Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot (2001)

the audience applauded

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

There have been a few Jackie centered TV movies so it's interesting to see something about Joan and Ethel. The subject matter is of course fascinating and the scenes are interesting to watch. Especially how they all react to personal tragedies.The casting of the three famous sisters in law is interesting. Firstly Jill Hennessy as Jackie. Her face actually bears some resemblance to Jackie so when she is made up she does look like her. But her voice is a bit too low and forceful for Jackie who had a "Babykins" voice. Lauren Holly as Ethel gives a forceful crass personality to Ethel. She is way too pretty and svelte. Leslie Stefanson is a good fit for Joan. Joan has a more regular face than the other 2 so she was an easier actress to match physically.Not bad.

'Twas truly a marvelous experience to take in all the familial dynamics of the leading ladies of one of the US's great dynasties. Ethel's character being so brassy & foot-in-mouth outspoken was a personality I hadn't imagined. Jackie being so fond of Grandfather Joe was a surprise. Rose is exactly as I imagined her. Joan is more talented, and according to this show, has been under-credited for the successes of Senator Edward (Teddy) Kennedy.This docudrama is a lengthy one that I could have watched for many more hours. There is so much public knowledge of the Kennedy men so there were few surprises with the exception that I had forgotten two things: Senator Teddy Kennedy had been in a near fatal plane crash and broke his back in numerous places during a campaign; Senator Bobby Kennedy was already deceased at the time of Teddy's Presidential career damaging car accident that took the life of Mary Jo. (In hindsight, since the Kennedy brothers who ran for the US Presidency were both assassinated, I now view that tragic car accident as the blessing that kept Senator Edward Kennedy alive to this day and a senior member of the US Senate).The tensions that were brought forth between the women reveal that Jackie, the in-law, was oft times the glue that held them together and kept them close. It's time to know more about the rest of the Clan Kennedy women--the younger ones. I am left with wanting more. To me, that's the sign of a very well done docudrama.

I am most definitely one of the world's biggest Kennedy fans. I am sure that I own every series, movie, documentary about the Kennedy family (anyone who has a list of Kennedy movies please email me and make sure I have them all.) I finally got the opportunity to watch this 2001 mini series focusing on the Kennedy women, Jackie, Ethel and Joan and on a lesser extent Rose the matriarch.The mini series follows the lives closely of the Kennedy family for the better part of 3 decades from JFK's presidency to Ted's defunct run at the Presidency in 1980. However it follows the events of their lives from the perspective of the three wives and how it effected them and how they played a part in it.The movie jumps around a lot and it takes more than half of the time to really get a feel for the pace of the film and what it's aiming to do. The film aims to be less of entertainment than it is a chronicle, and recreation of the major events of the Kennedy family from the point of the women. What role they played, their personalities etc. The men have all been done to death but who has really shown the women? I know this is the first Kennedy film I ever saw that really went in depth into Joan Kennedy.The casting was done (in my opinion) in an attempt to capture the best possible most realistic looking person they could find. Director Larry Shaw really puts forth an incredible effort to recreate scenes and the look of famous pictures and events possibly better than any other I have scene. Although actor Daniel Kelly who played JFK doesn't look all that much like the late President, there are certain angles and shots used that are downright startling as to how much he looks like him. Add in the fact that they recreate the death scene of Bobby and use word for word speeches and announcements and also work to recreate news footage with the actors as opposed to the real people.Jill Hennesey is quite possibly the best Jackie I have ever seen. She portrays her brilliantly and looks a lot like her. She comes across as a strong, independent, woman and not the quiet laid back, always calm woman that she is often portrayed as in the past. I think Hennesey's Jackie is much more accurate. Leslie Stefanson gives a powerful portrayal as Joan Kennedy. Strong, yet afraid, withdrawn, stressed, and misunderstood. She was definitely a sore thumb to the Kennedy brood. The real brilliance here is Lauren Holly. She absolutely floored me as the rather harsh Ethel Kennedy. She is very brash and outgoing, loud and obnoxious and nails the voice. I thought for sure she would disappoint me but for certain this was the performance of Holly's career. The men were all well casted in particular Ted Kennedy played by Matt Letscher. Basically despite it's rather rapid time line and it's jumpy story this is one of the best recreations out there I have no doubt. It didn't get the critical acclaim that it should have. I am somewhat biased being I love all things Kennedy but I will forever have this one in my top favorites because of the performance of these women. I think they perhaps assumed too much when it came to their roles in certain situations but you have to assume to make things believable because none of us were there and I think Shaw did a decent job in his assumptions. I liked that he never focused on just one of the women which is easy to do being Jackie was really the forefront of the Kennedy women. Instead he took each women and showed the critical events in their lives and the lives of their men. Overall a great mini series. 9/10

Television mini-series are usually poor quality, and this is no exception. The acting is below average and therefore unconvincing. The domestic dramas are played out like 'Young and the Restless' without any understanding of the complexities of such events. Worst of all, the pacing is so frantic that it's difficult to feel involved in the potentially riveting story.Perhaps part of the problem is in the very nature of the set-up - the Kennedy women simply aren't as interesting as their husbands as they were only bit players in the most interesting events in history. The Cuban missile crisis, for example, must have been a fascinating and horrifying event to live through. Yet seen through Jackie's eyes, it barely sustains interest and is over in five minutes because she barely had anything to do with it.'The Women of Camelot' is only tolerable because the Kennedys were such an interesting family who played such a significant role in American history in the sixties. No doubt there is a better film to be made of their experiences, one that doesn't turn the story into a cheap and dull soap opera.