25-2008.

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