Wed 16 Apr 2008
Call it nostalgia. Call it remembrance. Call it a reminder of how things were before John F. Kennedy was assassinated forty-five years ago in 1963. In every way, you will be right. Today, President John F Kennedy is a man steeped in myth, especially to today’s generation and probably for anyone under fifty years old. He is an icon unlike almost any other American president except for possibly Abraham Lincoln. Robert Drew’s latest film is not for the cynical, the know-it-alls, or those who will say, I’ve been there, done that. It is an unabashed, affectionate look at John F Kennedy. Few people really know anything about him except the obvious.
Almost fifty years ago Robert Drew helped develop hand-held cameras that allowed him and his crews to enter, as flies on the wall, the inner world of Kennedy – with his permission, of course — as he campaigned for president, then won the Oval Office, and then went through a host of crises that he solved with a dedicated staff. For this film, Drew culled highlights of Kennedy’s life from the four major films he directed about him during those heady years. In “A President to Remember” we watch JFK campaign for president. We witness speeches he made – especially portions of the one about his Catholicism and how it would not affect how he would govern the country. We see excerpts of John Kennedy and Richard Nixon in the debate that changed the tone of the campaign and then helped to turn the election his way.
Importantly, Drew and his cameras had access to the Oval Office during two major confrontations when Kennedy was president. The major foreign crisis was, of course, when the Soviet Union under Nikita Khrushev moved missiles into Cuba. Here we see JFK interacting with his advisors, not panicking, being thoughtful, and being careful because one false step and the world could have seen nuclear war. Kennedy was able to face down the Soviet Union and cause Khrushev and his military to remove the missiles, thus allowing the world to breathe more easily without the possibility of nuclear war.
The other powerful set of scenes that take place in the Oval Office were those during the time when Governor George Wallace of Alabama refused to allow black students to enter the University of Alabama. Driven by Attorney General Robert Kennedy and ably assisted by Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach, it was an epic diplomatic battle over state rights between Alabama, in the person of George Wallace, and the Federal government over who had control of desegregation. Troops massed. Large crowds gathered. The nation was tense because Wallace threatened to stand in the schoolhouse door and not admit the two African-American students. We observe the Kennedy brothers being calm and resolute in the face of a defiant George Wallace. We watch as they face down Governor Wallace and finally win. The two students are admitted. President Kennedy goes on TV that night and sets the tone for future government commitments to civil rights. I seriously doubt that any president today would allow such intimate access to show the highest in government at work. I have to wonder what the result of President George Bush going to war with Iraq would have had, had at least some of his discussions been recorded for posterity.
Though the film does not take us through everything in Kennedy’s life, we do get to see him on trips to the Berlin Wall, and his journey to Ireland. We see the sometimes awkward grace of Jackie Kennedy, how she supported him in her role as First Lady, the intimate looks she gives him, and her ability to win people with her smile and her gentle charm.
Is this film worth seeing? If you know very little about John F Kennedy and his presidency, the answer is yes. If you think you know more than you do, the answer is still yes. If you know in detail everything about JFK, the answer is a strong yes. We will probably never see the likes of John F Kennedy again. The film refreshes our memory. Rush to wherever it is playing. It is not comprehensive. It cannot be. It is selective. In these selections, however enough of JFK’s intellect, his wit, his caring attitude, his humanity and his style show through, if even only in small doses, to make the movie worth your time when it comes to a theater near you. This is especially so with the Democratic Party campaign for its candidate for president nearly over and the campaign for a new president about to being.