Chappaquiddick

[MinM]

Can anyone recommend films in league with Network, Blow Out, The Shining, Taxi Driver, Parallax View, THX 1138, 2001, 2001, Seconds, etc? It seems like that 68-81 period yielded some of the best cinema ever. Actually more specific films with an "RI" element.

A forgotten one: Executive Action starring Burt Lancaster. 1973. Watched in context of the time, it's revealing.

Executive Action:

Conspiracy
In
America

BTW a few other Burt Lancaster films in this genre...

Seven Days in May (1964)
Executive Action (1973)
Twilight's Last Gleaming (1978)
The Osterman Weekend (1983)

[Elvis]

---

Hitchcock's Saboteur (1942) with Robert Cummings

Spoilers here but good description: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saboteur_%28film%29

[M F Abernathy]

I posted the original article about Charles Schlund in 2005.

He read the CIA's files about how --and why--they framed Ted Kennedy in 1977.

I posted more detailed information about this on the internet several years ago.

Charles Schlund died in 2010.

[Iamwhomiam]

A few films I'll suggest would be the 1969 movie The Magic Christian, adopted from Terry Southern's 1959 novel, starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr. Bizarre, and definitive of Amerika today. The film's many guest stars are featured as unforgettable and freaky characters.

Sir Guy Grand, the richest man in the world, adopts a homeless boy, Youngman. Together, they set out to prove that anyone--and anything--can be bought with money.

Another would be Putney Swope, also from 1969, written and directed by Morton Downey, Sr.

These two are both very funny in an embarrassing and shameful sort of way and are worthy of mention, if not discussion here on RI.

Creepiest (in the conventional kinda creepy sort of way) and perhaps most RI worthy of the three would be Carnival of Souls

[zuestorz]

Well, apologies for silting up the Chappaquiddick thread but I can't resist the RI movie angle vying for recognition herein.

Iamwhomiam: I haven't seen The Magic Christian but it sounds like another great vehicle for the elevated comedic brain of Sellers. Two others of his are in my all time great 'RI themed' movies. Dr Strangelove and that grossly underrated parable about the irrelevancy of the office of the chief executive - Being There. In the title role of Strangelove, I love the Seller's nazi salute schtick, which is an allusion to photos of Werner Von Braun's capture during WWII. The photos show von Braun wearing a massive plaster cast on his arm keeping it outstretched as if in perpetual 'heil'. I often wondered about those photos, such a huge plaster cast.

Elvis: Of all the Hitchcock movies Saboteur is an interesting one to select. Love that era though - two of my faves from around then would be Citizen Kane and The Third Man.

Joe: On amazon copies of Twighlights Last Gleaming sell for a lot so it must be good. Do you know of an Australian movie called The Cars That Ate Paris? It's supposed to be a cult classic.

MinM: Burt Lancaster's parapolitical big four! I'd add Birdman of Alcatraz and Elmer Gantry (as a minimum) into a complete RI themed Burt Lancaster list and offer it up to whoever it is that passes judgement on such things because it seems to me he should be given a lifetime of achievement award for acting RI themed roles. Matter of fact I'm confidant Burt would have been a RI member.

http://www.angelfire.com/oh2/writer/burtlancaster.html

stoneonstone: BBC mini-series? Well you've opened Pandoras Box there. On your recommendation then I'll check out Edge of Darkness. I think I take a counter view to yours regarding Executive Action vs Condor though.

bardobailey: You'll get no argument from me on Manchurian Candidate & North by Northwest. Candidly, and as always I can only speak for myself here folks, I don't think I could resist the wiles of Eva Marie Saint either. In fact, it would appear churlish to even try.

JackRiddler: Yep right on the money re the comment on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I found the recent Gary Oldman movie re-make dreadful in comparison! And although Oldman was fantastic as Smilley and Colin Firth was great as Haydon - but changing the story-line?? I was doubly surprised to see that Le Carre was listed as an EP in the credits and therefore we have to assume that he was 'OK with the changes'. All I could think of was that sales of his new book, Our Kind of Traitor, must be down. The TTSS mini-series with Sir Alec Guiness is amazingly good ranks highly along with, I Claudius. The Brits do dialog like nobody else can. Officionados of the spy genre say that few can paint that espionage atmosphere in words like Le Carre can. I think that the mini-series succeeds in conveying those dark atmospherics.

[Luther Blissett]

Altered States.

I've been on a huge "RI" movie kick lately as I have "Seven Days in May" waiting for me in the Netflix envelope, and have recently watched "Until the Light Takes Us," "Resurrect Dead," "Pontypool," and "Jacob's Ladder."

