Executive Action
Encyclopedia
Executive Action is a 1973
movie
about the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy
, written by Dalton Trumbo
, Donald Freed
and Mark Lane
, and directed by David Miller
. The film opened to a storm of controversy over the depiction of the assassination: in some places in the U.S., the film ran only 1 to 2 weeks in movie theaters or got pulled from them altogether. The movie was part fiction, but it would contest other reports of the assassination, including the controversial Warren Commission
report of 1964, which led to attacks against the film. The trailers for the film never ran on certain television stations, including WNBC-TV in New York City. The criticism of the film and its suggestion of a Military-industrial complex
conspiracy led to the film being removed totally from the movie theaters by early December 1973 and getting no TV/Video runs until the 1980s and mid-1990s, when it got legal release and distribution for TV and video. The film was originally released on November 7, 1973, almost two weeks before the tenth anniversary of the JFK Assassination.
It is one of at least four American films to present a dramatization portraying the Kennedy assassination as a conspiracy
(the others being Oliver Stone
's 1991 movie JFK
, the 1984 William Tannen film Flashpoint
, starring Kris Kristofferson
and Treat Williams
. and Neil Burger
's 2002 mockumentary
Interview with the Assassin
). Despite many similarities of the plotline to JFK, Executive Action presents a far more direct and unemotional account of the Kennedy assassination than Stone's film. The film is done in an almost documentary style and was clearly filmed on a small budget, despite the presence of two big Hollywood names, Robert Ryan
and Burt Lancaster
. Another big difference to JFK is that the story is told entirely from the perspective of the conspirators. This film was also the last movie for Ryan, who died of cancer five months before the film's release.
), a white-suited and mustachioed figure — a powerful oil magnate — to back their plans for an assassination of Kennedy. He remains unconvinced saying 'I don't like such schemes. They're only tolerable when necessary, and only permissible when they work.' James Farrington (Lancaster), a black ops specialist, is also among the group. The film then cuts to somewhere in the desert where a shooting team is doing target practice at a moving object. One of the shooters says that they can only guarantee the operation's success by slowing down the target to 15 mph.
The film intercuts between conversations among the lead conspirators, Farrington and Foster, and preparations for the assassination. The approval of the man in the white suit is crucial to the conspirators, although Farrington proceeds to organize two shooting teams in anticipation that he will change his mind.
We then see sequences of the man in the white suit watching contemporary newsreel and becoming clearly concerned at Kennedy's increasingly 'liberal' direction: action on civil rights
, Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, nuclear disarmament
. The deciding moment comes when he's watching an anti-Kennedy news report on the deteriorating situation in South Vietnam
. It is followed by Kennedy's 'suicidal' October 1963 decision (National Security Action Memorandum #263, Oct. 11) to withdraw all US advisors from Vietnam by the end of 1965, effectively ending America's direct involvement in the Vietnam War
. He picks up the phone to tell Foster he now fully supports their project.
While the motives of the man in the white suit are clear, through dialogues between Foster and Farrington, the film attempts to cast light on the murky paranoid fears of the conspirators about the future of America and the white races. Foster forecasts the population of the third world
in 2000 at 7 billion, 'Most of them yellow, brown or black. All hungry and all determined to love; they'll swarm out of their breeding grounds into Europe and America'. He sees Vietnam as an opportunity to control the developing world and reduce its population to 550 million: 'I've seen the data,' says Foster, adding that they can then apply the same 'birth-control' methods to unwanted groups in the US: poor whites, blacks and Latinos.
The film postulates the same theory as JFK that Lee Harvey Oswald
is being steered to become the conspiracy's 'patsy
', but unlike JFK, the conspirators use a double of Oswald to shadow him in the weeks leading up to the assassination to leave behind a trail that the authorities can easily follow and link Oswald to the assassination. The film makes no explicit link to US government agencies and the conspiracy, although the professionalism of Farrington's shooting team clearly indicates they have worked for the CIA on special assignments. The film implies that most of the law enforcement and government agencies were not involved, but just grossly inept: no special measures were taken for the president's safety in Dallas; there is no communication between the FBI
, CIA
and Secret Service
on possible security risks; even the head of the Secret Service stays in Washington during the visit. This explanation helps understand why the authorities were so keen to pin the blame on Oswald, the rogue assassin, who is 'served up' by the conspirators to the authorities as an easy escape from any accusations of their own negligence.
The post-assassination conspiracy is also covered in the film. Farrington tells the head of the shooting teams, who at this point don't know who their target is, that after this job he and his men will never have to work again. All the assassins are black ops professionals trained never to talk about operations they are involved in. Each one is offered $25,000 per year for the next five years provided the operation's cover isn't blown. If the cover remains intact in five years time (1968) 'every man jack of them' (Lancaster) will receive a further $100,000 into their Swiss bank accounts. The head of the shooting teams then tells Farrington: 'You just told me who we're going to hit.'
