History Film / JFK

** Depending on your POV, JFK himself is given one of these. The real Kennedy was, for the most part, a typical Cold War liberal, but Stone portrays him as a radical progressive and Lyndon Johnson as a manipulative super-villain who rams the Tonkin Gulf resolution through Congress to get elected. In fact, Kennedy had ''de facto'' committed the US to South Vietnam by the time he was assassinated, and the CIA-backed coup that killed Ngo Dinh Diem and plunged South Vietnam into chaos had already taken place. The snippet of Kennedy telling Walter Cronkite that "in the last analysis, it's (South Vietnam's) war" is taken out of context from a longer interview where he ''also'' tells Cronkite that withdrawing American troops from Vietnam would be a mistake. The opening narration also stresses Kennedy's support for the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement, which was largely lukewarm until the last months of his presidency, and peacemaking efforts with the Soviet Union while ignoring his brinksmanship over Cuba (which is blamed, naturally, on the CIA "lying" to Kennedy) and Berlin, along with the increases in military spending and armaments production which occurred during his administration.

* DanBrowned: Holy crap, this is most definitely the case. This film presents outrageous assumptions as absolute proof that JFK's assassination was a giant conspiracy theory. Some of the worst instances of this involve the epileptic man being taken to the hospital but never being admitted, then vanishing (absolutely false, he was a man named Jerry Belknap who left the hospital on realizing the doctors were too busy trying to save Kennedy to treat his minor injuries), the smoke on the grassy knoll (the rifles did not produce smoke like that, something Stone learned during filming and had to resort to smoke machines to get the desired effect), the umbrella man signaling the shooters (actually a man named Louie Witt who was waving the umbrella as a deeply-obscure political protest), and the thoroughly debunked "magic bullet" theory (it relies on JFK and Gov. Connally sitting differently than where they were actually sitting), just to name a few. The trial was in reality a complete farce (among many things, the defense caught one witness, a mailman, in a complete lie when they asked him if he ever delivered mail to a specific person, and when he said yes, the defense said they’d made that person up and asked the witness if his testimony would change. And the mailman STILL claimed to have delivered mail to this fictional person.) and was far more outrageous than the film presents it as, and the jury, after hearing everything, only took half an hour to acquit Shaw, because Garrison had absolutely no credible evidence. One scene that’s completely historically accurate is the news report that states Garrison and his office bribed and drugged witnesses to get the evidence they wanted. It’s presented in the movie as a way to undermine Garrison’s credibility to the public, but multiple people have confirmed Garrison’s staff really did those things. Their star witness (whom O'Keefe is based on partly) was repeatedly drugged to elicit his "incriminating" testimony, for instance.

* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: {{Averted}}. The film makes it quite clear that Kennedy was ''not'' popular in the South. Some gentlemen in the bar are actually seen ''cheering'' when they hear that he has been assassinated.

* RealityIsUnrealistic: When shooting a flashback to visualize a character seeing smoke come from a rifle at "the grassy knoll" during the shooting, Oliver Stone had to use a smoke machine because modern rifles don't emit enough smoke, ironically disproving some of the claimed evidence for a second gunman there in doing so.

* ARiddleWrappedInAMysteryInsideAnEnigma: David Ferrie refers to the Kennedy Assassination as "a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma" when trying to convince Jim Garrison to drop his investigation during a paranoia-fueled rant.

* ShoutOut: Sir Walter Scott: "Oh! what a tangled web we weave / When first we practice to deceive!"

* ShoutOutToShakespeare: [[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} "One may smile, and smile, and be a villain."]]

* TotallyRadical: Dean Andrews.

* UsefulNotes/BayOfPigsInvasion: According to the film, the failure of this and the political fallout that followed may have been first push in what eventually became a conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy.

* BuryYourGays: David Ferrie.

* ClusterFBomb: Creator/JoePesci, [[SirSwearsAlot naturally]].