I'm a huge Bergman fan and while I feel like discussion of those films, and even their essential craftfulness, are basically Film 101, I always feel like "The Silence," "The Magic Flute," or "Wild Strawberries" would bear out some good discussions here.

Another is Antonioni's "La'Aventura." Or that French film that opens on that long study of a heist in a stormy gold coast town.

[Joe Hillshoist]

Joe: On amazon copies of Twighlights Last Gleaming sell for a lot so it must be good. Do you know of an Australian movie called The Cars That Ate Paris? It's supposed to be a cult classic.

one thing about Twilight's Last Gleaming is the way its shot. It uses split screens in a way that gets done alot now.
(Edge of Darkness is great btw.)

The Cars that ate Paris is one film I've always wanted to watch but never got round to it. peter Wier made The Last Wave as well.

There's a few films like that that play on the isolation of "outback" Australia, and the dark underbelly of settlement/invasion. Also cars. They are a big thing in this country cos really, without them you are stuck, sometimes in the middle of now here.

Thats why the Mad Max movies were made, and others, like Wake in Fright, or Welcome to Woop Woop, which aren't necessarily about cars but are about isolation and to an extent power. Even Metal Skin, which is by the guy who made Romper Stomper touches on that. Its suburban, but people are isolated and powerless without cars.

And energy or access to it.

These days, since satellites and then the net, Australia isn't as isolated. But till the mid 80s, probably till Live Aid, we were on an empty continent at the far end of the world. Surrounded by thousands of miles of ocean in nearly all directions. End of the world movies sort of fit here. there have been a few. Mad Max trilogy. On the Beach. Until the End of the World, after the World Ends. Where the Green Ants Dream. Others too.

Like the Nostradamus Kid, written by Bob Ellis who got a mention upthread.

[AhabsOtherLeg]

This is an absolutely fascinating thread, I did not know much about Chappaquiddick beyond the official story and Nixon's interest in it, so this is nearly all new to me. I want you all to get back to talking about the case though, not films or tv shows that are a little bit like a version of it, but that's not for me to say.

- Edge of Darkness: Nothing to do with the Mel Gibson remake, and includes cameo with Michael Meacher MP.

- House of Cards: With Ian Richardson, see the 1st season (best) and decide if you want more.

- A Very British Coup

Man, we're like twins on those likings!

Btw, if you have not watched G.B.H. by Alan Blesadale then you must. Even Jeff likes it. I'm going to post up some extracts from it on the film scenes thread (I had to struggle through much DRM to get these little bits) and you'll see why it really is an essential series from that time, on a par with Edge of Darkness.

[christs4sale]

The second is by a Bob Ellis and offers a plausible alternative tale with a crucial revelation:

Ted Kennedy and Chappaquiddick, the true story
Thursday, 27 August 2009

" The dreadful truth of that night is well-known among Kennedy staffers and his surviving family, and it is that Teddy was nowhere near the car when the accident occurred. . . . "

http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/08/27/ted ... rue-story/

Good reads both, but as to the authenticity of either I can't say.

This is from the Bob Ellis story. He is saying that Ted let Mary Jo take the car as they supposedly saw a police car and Ted was drunk. Kennedy just left the car and walked back to the hotel leaving Mary Jo to drive the car off of the bridge.

Teddy walked the three-quarters of a mile back to the hotel, using the newly constructed bridge to the island. Mary-Jo, unacquainted with the territory, drove down the old road to the old broken bridge and into the water.

I can definitely say that this story is false and the author does not even understand the general layout of Chappaquiddick Island as the article says that Kennedy walked across a bridge. No bridge exists going from Chappaquiddick to Edgartown. Not then and not now. The Dike Bridge where the Oldsmobile went off is on the east side of Chappaquiddick and goes to the beach. The ferry landing is on the west side of the island just across from Edgartown.

There were no witnesses to Ted Kennedy, other than supposedly Gargan and Markham, swimming the channel or wearing wet clothing. I really have no explanation to how Ted ended up getting back over to the Edgartown side. The people running the ferry very easily would have seen him as it is just a small boat that holds two or three cars(There are two boats now and the new one holds at least three cars, but the one boat that existed back then held two cars).

Also, read the original statement that Kennedy gave to the police chief Dominic Arena in Edgartown and see how short it is and how little information it contains.