At the end of the film a photo collage is shown of 18 witnesses: all but two of whom died from unnatural causes within three years of the assassination. A voice-over
says that an actuary
of the British newspaper The Sunday Times
calculated the probability that all these people who witnessed the assassination would die within that period of time to be 1000 trillion to one.
The original music is by Randy Edelman
.
Executive action
is also a term used in the mid-20th century by the CIA.
1973 in film
The year 1973 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces his second wife, Barbara Blakely. Blakely would later marry actor/singer Frank Sinatra....
movie
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
about the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
, written by Dalton Trumbo
Dalton Trumbo
James Dalton Trumbo was an American screenwriter and novelist, and one of the Hollywood Ten, a group of film professionals who refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947 during the committee's investigation of Communist influences in the motion picture industry...
, Donald Freed
Donald Freed
Donald Freed is an American playwright, novelist, screenwriter, and actor. He is associated with writing programs at the University of Southern California, and was Artist in Residence at the Workshop Theatre, University of Leeds, UK , and Playwright in Residence at York Theatre Royal ,...
and Mark Lane
Mark Lane (author)
Mark Lane is an American lawyer who has written many books, including Rush to Judgment, one of two major books published in the immediate wake of the John F. Kennedy assassination that questioned the conclusions of the Warren Commission. Another book, Plausible Denial, published in 1991, continued...
, and directed by David Miller
David Miller (director)
David Miller was an American movie director who directed such varied films as Billy the Kid with Robert Taylor and Brian Donlevy, Flying Tigers with John Wayne, and Love Happy with the Marx Brothers.-Filmography:* Bittersweet Love * Executive Action * Hail, Hero! * Hammerhead...
. The film opened to a storm of controversy over the depiction of the assassination: in some places in the U.S., the film ran only 1 to 2 weeks in movie theaters or got pulled from them altogether. The movie was part fiction, but it would contest other reports of the assassination, including the controversial Warren Commission
Warren Commission
The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established on November 27, 1963, by Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963...
report of 1964, which led to attacks against the film. The trailers for the film never ran on certain television stations, including WNBC-TV in New York City. The criticism of the film and its suggestion of a Military-industrial complex
Military-industrial complex
Military–industrial complex , or Military–industrial-congressional complex is a concept commonly used to refer to policy and monetary relationships between legislators, national armed forces, and the industrial sector that supports them...
conspiracy led to the film being removed totally from the movie theaters by early December 1973 and getting no TV/Video runs until the 1980s and mid-1990s, when it got legal release and distribution for TV and video. The film was originally released on November 7, 1973, almost two weeks before the tenth anniversary of the JFK Assassination.
It is one of at least four American films to present a dramatization portraying the Kennedy assassination as a conspiracy
Conspiracy (political)
In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of persons united in the goal of usurping or overthrowing an established political power. Typically, the final goal is to gain power through a revolutionary coup d'état or through assassination....
(the others being Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
's 1991 movie JFK
JFK (film)
JFK is a 1991 American film directed by Oliver Stone. It examines the events leading to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and alleged subsequent cover-up, through the eyes of former New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison .Garrison filed charges against New Orleans businessman Clay...
, the 1984 William Tannen film Flashpoint
Flashpoint (film)
Flashpoint is a film starring Kris Kristofferson and Treat Williams. Rip Torn, Jean Smart, Kurtwood Smith, and Tess Harper also co-star. The movie was directed by William Tannen and based on a novel by George La Fountaine...
, starring Kris Kristofferson
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...
and Treat Williams
Treat Williams
Richard Treat Williams is a Screen Actors Guild Award–nominated American actor and children's book author who has appeared on film, stage and television...
. and Neil Burger
Neil Burger
Neil Burger is an American film director who has filmed the pseudo-documentary, Interview with the Assassin , the period drama, The Illusionist, and the 2011 thriller Limitless.-Life and career:...
's 2002 mockumentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
Interview with the Assassin
Interview with the Assassin
Interview with the Assassin is a 2002 drama/"mockumentary" starring Raymond J. Barry and Dylan Haggerty.-Plot:An unemployed cameraman, Ron Kobeleski , is asked by his reclusive neighbor, a retired Marine named Walter Ohlinger who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, to document a startling...
). Despite many similarities of the plotline to JFK, Executive Action presents a far more direct and unemotional account of the Kennedy assassination than Stone's film. The film is done in an almost documentary style and was clearly filmed on a small budget, despite the presence of two big Hollywood names, Robert Ryan
Robert Ryan
Robert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...
and Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
. Another big difference to JFK is that the story is told entirely from the perspective of the conspirators. This film was also the last movie for Ryan, who died of cancer five months before the film's release.