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Another part of the alleged conspiracy. Clay Shaw is a literal example.
* DanBrowned: Holy crap, this is most definitely the case. This film presents outrageous assumptions as absolute proof that JFK's assassination was a giant conspiracy theory. Some of the worst instances of this involve the epileptic being taken to the hospital but never being admitted, then vanishing (absolutely false, he was a man named Jerry Belknap who left the hospital on realizing the doctors were too busy trying to save Kennedy to treat his minor injuries), the smoke on the grassy knoll (the rifles did not produce smoke like that, something Stone learned during filming and had to resort to smoke machines to get the desired effect), the umbrella man signaling the shooters (actually a man named Louie Witt who was waving the umbrella as a deeply-obscure political protest), and the thoroughly debunked "magic bullet" theory (it relies on JFK and Gov. Connally sitting differently than where they were actually sitting), just to name a few. The trial was in reality a complete farce (among many things, the defense caught one witness, a mailman, in a complete lie when they asked him if he ever delivered mail to a specific person, and when he said yes, the defense said they’d made that person up and asked the witness if his testimony would change. And the mailman STILL claimed to have delivered mail to this fictional person.) and was far more outrageous than the film presents it as, and the jury, after hearing everything, only took half an hour to acquit Shaw, because Garrison had absolutely no credible evidence.
** One scene that’s completely historically accurate is the news report that states Garrison and his office bribed and drugged witnesses to get the evidence they wanted. It’s presented in the movie as a way to undermine Garrison’s credibility to the public, but multiple people have confirmed Garrison’s staff really did those things.

* DanBrowned: Holy crap, this is most definitely the case. This film presents outrageous assumptions as absolute proof that JFK's assassination was a giant conspiracy theory. Some of the worst instances of this involve the epileptic being taken to the hospital but never being admitted, then vanishing (absolutely false, he was a man named Jerry Belknap who left the hospital on realizing the doctors were too busy trying to save Kennedy to treat his minor injuries), the smoke on the grassy knoll (the rifles did not produce smoke like that, something Stone learned during filming and had to resort to smoke machines to get the desired effect), the umbrella man signaling the shooters (actually a man named Louie Witt who was waving the umbrella as a deeply-obscure political protest), and the thoroughly debunked "magic bullet" theory (it relies on JFK and Gov. Connally sitting differently than where they were actually sitting), just to name a few. The trial was in reality a complete farce, and was far more outrageous than the film presents it as, and the jury, after hearing everything, only took half an hour to acquit Shaw, because Garrison had absolutely no credible evidence.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Clay Shaw was, in real life, a RenaissanceMan whose achievements in architecture, business and theater (he wrote several plays, one of them at age 16) are nigh-legendary, and who openly supported and backed John F. Kennedy. This film's Clay Shaw is a DepravedHomosexual lunatic with ties to various far-right groups before the assassination. Shaw was admired as a philanthropist and patron of the arts (he was friends with Creator/TennesseeWilliams). Also there's no firm evidence he'd ever even ''met'' David Ferrie or Lee Harvey Oswald.

* CharacterTitle: Sort of. The movie is named after the initials of John F. Kennedy as his assassination serves as the gist of the story.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The real Jim Garrison tried to railroad an innocent man, Shaw, after his investigation came up empty. The trial was a fiasco and many of his theory's particulars (namely, that Oswald, Shaw and Ferrie were not only co-conspirators but involved in a love triangle) were by all accounts preposterous, leading more than a few writers to accuse Garrison of homophobia. The movie makes a passing mention to Garrison's later indictment on bribery and corruption charges, but passes them off as a smear concocted by the GovernmentConspiracy to discredit him (which, to be fair, the real Garrison insisted as well). Indeed, many conspiracy theorists, that is people who doubted the Warren Commission, protested Garrison's trial and prosecution, along with his well-attested character flaws, as tarnishing any genuine grounds for criticism of the official report.
** Arguably, JFK is given one of these so that Stone can portray Lyndon Johnson as a manipulative super-villain who rams the Tonkin Gulf resolution through Congress to get elected. In fact, Kennedy had ''de facto'' committed the US to South Vietnam by the time he was assassinated, and the CIA-backed coup that killed Ngo Dinh Diem and plunged South Vietnam into chaos had already taken place. The snippet of Kennedy telling Walter Cronkite that "in the last analysis, it's (South Vietnam's) war" is taken out of context from a longer interview where he ''also'' tells Cronkite that withdrawing American troops from Vietnam would be a mistake. The opening narration also stresses Kennedy's support for the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement, which was largely lukewarm until the last months of his presidency, and peacemaking efforts with the Soviet Union while ignoring his brinksmanship over Cuba (which is blamed, naturally, on the CIA "lying" to Kennedy) and Berlin, along with the increases in military spending and armaments production which occurred during his administration. Kennedy was, for the most part, a typical Cold War liberal whom Stone portrays as a radical progressive.

