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Executive Action

Executive Action (1973)

November. 07,1973
|
6.7
|
PG
| Thriller

Rogue intelligence agents, right-wing politicians, greedy capitalists, and free-lance assassins plot and carry out the JFK assassination in this speculative agitprop.

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CommentsXp
1973/11/07

Best movie ever!

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Dynamixor
1973/11/08

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

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Humaira Grant
1973/11/09

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

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Bob
1973/11/10

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

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jacobs-greenwood
1973/11/11

This political thriller purports to provide an alternative to the Warren Commission's report that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Directed by David Miller, it features a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo that was based on the story by Donald Freed and Mark Lane's novel Rush to Judgment.It stars Burt Lancaster and Robert Ryan (among others) as wealthy conspirators that want to eliminate the POTUS before he and the rest of the Kennedy clan - they foresee the White House being occupied by JFK, then Robert followed by Teddy through 1984 - can implement their agenda, which would change the United States of America into an intolerable country for them.Actual newsreel footage is used to chronicle the President's steps: a nuclear disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union, the promise of equal rights for Negroes (Kennedy's words), and military withdrawal from Vietnam, which the conspirators fear would allow the Communists to take over Asia.The actions finally convince a Southerner (played by Will Geer) to fund the assassination plot which, according to the film, included three gunmen (one behind a fence on a grassy knoll), and making a patsy out of Oswald, who was merely a Texas School Book Depository employee when the shots rang out near Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas at half past noon on that fateful day.After Jack Ruby kills Oswald, the film's denouement includes Ryan receiving a phone call that Lancaster's character has died, then pictures of several other eyewitnesses (who were reportedly killed or died mysteriously in subsequent years) are shown.A conspiracy theorist's delight!

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mmallon4
1973/11/12

Executive Action was released 10 years after the assassination of John F. Kennedy and thus is a film by those who remember the day and its aftermath so vividly. Executive Action blends fiction and historical fact into creating one possible scenario to who was responsible for the assassination of JFK, but one which the movie makes feel convincing. The film is a great companion piece to Oliver Stone's JFK; Stone has stated Executive Action was a basis on inspiration for JFK and it's not hard to see aspects of JFK within Executive Action. Like in JFK, there is much intercutting of archive footage and black & white flashbacks, while the military like score by Randy Edelman feels reminiscent of John William's score to JFK.Much of the film is comprised of engrossing documentary like discussions and presentations, making it like an adaptation of a stage play. Those behind the assassination in Executive Action are a small group of businessmen, political figures and former US Intelligence personal. They spend much of the movie alone in a mansion and come off as people who are out of touch with common society, nor are they keen on civil rights or minorities. They're like a secret society and are interested in their own agenda - an elite who believe it's their duty to pull off an action such as assassinating individuals to preserve their interests; in fact it's even stated this isn't the first time any of them have taken part in an assassination; these are business men controlling the world. Will Geer plays a stereotypical looking southern businessman who looks a bit like Colonel Sanders, while Burt Lancaster's menacing performance reminds me of his role of the evil business mogul J.J. Hunsecker in Sweet Smell of Success. These are cold blooded, emotionless men and the entire film is deliberately acted in low key performances. Whereas JFK is a film driven by emotion, Executive Action is the opposite in this respect.The film does an effective job at recreating 1963 with the fashions and cars on show; and despite the low budget there aerial shots of Dealey Plaza with the appropriate cars on the road and a recreation the billboard sign on top of the book depository as it looked in 1963. My only downside to Executive Action is the film's inconsistent pacing. The middle portion of the film drags as the story becomes less eventful, but the suspense builds up once the day of the assassination has arrived.Executive Action was made during a period when paranoia/conspiracy thrillers where at their height and right during the Watergate scandal; yet has been swept under the rug of history as it is the type of film which would be easily dismissed by critics for being speculative and other such dirty words. Thus there is a taboo like joy which comes from watching a provocative, somewhat trashy film like this.I also recommend watching the vintage featurette on the Executive Action DVD. During it the film's screenwriter Dalton Trumbo states he didn't believe in any conspiracy theories until he read the Warren Report and a dozen books on the subject and became convinced the president had been killed by bullets from two different angels. Likewise Burt Lancaster tells of how he became increasingly convinced of a probable conspiracy when doing his research. It goes to show how easy it is to be swayed into believing the JFK conspiracy.

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belindar-2
1973/11/13

Anyone who wants to learn from the past, not trust the present, and be hopeful for the future should see this film. It was very well put together and very informative. Even though it is suppose to be fiction, one can only feel that this is a thinking person's film. David Miller, the director, did not waste a minute of the viewers' time in giving this film great guidance to the end of the film. I felt like I had learned something and I wanted to research and learn more. If you are a lover of history and want to not make mistakes of the past, this is definitely a movie you will enjoy. Lancaster, Ryan, and Geer were completely believable. I wish they made movies like this again. This is the best political thriller I have seen in such a long time.

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Michael_Elliott
1973/11/14

Executive Action (1973)** (out of 4) Almost exactly ten years after the assassination of President Kennedy, this film was released to theaters and quickly disappeared due to the controversy it started. This film is meant to show an alternate version of what really happened to Kennedy including there being three gunmen and Lee Harvey Oswald being set up. EXECUTIVE ACTION was made well before Oliver Stone's JFK and while it's always unfair to compare films, that's pretty hard not to do here. There's no question that the Stone film is so much better on every level but this film here remains somewhat interesting even though in the end it's a failure. I think the most interesting thing is how it tries to present itself as a documentary while at the same time admitting that it's not sure anything it's showing really happened. The documentary style includes stock footage being used to help tell its story but this here never really works and in many ways just makes the film seem cheap. I think the biggest problem with the film is that it doesn't know what it wants to do. Yes, it wants to present this alternate theory but in the credits it tells us that it's not certain if this really happened. What made JFK so great (and hated) is that it stood for something and ran with it. EXECUTIVE ACTION doesn't know what it stands for so the film tells us something and never comes close to convincing us of anything. Rich businessmen are afraid blacks, Jews and foreigners are going to take over. They gather up the cash to hire men to kill Kennedy. The performances in the film are good with Burt Lancaster and Robert Ryan leading the way. The direction is pretty bland and the laid-back style really doesn't do anyone any favors and especially the viewer. There's really no drama or tension in anything we're watching with the exception being the stock footage showing the countdown and aftermath of the assassination. EXECUTIVE ACTION is certainly worth watching but it's a failed attempt, although you can still give it credit for being ahead of its time.

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