On July 18, 1969, at approximately 11:15 PM in Chappaquiddick, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, I was driving my car on Main Street on my way to get the ferry back to Edgartown. I was unfamiliar with the road and turned right onto Dike Road, instead of bearing hard left on Main Street. After proceeding for approximately one-half mile on Dike Road I descended a hill and came upon a narrow bridge. The car went off the side of the bridge. There was one passenger with me, one Miss Mary ________[There was a blank space here because Kennedy was not sure of the spelling of Mary Jo's last name, and instead offered a rough phonetic approximation], a former secretary of my brother Sen. Robert Kennedy. The car turned over and sank into the water and landed with the roof resting on the bottom. I attempted to open the door and the window of the car but have no recollection of how I got out of the car. I came to the surface and then repeatedly dove down to the car in an attempt to see if the passenger was still in the car. I was unsuccessful in the attempt. I was exhausted and in a state of shock. I recall walking back to where my friends were eating. There was a car parked in front of the cottage and I climbed into the back seat. I then asked for someone to bring me back to Edgartown. I remember walking around for a period of time and then going back to my hotel room. When I fully realized what had happened this morning, I immediately contacted the police.

[MinM]

Well Ted, even til the moments before death, claimed he never believed in any conspiracies involving the death of JFK or RFK. Like the hanging of RFK Jr's wife recently, I guess it's just 'one of those things'

Here's a publication that would beg to differ...

My guess would be that in order to protect personal credibility, political viability, and longevity reasons ... They tend to steer clear of these issues.

25-minutes or so into the clip below Lisa Pease mentions that a member of the Kennedy family acknowledged having a personal interest in these matters. Just a short time after publicly dismissing the notion.

http://www.blackopradio.com/pod/black529c.mp3

viewtopic.php?p=439349#p439349

Romney's Chappaquiddick?

[8bitagent]

I wouldnt doubt it. Some of the "Kennedy Curse" can't simply be bad timing and syncs as we're lead to believe

[MinM]

Arbitrage, a Chappaquiddickesque movie, starts tomorrow.

Ben Affleck & George Clooney are making propaganda films.

James Franco the Warren Commission Report.

[MinM]

Can anyone recommend films in league with Network, Blow Out, The Shining, Taxi Driver, Parallax View, THX 1138, 2001, 2001, Seconds, etc? It seems like that 68-81 period yielded some of the best cinema ever. Actually more specific films with an "RI" element.

A forgotten one: Executive Action starring Burt Lancaster. 1973. Watched in context of the time, it's revealing.

Executive Action:

Conspiracy
In
America

BTW a few other Burt Lancaster films in this genre...

Seven Days in May (1964)
Executive Action (1973)
Twilight's Last Gleaming (1978)
The Osterman Weekend (1983)

It would appear that Sterling Hayden was no stranger to these either...

Sterling Hayden and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy
Started by John Simkin, 26 December 2012, 07:45 PM

The actor Sterling Hayden, was one of the first famous people to come out as a critic of the Warren Commission. Hayden supported Mark Lane in his attempts to reopen the case and joined the Citizens Committee of Inquiry. Lane pointed out in Plausible Denial: Was the CIA Involved in the Assassination of JFK (1991): "Having almost exhausted the available traditional resources, I turned toward an informal network that had been established years before... I formed an organization... the Citizens Committee of Inquiry. Its purpose, from the time it was founded in 1964, was to bring together people interested in securing the facts about the death of the president. It was clear that an extraordinary response was required to meet the effort of the police and spy organizations to offer a sanitized solution to the murder and to discourage serious inquiry."

Interestingly, Hayden had worked with several future members of the CIA when he was a member of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during the Second World War. Hayden also acted in the conspiracy film, Winter Kills (1979), that is based loosely on the JFK assassination.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index ... opic=19826

[JackRiddler]

Off-topic but since it's been brought up.

Arbitrage was a great flick.

No seriously. A no-compromise movie. The exact moment when it will end becomes obvious a few seconds before, and puts the J'accuse on America. Fucking great stuff.

And it had nothing to do with Chappaquiddick. I think 40 years later someone is allowed to use a car accident as a plot element without necessarily drawing that parallel.

Plus it's got the prodigy and my current heartthrob,



.

[8bitagent]

Off-topic but since it's been brought up.

Arbitrage was a great flick.

No seriously. A no-compromise movie. The exact moment when it will end becomes obvious a few seconds before, and puts the J'accuse on America. Fucking great stuff.

And it had nothing to do with Chappaquiddick. I think 40 years later someone is allowed to use a car accident as a plot element without necessarily drawing that parallel.

Plus it's got the prodigy and my current heartthrob,



.

I take it you've seen Sound of My Voice?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W20Fl5m5FdM
She kind of reminds me of Marley Matlin.

But yeah I liked Arbitrage a lot. But, as much as I know Clooney is despised here, I also really liked Michael Clayton.
And Im very glad you guys recommended me Blow Out! Loved that one.