* UsefulNotes/ColdWar: The setting, and part of the plot revolves around it.

* CampGay: Clay Shaw. Mrs. Garrison even [[LampshadeHanging questions whether Jim is going after Shaw]] ''[[LampshadeHanging because]]'' [[LampshadeHanging he is gay]] at one point. [[CaptainObvious He denies this.]] However, Shaw only behaves this way during the party. Otherwise, he's StraightGay, if a little upper crust effete (naturally, as during the era he couldn't be open about it).

** "Mr. X" is based on L. Fletcher Prouty, a retired Air Force Lt. Colonel who served as an adviser to the film and advocated theories similar to those espoused by Stone. The movie not only exaggerates his military role (he was not involved with Presidential security as "X" claims, nor was his role on the Joint Chiefs of Staff as important as the movie suggests) but ignores his less savory beliefs. Prouty was also an all-purpose conspiracy theorist who, among other claims, believed that the Jonestown Massacre was a government hoax, that Princess Diana was murdered by the CIA, and associated with the anti-Semitic, Holocaust-denying Liberty Lobby. More within the realms of standard HollywoodHistory, he didn't meet Garrison until years after Clay Shaw's trial.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Clay Shaw was, in real life, a RenaissanceMan whose achievements in architecture and theater are nigh-legendary, and who openly supported and backed John F. Kennedy. This film's Clay Shaw is a DepravedHomosexual lunatic with ties to various far-right groups before the assassination. Shaw was admired as a philanthropist and patron of the arts (he was friends with Creator/TennesseeWilliams). Also there's no firm evidence he'd ever even ''met'' David Ferrie or Lee Harvey Oswald.

* ShoutOutToShakespeare: [[{{Hamlet}} "One may smile, and smile, and be a villain."]]

** Arguably, JFK is given one of these so that Stone can portray Lyndon Johnson as a manipulative super-villain who rams the Tonkin Gulf resolution through Congress to get elected. In fact, Kennedy had ''de facto'' committed the US to South Vietnam by the time he was assassinated, and the CIA-backed coup that killed Ngo Dinh Diem and plunged South Vietnam into chaos had already taken place. The snippet of Kennedy telling Walter Cronkite that "in the last analysis, it's (South Vietnam's) war" is taken out of context from a longer interview where he ''also'' tells Cronkite that withdrawing troops of Vietnam would be a mistake. The opening narration also stresses Kennedy's support for the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement, which was largely lukewarm until the last months of his presidency, and peacemaking efforts with the Soviet Union while ignoring his saber-rattling over Cuba (which is blamed, naturally, on the CIA "lying" to Kennedy) and Berlin, along with the massive increases in military spending and armaments which occurred during his administration.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The real Jim Garrison tried to railroad an innocent man, Shaw, after his investigation came up empty. The trial was a fiasco. Indeed, many conspiracy theorists, that is people who doubted the Warren Commission, protested Garrison's trial and prosecution as tarnishing any genuine grounds for criticism of the official report. The movie makes a passing mention to Garrison's later indictment on bribery and corruption charges, but passes them off as a smear concocted by the GovernmentConspiracy to discredit him (which, to be fair, the real Garrison insisted as well).
** Arguably, JFK is given one of these so that Stone can portray Lyndon Johnson as a manipulative super-villain who rams the Tonkin Gulf resolution through Congress to get elected. In fact, Kennedy had ''de facto'' committed the US to South Vietnam by the time he was assassinated, and the CIA-backed coup that killed Ngo Dinh Diem and plunged South Vietnam into chaos had already taken place.
** Jack Lemmon's character, Jack Martin, is portrayed as twitchy and evasive but basically honest. In real life, he had, prior to the events of the movie, worked as an abortion provider, and ''bragged about beating a murder rap'' when one of his unfortunate "patients" died. His claims were also ''much'' less credible.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The real Jim Garrison tried to railroad an innocent man, Shaw, after his investigation came up empty. The trial was a fiasco. Indeed, many conspiracy theorists, that is people who doubted the Warren Commission, protested Garrison's trial and prosecution as tarnishing any genuine grounds for criticism of the official report. The movie makes a passing mention to Garrison's indictment on bribery and corruption charges, but passes them off as a smear concocted by the GovernmentConspiracy to smear him (which, to be fair, the real Garrison insisted as well).

