History YMMV / JFK

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The real Jim Garrison tried to railroad an innocent man, Shaw, after his investigation came up empty. The trial was a fiasco.

* PossessionSue: In real life, Jim Garrison was a deeply eccentric, volatile individual, popular to some degree but mistrusted by a great deal of New Orleans. He had a raft of incredibly bizarre theories about people he tied to the assassination case (his actual logic for the "Clay Bertrand" alias was that "[homosexuals] change their last names, but not their first names"), and was willing to subject witnesses to hypnosis and "truth serum" in order to get the story he wanted. The Clay Shaw trial was a sham, in which Garrison did everything short of set fire to the Fifth Amendment, and the judge was vocal in his disgust at Garrison's behavior; the jurors only took a half-hour to find Shaw innocent and reported in their statements that they were appalled at the sheer lack of evidence. Even when he saw Claw Shaw aquitted of all charges, Garrison then charged him with ''perjury'' for claiming his innocence during sworn testimony. A federal judge finally quashed the charge as a violation of Shaw's civil rights, for hounding him without just cause. The film postscript also claims CIA Director Richard Helms admitted Shaw was an agent. False-Shaw was admitted to have provided intelligence to the CIA as part of the Domestic Contact Service from things he observed while doing business in Europe. Thousands of businesspeople, diplomats and students did the same. There is no evidence Shaw was ever a paid CIA agent. In the film, the "source" for this was a French communist newspaper well-known to be a propaganda organ for Moscow. The KGB actually spread many of the early conspiracy rumors in an effort to weaken US morale, going so far as to fund authors who propagated them by using agents or front groups (without these authors' knowledge to be sure). The "Clay Shaw CIA Agent" story was just one in a series of false stories they planted.

* OneSceneWonder: Donald Sutherland as X.

* PossessionSue: In real life, Jim Garrison was a deeply eccentric, volatile individual, popular to some degree but mistrusted by a great deal of New Orleans. He had a raft of incredibly bizarre theories about people he tied to the assassination case (his actual logic for the "Clay Bertrand" alias was that "[homosexuals] change their last names, but not their first names"), and was willing to subject witnesses to hypnosis and "truth serum" in order to get the story he wanted. The Clay Shaw trial was a sham, in which Garrison did everything short of set fire to the Fifth Amendment, and the judge was vocal in his disgust at Garrison's behavior; the jurors only took a half-hour to find Shaw innocent and reported in their statements that they were appalled at the sheer lack of evidence. Even when he saw Claw Shaw aquitted of all charges, Garrison then charged him with ''perjury'' for claiming his innocence during sworn testimony. A federal judge finally quashed the charge as a violation of Shaw's civil rights, for hounding him without just cause. The film postscript also claims CIA Director Richard Helms admitted Shaw was an agent. False-Shaw was admitted to have provided intelligence to the CIA as part of the Domestic Contact Service from things he observed while doing business in Europe. Thousands of businesspeople, diplomats and students did the same. There is no evidence Shaw was ever a paid CIA agent. In the film, the "source" for this was a French communist newspaper well-known to be a propaganda organ for Moscow. The KGB actually spread many of the early conspiracy rumors in an effort to weaken US morale, going so far as to fund authors who propagated them by using agents or front groups (without these authors' knowledge to be sure).

* PossessionSue: In real life, Jim Garrison was a deeply eccentric, volatile individual, popular to some degree but mistrusted by a great deal of New Orleans. He had a raft of incredibly bizarre theories about people he tied to the assassination case (his actual logic for the "Clay Bertrand" alias was that "[homosexuals] change their last names, but not their first names"), and was willing to subject witnesses to hypnosis and "truth serum" in order to get the story he wanted. The Clay Shaw trial was a sham, in which Garrison did everything short of set fire to the Fifth Amendment, and the judge was vocal in his disgust at Garrison's behavior; the jurors only took a half-hour to find Shaw innocent and reported in their statements that they were appalled at the sheer lack of evidence. Even when he saw Claw Shaw aquitted of all charges, Garrison then charged him with ''perjury'' for claiming his innocence during sworn testimony. A federal judge finally quashed the charge as a violation of Shaw's civil rights, for hounding him without just cause. The film postscript also claims CIA Director Richard Helms admitted Shaw was an agent. False-Shaw was admitted to have provided intelligence to the CIA as part of the Domestic Contact Service from things he observed while doing business in Europe. Thousands of businesspeople, diplomats and students did the same. There is no evidence Shaw was ever a paid CIA agent. In the film, the "source" for this was a French communist newspaper well-known to be a propaganda organ for Moscow.

