History Film / JFK

* DoubleThink: When decrying the "magic bullet" theory, Garrison focuses on the implausibility of a single bullet entering Connelly's back, shattering his rib, exiting his chest, turning right to shatter his wrist before making a "dramatic u-turn" to burying itself in Connelly's left thigh in "almost pristine" condition. Yet, in his summation positing six shots Garrison claims two misses, three that hit Kennedy (throat, back, and head), and... ''one'' that hit Connelly.[[note]]Without the extenuating circumstance of the bullet being slowed and tumbled by first hitting JFK actually makes the "magic bullet" even more magical in Garrison's theory.[[/note]]

** When Garrison outlines what he believed happened in Dallas, he describes the outcomes of six shots. Nearly everyone at the scene described only three and only a few claimed four.
** In pointing out the supposed superimposed photo of Oswald holding the rifle, the film does not include the fact that Marina Oswald herself said that she took the photo of Oswald with it, nor that she actually took several such photos, only one of which is commonly cited as supposedly being doctored.

* DoubleThink: When decrying the "magic bullet" theory, Garrison focuses on the implausibility of a single bullet entering Connelly's back, shattering his rib, exiting his chest, turning right to shatter his wrist before making a "dramatic u-turn" to burying itself in Connelly's left thigh in "almost pristine" condition. Yet, in his summation positing six shots Garrison claims two misses, three that hit Kennedy (throat, back, and head), and... ''one'' that hit Connelly.

-->"Back, and to the left. Back, and to the left. [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Back, and to the left]]."[[note]]It turns out this does not mean anything-the impact of a bullet can make one's head go either way, no matter the direction it was fired from.[[/note]]

** In pointing out the supposed superimposed photo of Oswald holding the rifle, the film does not include the fact that Marina Oswald herself said that she took the photo of Oswald with it.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: It would be easier to list what the film didn't get wrong, and that's just considering information ''not'' tied to the JFK assassination. Even Oliver Stone has stated regret at not making the film's fictional status clearer.

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 UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and the UsefulNotes/ColdWar to an end.

** 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's record on Vietnam is much more mixed, and open to interpretation. He 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 (though Kennedy expressed regret about the coup after it happened). 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. That said, Kennedy made comments to his advisers indicating that he ''hoped'' he could withdraw troops from Vietnam in the future, but suspected he couldn't until after the 1964 election because Republicans would turn it into a campaign issue.

** As mentioned above, Lyndon Johnson gets this big time.

* ArcWords: "Operation Mongoose".

* DistinctionWithoutADifference: 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 actually a difference between the two, with Marxism-Leninism being the mainstream form of communism as opposed to communism itself, but in 1963, most people would think it's semantics.[[/note]]

* DistinctionWithoutADifference: 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]]

* 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:
** The epileptic man being taken to the hospital but never being admitted, then vanishing. In reality 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. In actuality 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)
** The "three tramps" being arrested that day being undercover operatives (long since identified through the Dallas police records as actual at-the-time-homeless people, Gus Abrams, Harold Doyle, and John Gedney).
** The thoroughly debunked "magic bullet" theory (it relies on JFK and Gov. Connally sitting differently than where they were actually sitting)
** 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. 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. The jury, after hearing everything, only took half an hour to acquit Shaw, because Garrison had absolutely no credible evidence.
** Ironically, 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.
** One of the most egregious examples of this is how completely out of context Stone takes Kennedy’s American University speech and presents it as absolute proof that JFK was desperate to get along with the Soviets and end the Cold War, and he completely ignores the Ich bin ein Berliner speech, except for showing a clip of Kennedy saying it at the beginning. While yes, Kennedy gave a speech at American University calling for more cooperation, two weeks later he gave the Berlin speech, a confrontational speech where he practically challenged the Soviet Union in front of the entire world and actually said “To those who think we can work with the Soviets, let them come to Berlin.” Stone COMPLETELY ignores the fact that during his campaign for the Presidency, JFK ran as an open and unabashed Cold Warrior, constantly criticizing Eisenhower (a former 4 star general) as not being tough enough on the Soviets. Indeed, Nixon himself even said in his autobiography “In the fall of 1960, Jack Kennedy ran to the right of Ike and I and convinced the world he would be tougher on Castro, Cuba, and Communism than I would.”
** During his rundown of the assassination, Garrison describes the outcome of six shots. The most any witness at Dealey Plaza described was four; the vast majority only heard three.

%%* BuryYourGays: David Ferrie.