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The real Jim Garrison tried to railroad an innocent man, Shaw, after his investigation came up empty. The trial was a fiasco. Indeed, many conspiracy theorists, that is people who doubted the Warren Commission, protested Garrison's trial and prosecution as tarnishing any genuine grounds for criticism of the official report.
** Arguably, JFK is given one of these so that Stone can portray Lyndon Johnson as a manipulative super-villain who rams the Tonkin Gulf resolution through Congress to get elected. In fact, Kennedy had ''de facto'' committed the US to South Vietnam by the time he was assassinated, and the CIA-backed coup that killed Ngo Dingh Diem and plunged South Vietnam into chaos had already taken place.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Clay Shaw was, in real life, a RenaissanceMan whose achievements in architecture and theater are nigh-legendary, and who openly supported and backed John F. Kennedy. This film's Clay Shaw is a DepravedHomosexual lunatic. Shaw was admired as a philanthropist and patron of the arts (he was friends with Creator/TennesseeWilliams). Also there's no firm evidence he'd ever even ''met'' David Ferrie or Lee Harvey Oswald.

The movie was a major critical and box office success, winning two UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s (for editing and cinematography), and was nominated for six more, losing Best Picture to ''TheSilenceOfTheLambs''.

** Unintentional example: one scene features Garrison and one of his staff in the Depository with a gun identical to Oswald's. The staffer quotes the supposed time stated by the Warren Report for Oswald's shots, 5.6 seconds,[[note]]The report actually gives Oswald closer to eight seconds.[[/note]] and then goes through the motions of firing three shots while Garrison times him. Garrison then announces his time as "Six, seven seconds." As numerous people who've timed the scene have reported, Garrison's staffer actually ''makes the shots in 5.6 seconds''.

** Jack Lemmon's character, Jack Martin, is portrayed as twitchy and evasive but basically honest. In real life, he had, prior to the events of the movie, worked as an abortion provider, and ''bragged about beating a murder rap'' when one of his unfortunate "patients" died.
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Clay Shaw was, in real life, a RenaissanceMan whose achievements in architecture and theater are nigh-legendary, and who openly supported and backed John F. Kennedy. This film's Clay Shaw is a DepravedHomosexual lunatic. Shaw was admired as a philanthropist and patron of the arts (he was friends with Creator/TennesseeWilliams).

** Unintentional example: One scene features Garrison and one of his staff in the Depository with a gun identical to Oswald's. The staffer quotes the supposed time stated by the Warren Report for Oswald's shots, 5.6 seconds,[[note]]The report actually gives Oswald closer to eight seconds.[[/note]] and then goes through the motions of firing three shots while Garrison times him. Garrison then announces his time as "Six, seven seconds." As numerous people who've timed the scene have reported, Garrison's staffer actually ''makes the shots in 5.6 seconds''.

* GayConservative: Willie O'Keefe, who's in jail for illegal homosexual acts, hated JFK for being soft on Communism and for helping civil rights.

After his case gains publicity, Garrison is invited to UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC for a confidential meeting. The man (Creator/DonaldSutherland), who goes only by the name "X", says that Garrison is closer to the truth than he thinks, and gives him background information regarding his suspicions that JFK was killed by a conspiracy involving the CIA, the military, and business interests (the "Military-Industrial Complex") in order to, among other things, stop him from bringing TheVietnamWar and the UsefulNotes/ColdWar to an end.

* TheVietnamWar

* NoExceptYes: One clip of an interview with Oswald about three months before the events in Dallas[[note]]He was arrested in New Orleans for a brawl with a gang of anti-[[UsefulNotes/FidelCastro Castro]] Cuban militants and somehow got into a television debate as a result.[[/note]] has him stating about his political beliefs: "I am not a Communist. I am a Marxist-Leninist."[[note]]There is a clear difference between the two, but in 1963, most people would think it's semantics.[[/note]]