MORE LIKE 'EXECUTIVE' AGITPROP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01365R000300070006-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 29, 2004
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: November 14, 1973
• Content Type: NSPR

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By Gary Arnold
if the falsil)ing techniques used in
the new melodrama "Executive Ac-.
Don," openim today at half-a-dozen
area theaters, had been practiced by
slightly linire talented filmmakers,
the result ni i,ht have been an effec-
tive and even dangerous piece of cine-
matic agitprop.
The idea is to juxtapose images of
President. Kennedy during the last
five months of his life with fictional
scenes of a group of rich. rii.dit-wing
conspirators, 1(*.arfol. of civil rights'
and detente, who plot and carry out
the assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22,
.1963.
In this context the documentary
footage shills for the fictional footage.
We're invited to confuse the two, re-
calling so many fond memories and
regrets during the documentary stuff
that we neglect to view the fictional.
.stuff with the skepticism it deserves.
r Film j
Obviously, the device is al.so sus-
penseful, or at least potentially sus-
penseful. We appear to be following
the movements of the documentary
Kennedy and his movie assassins
more or less simultaneously. until
their movements fatefully coincide in
Dallas. It's a bit like the buildup used
in "The Day of the Jackal."
The concept Might have proved
spellbinding and emotionally devastat-
ing in the hands of a director like
Costa-Gavras. The saving grace of
'Executive Action"---derived from a
Polemical suspense novel by Donald
Freed and Mark Lane?is that it's the
work of feeble, butterfingered old
Hollywood manipulators. While they
obviously want to manipulate us, their
devices have grown so transparent and
their craftsmanship im perfunctory
that "Executive Action.' is likely to
fool only those people who believe
everything they see on a movie screen
or those who still can't look at images
of President Kennedy without having
their critical faculties numbed by
grief.
Producer Edward Lewis. director
David Miller and screenwriter Dalton
Trumbo, the trio principally respon-
sible for -ENceutive Action," collabo-
rated 11 years ago 00 tile Kirk D
.
has picture "1.uncly Are the Drave,"
an eN-ciling chase melodrama inter-
rupted now then for Trumbo's in-
mental effusions about the demise of
the nonconforming American.
Lewis and Trumho were previously
associated on "Spaiitacus." Lewis and ?
Burt Lancaster, one of the co-stars of
"Executive Actio were
previously associated on
John initiolkenheimer's movie
version of "Seven Days in
May." David 'Miller, now tit,
began in the movie business
back in .1930. and "Lonely
Are the Brave" is no doubt
the high point of his career.
In the credit sequence we
see the names of the leading
actors -- Lancaster, Robert.
Ryan and. Will Geer--super-
imposed over images of, re-
spectively, an oil refinery, a
stock exchange and a bank
vault. if one approaches this
movie in a slightly cynical
spirit, it's amusing- to ask
yourselr if these symnols are
supposed to represent- Ken-
nedy or the conspiraions, par-
ticultirlyi when the movie
fails' to follow iitirouidi ade-
quately on the subliminal
suggestions. Ryan and (leer
are plutocrats of some sort,
but Lancaster appears to be
in the employ of an unspe-
cified government a gen e y,
presumably the CIA,.
Of course, one doesn't
need crib notes to catch
onto the suggestion the film-
makers want ? the
clearly imply that Kennedy
was killed because he was a
threat to wealth and privi-
lege. But it's typical of these
filmmakers that they .ean't
even put over their own lit-
' tie deceits in a subtle. cred-
ible or consistent fastion.
The fictional scene opens
at a country estate some-
where or other where Lan-
caster inal Ryan attempt to.
persuade a reltictinit (leer
that Kennedy must be assas-
sirrited. The dialogue in this
and subsequent scenes
makes one wonder if Dalton
Trumbo labored without
credit on -Tonal Tonal Tonal"
fie repeats the same ponder-
ous cadences and dny-as-citisti
expository dialogue, read by
actors evidently told they
were playing nmehanical
men.
in addition. Trum bo
writes in the iiiiispericis. At-
ter one actor finishes con-
veying a piece of informa-
tion, another im un ii a tidy
art i culat cs the react ion
dramatic writing I've ever
listened to?like an oratorio'
with the music omitted-2
and it's a giant clue to what,
ails the elder left wing
lywood crowd as eitheli
wouldihe persuaders on
would-u' a fists.