%%* TotallyRadical: Dean Andrews.
* WhoShotJFK: TheMovie.

** Lee Harvey Oswald's capture at the theater is compared to Josef K's from ''[[Creator/FranzKafka The Trial]]''.[[note]]The part where he ''drew a gun and opened fire on the cops'' is "conveniently" left out.[[/note]]

* ContrivedCoincidence: Mr X cites the [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness multiple cases of agencies behaving against protocol]] and the [[ReassignedToAntarctica unusual timing of him being sent to the South Pole on a mundane diplomatic excursion]] shortly prior to the assassination as reasons he suspects that JFK's death was part of a coverup for a black-op.

** One of the most egregious examples of this is how completely out of context Stone takes Kennedy’s American University speech and presents it as absolute proof that JFK was desperate to get along with the Soviets and end the Cold War, and he completely ignores the Ich bin ein Berliner speech, except for showing a clip of Kennedy saying it at the beginning. While yes, Kennedy gave a speech at American University calling for more cooperation, two weeks later he gave the Berlin speech, a confrontational speech where he practically challenged the Soviet Union in front of the entire world and actually said “To those who think we can work with the Soviets, let them come to Berlin.” Stone COMPLETELY ignores the fact that during his campaign for the Presidency, JFK ran as an open and unabashed Cold Warrior, constantly criticizing Eisenhower (a former 4 star general) as not being tough enough on the Soviets. Indeed, Nixon himself even said in his autobiography “In the fall of
1960, Jack Kennedy ran to the right of Ike and I and convinced the world he would be tougher on Castro, Cuba, and Communism than I would.”

** One of the most egregious examples
Of his is how completely out of contest Stone takes Kennedy’s American University speech and presents it as absolute proof that JFK was desperate to get along with the Soviets and end the Cold War, and he completely ignores the Ich bin ein Berliner speech, except for showing a clip of Kennedy saying it at the beginning. While yes, Kennedy gave a speech at American University calling for more cooperation, two weeks later he gave the Berlin speech, a confrontational speech where he practically challenged the Soviet Union in front of the entire world and actually said “To those who think we can work with the Soviets, let them come to Berlin.” Stone COMPLETELY ignores the fact that during his campaign for the Presidency, JFK ran as an open and unabashed Cold Warrior, constantly criticizing Eisenhower (a former 4 star general) as not being tough enough on the Soviets. Indeed, Nixon himself even said in his autobiography “In the fall of

** Lee Harvey Oswald's capture at the theater is compared to Josef K's from ''[[Creator/FranzKafka The Trial]]''.

-->'''Mr X''': Even if we had not allowed the bubbletop to be removed from the limousine, we'd've put at least 100 to 200 agents on the sidewalks, ''without question''. I mean, only a month before in Dallas, UN Ambassador Adlai Stevenson was spit on and hit; there'd already been several attempts on de Gaulle's life in France. We would have arrived days ahead, studied the route, checked all the buildings. Never would have allowed all those wide-open windows overlooking Dealy, ''never''! We would have had our own snipers covering the area - the minute a window went up, they'd have been on the radio. We would've been watching the crowds - packages, rolled up newspapers, a coat over an arm. ''Never'' would have allowed a man to open an umbrella along the way! Never would have allowed that limousine to slow down to 10 miles an hour, much less take that unusual curve at Houston and Elm! You would have felt an army presence on the streets that day. [[ForWantOfANail None of this happened.]] It was a violation of the most basic protection codes we have, and it's the best indication of a massive plot based in Dallas.

-->'''Mr X''': Many strange things were happening that day, and Lee Harvey Oswald had nothing to do with them. We had the entire Cabinet on a trip to the Far East. We had a third of a combat division returning from Germany in the air above the United States at the time of the shooting, and at 12:34 P.M., the entire telephone system went dead in Washington for a solid hour, and on the plane back to Washington, word was radioed from the White House Situation Room to Lyndon Johnson that one individual performed the assassination. Does that sound like a bunch of coincidences to you, Mr. Garrison? Not for one moment. The cabinet was out of the country to get their perception out of the way. Troops were in the air for possible riot control. The phones didn't work to keep the wrong stories from spreading if anything went wrong with the plan. Nothing was left to chance. '''He could not be allowed to escape alive'''.