* PossessionSue: In real life, Jim Garrison was a deeply eccentric, volatile individual, popular to some degree but mistrusted by a great deal of New Orleans. He had a raft of incredibly bizarre theories about people he tied to the assassination case (his actual logic for the "Clay Bertrand" alias was that "[homosexuals] change their last names, but not their first names"), and was willing to subject witnesses to hypnosis and "truth serum" in order to get the story he wanted. The Clay Shaw trial was a sham, in which Garrison did everything short of set fire to the Fifth Amendment, and the judge was vocal in his disgust at Garrison's behavior; the jurors only took a half-hour to find Shaw innocent and reported in their statements that they were appalled at the sheer lack of evidence. Even when he saw Claw Shaw aquitted of all charges, Garrison then charged him with ''perjury'' for claiming his innocence during sworn testimony. A federal judge finally quashed the charge as a violation of Shaw's civil rights, for hounding him without just cause. The film postscript also claims CIA Director Richard Helms admitted Shaw was an agent. False-Shaw was admitted to have provided intelligence to the CIA as part of the Domestic Contact Service from things he observed while doing business in Europe. Thousands of businesspeople, diplomats and students did the same. There is no evidence Shaw was ever a paid CIA agent. In the film, the "source" for this was a French communist newspaper well-known to be a propaganda organ run directly by Moscow.

* PossessionSue: In real life, Jim Garrison was a deeply eccentric, volatile individual, popular to some degree but mistrusted by a great deal of New Orleans. He had a raft of incredibly bizarre theories about people he tied to the assassination case (his actual logic for the "Clay Bertrand" alias was that "[homosexuals] change their last names, but not their first names"), and was willing to subject witnesses to hypnosis and "truth serum" in order to get the story he wanted. The Clay Shaw trial was a sham, in which Garrison did everything short of set fire to the Fifth Amendment, and the judge was vocal in his disgust at Garrison's behavior; the jurors only took a half-hour to find Shaw innocent and reported in their statements that they were appalled at the sheer lack of evidence.

* VindicatedByHistory: Declassified documents and further research (many recorded in books like James Douglass's JFK and the Unspeakable) on the real JFK himself revealed that he was in fact very much like the version portrayed by Oliver Stone. He was neither the liberal dove as told by the myths nor the rogue hawk that many, especially many leftist critics, believed him to be.
* TheWoobie: David Ferrie: expelled from the life he wanted for being gay, becoming involved in shady deals almost by accident, and eventually getting in so over his head that he can't tell which way is up anymore. Whether you think [[spoiler: his death was murder or suicide]], you can't help but feel sorry for him.

** Which is nothing compared to the Woobie he was in real life. Incidentally, in real life, he was as staunch a supporter of JFK as you'd ever find in New Orleans. (He really did want to be a priest, and was thrilled that a Catholic had been elected president.) And his death was from a Berry aneurysm, the culmination of years of poor health.

** Which is nothing compared to the Woobie he was in real life. Incidentally, in real life, he was as staunch a supporter of JFK as you'd ever find in New Orleans. (He really did want to be a priest, and was thrilled that a Catholic had been elected president.)
** Not exactly a Woobie. Investigator and author Harrison Livingstone met Ferrie and remembered him as ''"an intense and sinister, cynical, disgusting, disheveled individual who was excited at the prospect of preying upon the vulnerable, the helpless, and the innocent."'' Even during the film, Jack Martin (Jack Lemmon) says Ferrie was disturbing and crazy, the "worst" of the militia training in Florida.

** Not exactly a Woobie. Investigator and author Harrison Livingstone met Ferrie and remembered him as ''"an intense and sinister, cynical, disgusting, disheveled individual who was excited at the prospect of preying upon the vulnerable, the helpless, and the innocent."''

* PossessionSue: In real life, Jim Garrison was a deeply eccentric, volatile individual, popular to some degree but mistrusted by a great deal of New Orleans. He had a raft of incredibly bizarre theories about people he tied to the assassination case (his actual logic for the "Clay Bertrand" alias was that "[homosexuals] change their last names, but not their first names"), and was willing to subject witnesses to hypnosis and "truth serum" in order to get the story he wanted. The Clay Shaw trial was a sham, in which Garrison did everything short of set fire to the Fifth Amendment, and the judge was vocal in his disgust at Garrison's behavior; the jurors only took a half-hour to find Shaw innocent and reported in their statements that they were appalled at the sheer lack of evidence. In his later years, Garrison grew increasingly strange, and was even ''accused of child molestation'' (no charges were filed as the father was afraid of retribution.) Even ''other conspiracy theorists'' consider Jim Garrison a terrible source. Compare all this to the Guardian of Truth and Justice presented in the film.