Trumbo gives his conspifizi
ators what I consider a pe-
culiarly unconvineiqg set of
motives for the killing. Ile
asserts that they act because
Kennedy is about to "lead
the black revolution, initiate.
a test-ban treaty with the
Russians and pull out of
etnam." These fears are go-
ing to be met with consider-
able cynicism in a lot of col-
lege (and noncollege) towns
around the country, but for
the moment let's ignore a
'point that canny fihnmakers
shouldif t ignore--namely,
that history has played some
dirty, discrediting tricks on
Kelinedy's liberal image.
The point is that these
motives would make sense
only in extreme, demerate
right-wing circles, among
men .so divorced from nor-
mal political commerce and
? influence that they could
willfully misconstrue Ken-
nedy's statements and poli-
cies. The slip-up in
"Executive Action" is that
the conspirators are por-
trayed as insiders to the ex-
tent that they're character-
ized at all. These are rich,
powerful 'Melt who Seen] to
have impeccable sources in
the highest councils of i,,,ov-
eimment. Indeed, their
iii-
formation is so good that
they pull Mil the assassina-
tion without a hitch.
If they're this-
formed and well-connected to
begin with, why aren't I bin
hip to :Kennedy's cssentiid.
conservatism and why can't
they get his ear':
Trunitm tries to have his
cake and eat it. Do can't ii;.-
sist making the c.linsuiratons
sophi.;(icatcd, worldly
1N pes power .1-giireS lit
-?cerini to en,..y and admire.
tic ,itiiii'
licve the Reds and the
blacks will overwhelm
White Civilization any min-
ute now.
fIowever. I think the real
giveaway in "Executive Ac-
tion" i I n,.s. tact that these
filnimuil' -s ean5t. . envision
an assassination plot in
which lJee Iltuivey Oswald
was involved. Despite ap-
?pearances, it is not such a
big deal to ? make a film
questioning the verdict of
the Warren Commission. If
the Gallup Boll is correct,
two-thuds of the. Aniericali
public question that verdict,
at least to the extent of
doubting that Oswald ?pet"-
ated alone. ?
In "Executive Action" Os-
wald is a Poor, unfortunate
fall guy, selcetc...cl. precisely
for that role by a computer.
liii a difficult theory to
swallow, particularly -when
one looks :lila listens to Os-
wald ay.atn in his brief au:
pearanees berorc history's
cameras and microphones.
One gets the impression of a
devious boy and maybe a
schizophtin-tte boy hi/ t not ol
till infweenI, boy. However,
he could not be anything.
but innocent to this group
of sentimental melodrama-
lists. Ile is the Little
who gets victimized by the
Big Men. One cliche is un-
thinkable without the other.
There's no esOiping the
fact that the release ,ate of
-.Executive .Action" is taste-
less in the extreme.
If the men responsible for
rualcint: and distributing this
picture were tru:IN, iinerested
in the truth and nothitw
the truth, why couldn't the:t'
have resisted the tempta'oon
to release it on ihe eve ol
the tOth anniversary 01 Ken-
nedy's assas,anal ion?
it's not as if the reliabilit,\
of the \V al' ten UonIntissi (el
is 2111 iSsile 1 lint ticoAS to he
settled this month. is Ilti
ongoing conlroversy, awl if
this movie has it pertinent
theory, that theory won't he
less pertinent next month or
time he es oontinuea
Inn-olio wants irom the them urnvoZIE.y Q.J44idujk
evitaltle public servic
ments, which took PPM* rp, FL. iRelease 20-05101143 c[CIA,-RDR8841(365KPIRAWyp406-4
e antitunee-
..
ral, unconvincing style of !tin iviiing fanatics who be,i
Approved For Release 2005/01/13 : CIA-RDP88-01365R000300070006-4
next year. It's dilcienit to re-
sist the conelos.ioo that the
filmmakers We 1.0 111(lie C011-
rt Wi HI I main
charwe and timed_ the re-.
lo%se in accord
maximum 1."(Nmi1)e potential
f Or commerci.al. ballyhoo itid
exploltation.
Approved For Release 2005/01/13 : CIA-RDP88-01365R000300070006-4
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