Plot
Opening scene is set in June 1963 at a gathering of shadowy industrial, political and former US intelligence figures who are giving vent to their growing dissatisfaction with the Kennedy administration. The scene takes place in the plush surroundings of the lead conspirator, Robert Foster (Ryan), presumably a Texas oil baron. He and the others are trying to convince Ferguson (Will GeerWill Geer
Will Geer was an American actor and social activist. His original name was William Aughe Ghere. He is remembered for his portrayal of Grandpa Zebulon Tyler Walton in the 1970s TV series, The Waltons....
), a white-suited and mustachioed figure — a powerful oil magnate — to back their plans for an assassination of Kennedy. He remains unconvinced saying 'I don't like such schemes. They're only tolerable when necessary, and only permissible when they work.' James Farrington (Lancaster), a black ops specialist, is also among the group. The film then cuts to somewhere in the desert where a shooting team is doing target practice at a moving object. One of the shooters says that they can only guarantee the operation's success by slowing down the target to 15 mph.
The film intercuts between conversations among the lead conspirators, Farrington and Foster, and preparations for the assassination. The approval of the man in the white suit is crucial to the conspirators, although Farrington proceeds to organize two shooting teams in anticipation that he will change his mind.
We then see sequences of the man in the white suit watching contemporary newsreel and becoming clearly concerned at Kennedy's increasingly 'liberal' direction: action on civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
, Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, nuclear disarmament
Nuclear disarmament
Nuclear disarmament refers to both the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons and to the end state of a nuclear-free world, in which nuclear weapons are completely eliminated....
. The deciding moment comes when he's watching an anti-Kennedy news report on the deteriorating situation in South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
. It is followed by Kennedy's 'suicidal' October 1963 decision (National Security Action Memorandum #263, Oct. 11) to withdraw all US advisors from Vietnam by the end of 1965, effectively ending America's direct involvement in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. He picks up the phone to tell Foster he now fully supports their project.
While the motives of the man in the white suit are clear, through dialogues between Foster and Farrington, the film attempts to cast light on the murky paranoid fears of the conspirators about the future of America and the white races. Foster forecasts the population of the third world
Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...
in 2000 at 7 billion, 'Most of them yellow, brown or black. All hungry and all determined to love; they'll swarm out of their breeding grounds into Europe and America'. He sees Vietnam as an opportunity to control the developing world and reduce its population to 550 million: 'I've seen the data,' says Foster, adding that they can then apply the same 'birth-control' methods to unwanted groups in the US: poor whites, blacks and Latinos.
The film postulates the same theory as JFK that Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
is being steered to become the conspiracy's 'patsy
Scapegoat
Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any party for unmerited negative treatment or blame. Scapegoating may be conducted by individuals against individuals , individuals against groups , groups against individuals , and groups against groups Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any...
', but unlike JFK, the conspirators use a double of Oswald to shadow him in the weeks leading up to the assassination to leave behind a trail that the authorities can easily follow and link Oswald to the assassination. The film makes no explicit link to US government agencies and the conspiracy, although the professionalism of Farrington's shooting team clearly indicates they have worked for the CIA on special assignments. The film implies that most of the law enforcement and government agencies were not involved, but just grossly inept: no special measures were taken for the president's safety in Dallas; there is no communication between the FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
, CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
and Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
on possible security risks; even the head of the Secret Service stays in Washington during the visit. This explanation helps understand why the authorities were so keen to pin the blame on Oswald, the rogue assassin, who is 'served up' by the conspirators to the authorities as an easy escape from any accusations of their own negligence.
The post-assassination conspiracy is also covered in the film. Farrington tells the head of the shooting teams, who at this point don't know who their target is, that after this job he and his men will never have to work again. All the assassins are black ops professionals trained never to talk about operations they are involved in. Each one is offered $25,000 per year for the next five years provided the operation's cover isn't blown. If the cover remains intact in five years time (1968) 'every man jack of them' (Lancaster) will receive a further $100,000 into their Swiss bank accounts. The head of the shooting teams then tells Farrington: 'You just told me who we're going to hit.'
At the end of the film a photo collage is shown of 18 witnesses: all but two of whom died from unnatural causes within three years of the assassination. A voice-over
Voice-over
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...
says that an actuary
Actuary
An actuary is a business professional who deals with the financial impact of risk and uncertainty. Actuaries provide expert assessments of financial security systems, with a focus on their complexity, their mathematics, and their mechanisms ....
of the British newspaper The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
calculated the probability that all these people who witnessed the assassination would die within that period of time to be 1000 trillion to one.
The original music is by Randy Edelman
Randy Edelman
Randy Edelman is an American film and TV score composer.-Life and career:Edelman was born in Paterson, New Jersey. He was raised in Teaneck, New Jersey, the son of a first-grade teacher and an accountant. He attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music before heading to New York where he played...
.
Executive action
Executive action
Executive Action is a term used by the Central Intelligence Agency starting in the early 1950s to refer to their assassination operations. These operations were often conducted by the CIA's Division D, a subsection of the agency's Directorate of Operations...
is also a term used in the mid-20th century by the CIA.