-->'''Mr X''': Even if we had not allowed the bubbletop to be removed from the limousine, we'd've put at least 100 to 200 agents on the sidewalks, ''without question''. There'd already been several attempts on de Gaulle's life in France - only a month before in Dallas, UN Ambassador Adlai Stevenson had been spit on and hit. We would have arrived days ahead, studied the route, checked all the buildings. Never would have allowed all those wide-open windows overlooking Dealy Plaza, ''never''! We would have had our own snipers covering the area - the minute a window went up, they'd have been on the radio. We would've been watching the crowds - packages, rolled up newspapers, a coat over an arm. ''Never'' would have allowed a man to open an umbrella along the way! Never would have allowed that limousine to slow down to 10 miles an hour, much less take that unusual curve at Houston and Elm! You would have felt an army presence on the streets that day. [[ForWantOfANail None of this happened.]] It was a violation of the most basic protection codes we have, and it's the best indication of a massive plot based in Dallas.

* ContrivedCoincidence: Mr X cites the [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness multiple cases of agencies behaving against protocol]] and the [[ReassignedToAntarctica Tunusual timing of him being sent to the South Pole on a mundane diplomatic excursion]] shortly prior to the assassination as reasons he suspects that JFK's death was part of a coverup for a black-op.

%%* Lampshaded directly in the same scene:-
-->'''Mr X''': Many strange things were happening that day, and Lee Harvey Oswald had nothing to do with them. We had the entire Cabinet on a trip to the Far East. We had a third of a combat division returning from Germany in the air above the United States at the time of the shooting, and at 12:34 P.M., the entire telephone system went dead in Washington for a solid hour, and on the plane back to Washington, word was radioed from the White House Situation Room to Lyndon Johnson that one individual performed the assassination. Does that sound like a bunch of coincidences to you, Mr. Garrison? Not for one moment. The cabinet was out of the country to get their perception out of the way. Troops were in the air for possible riot control. The phones didn't work to keep the wrong stories from spreading if anything went wrong with the plan. Nothing was left to chance. '''He could not be allowed to escape alive'''.

%%* ContrivedCoincidence: Mr X cites the [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness multiple cases of agencies behaving against protocol]] and the [[ReassignedToAntarctica Tunusual timing of him being sent to the South Pole on a mundane diplomatic excursion]] shortly prior to the assassination as reasons he suspects that JFK's death was part of a coverup for a black-op.

-->'''Mr X''': Many strange things were happening that day, and Lee Harvey Oswald had nothing to do with them. We had the entire Cabinet on a trip to the Far East. We had a third of a combat division returning from Germany in the air above the United States at the time of the shooting, and at 12:34 P.M., the entire telephone system went dead in Washington for a solid hour, and on the plane back to Washington, word was radioed from the White House Situation Room to Lyndon Johnson that one individual performed the assassination. Does that sound like a bunch of coincidences to you, Mr. Garrison? Not for one moment. The cabinet was out of the country to get their perception out of the way. Troops were in the air for possible riot control. The phones didn't work to keep the wrong stories from spreading if anything went wrong with the plan. Nothing was left to chance. '''He could not be allowed to escape alive'''.

-->'''Mr X''': Even if we had not allowed the bubbletop to be removed from the limousine, we'd've put at least 100 to 200 agents on the sidewalks,
without question! There'd already been several attempts on de Gaulle's life in France. Only a month before in Dallas UN Ambassador Adlai Stevenson had been spit on and hit. We would have arrived days ahead, studied the route, checked all the buildings. Never would have allowed all those wide-open windows overlooking Dealy Plaza, never! We would have had our own snipers covering the area the minute a window went up! They would have been on the radio. We would have been watching the building, checking for baggage, coat over an arm. Never would have allowed a man to open an umbrella along the way! Never would have allowed the car to slow down to 11 miles an hour, much less take that unusual curve at Houston and Elm! You would have felt an army presence on the streets that day. But none of this happened. It was a violation of the most basic protection code we have, and it's the best indication of a massive plot based in Dallas.

-->'''Mr X''': We would have arrived days ahead, studied the route, checked all the buildings. Never would have allowed all those wide-open windows overlooking Dealy Plaza, never! We would have had our own snipers covering the area the minute a window went up! They would have been on the radio. We would have been watching the building, checking for baggage, coat under the arms... Never would have allowed a man to open an umbrella along the way! Never would have allowed the car to slow down to 11 miles an hour, much less take that unusual curve at Houston and Elm! You would have felt an army presence on the streets that day. But none of this happened. It was a violation of the most basic protection code we have, and it's an indication of a massive plot based in Dallas.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: And even more in the DirectorsCut.

* FlameBait: Both the film itself and the in-universe subject matter.