July 23, 2008

...The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald (1964)

The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald is a straight-ahead filming of a mock trial of the presidential assassin, performed in a courtroom setting, that stops dead (pun intended) two-thirds of the way through for five minutes as an interview about Cuba with the real Lee Harvey Oswald is played for evidence. Historically it might be nice to have this on record but cinematically we're not talking Citizen Kane. The film has no music or audio other than what the actors speak, and the judge literally looks at the camera when talking to the jury; Court TV it ain't but it was filmed in Dallas in 1963 in the weeks following the actual assassination so that's worth...um...something?

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