* VindicatedByHistory: CIA director Richard Helms later revealed that Clay Shaw was, in, fact, employed by the CIA, and the House Committee on Assassinations concluded that Kennedy's death was the result of a "probable conspiracy".
** On another note, later declassified documents and further research (many recorded in books like James Douglass's JFK and the Unspeakable) on the real JFK himself revealed that he was in fact very much like the version portrayed by Oliver Stone. He was neither the liberal dove as told by the myths nor the rogue hawk that many, especially many leftist critics, believed him to be.

** Considering other charges being levelled at Jim Garrison, are you surprised there was unfounded character assassination?
*** "X" is presented as a Washington insider with deep roots, who has first-hand knowledge of the workings that led to Kennedy's murder. "X" is based to a degree on L. Fletcher Prouty (Prouty made most of the claims "X" states), a man with ''no'' connections to Washington and, like Garrison, near-universally considered a crackpot even by other conspiracy theorists.

* UnfortunateImplications: The orgy scene. Nevermind the DepravedHomosexual vibes just ''oozing'' from it, it has ''nothing'' to do with the plot and - need we say this? - never happened in real life. Tommy Lee Jones argued for the scene because of a picture of Clay Shaw painted gold; that picture was ''from Mardi Gras!''

** That's what a title card at the end of the movie states, implying that Garrison's investigation has been VindicatedByHistory, but neither assertion is accurate. Helms stated that Shaw had been a part-time contact of the Domestic Contact Service. That means he sometimes supplied information to the CIA from his frequent travels abroad, as did thousands of other American businessmen, diplomats, etc. [[http://www.jfk-online.com/jfk100shawcia.html He was not "employed" by the CIA.]] And the House Select Committee on Assassinations' conclusion of a probable conspiracy was based on an audio recording that has since been largely [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictabelt_evidence_relating_to_the_assassination_of_John_F._Kennedy rejected]].

* PossessionSue: In real life, Jim Garrison was a deeply eccentric, volatile individual, popular to some degree but mistrusted by a great deal of New Orleans. He had a raft of incredibly bizarre theories about people he tied to the assassination case (his actual logic for the "Clay Bertrand" alias was that "[homosexuals] change their last names, but not their first names"), and was willing to subject witnesses to hypnosis and "truth serum" in order to get the story he wanted. The Clay Shaw trial was a sham, in which Garrison did everything short of set fire to the Fifth Amendment, and the judge was vocal in his disgust at Garrison's behavior; the jurors only took a half-hour to find Shaw innocent and reported in their statements that they were appalled at the sheer lack of evidence. In his later years, Garrison grew increasingly strange, and was even ''accused of child molestation'' (no charges were filed as the father was afraid of retribution). Even ''other conspiracy theorists'' consider Jim Garrison a terrible source. Compare all this to the Guardian of Truth and Justice presented in the film.
** "X" is presented as a Washington insider with deep roots, who has first-hand knowledge of the workings that led to Kennedy's murder. "X" is based to a degree on L. Fletcher Prouty (Prouty made most of the claims "X" states), a man with ''no'' connections to Washington and, like Garrison, near-universally considered a crackpot even by other conspiracy theorists.

** Which is nothing compared to the Woobie he was in real life. Incidentally, in real life, he was as staunch a supporter of JFK as you'd ever find in New Orleans.

** Which is nothing compared to the Woobie he was in real life.

* MagnumOpus: Widely considered to be OliverStone's best, and his personal favorite of his own.

** That's what a title card at the end of the movie states, implying that Garrison's investigation has been VindicatedByHistory, but neither assertion is accurate. Helms stated that Shaw had been a part-time contact of the Domestic Contact Service. That basically means he was sometimes interviewed by the CIA about his frequent travels abroad. [[http://www.jfk-online.com/jfk100shawcia.html He was not "employed" by the CIA.]] And the House Select Committee on Assassinations' conclusion of a probable conspiracy was based on an audio recording that has since been largely [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictabelt_evidence_relating_to_the_assassination_of_John_F._Kennedy rejected]].

** Well, no, Helms stated that Shaw had been a part-time contact of the Domestic Contact Service. That basically means he was sometimes interviewed by the CIA about his frequent travels abroad. [[http://www.jfk-online.com/jfk100shawcia.html He was not "employed" by the CIA.]] And the House Select Committee on Assassinations' conclusion of a probable conspiracy was based on an audio recording that has since been largely [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictabelt_evidence_relating_to_the_assassination_of_John_F._Kennedy rejected]].

** Well, no, Helms stated that Shaw had been a part-time contact of the Domestic Contact Service. That basically means he was sometimes interviewed by the CIA about his frequent travels abroad. [[http://www.jfk-online.com/jfk100shawcia.html He was not "employed" by the CIA.]]