Jim Garrison, "On the Trail of the Assassins"
I just finished watching Magnolia about 20 minutes ago. Jeezum Crow, that was a good movie! Who would have thunk it? After all, it�s named after a goddamn flower and it had Tom Cruise in it! Who knew that it would be good with those odds?
Of course that doesn�t have anything to do with Garrison�s book on the JFK assassination.
Except that it might, if you think about it.
JFK is another movie that was great, even with its extremely long length and complicated interconnected subject matter. (By the way, I can�t believe how few people I know have seen this film. Even if you don�t believe the conspiracy theories � which I do � or even if you hate Oliver Stone � which I don�t � I still think everybody should see this film. I think it�s gripping and fascinating on a myriad of levels, and the fact that Stone can take such complicated subject matter and make a compelling version of it on film is a remarkable achievement in itself. But I guess I should save these comments, as my too read shelf still has a book on the making of and subsequent outcry over the film.)
Anyway, for a bio-pic of sorts it beats the hell out of Spike Lee�s Malcolm X, which was a piece of shit.
I already had a lot of respect for the film but after reading this book, my respect has gone through the roof. The film takes almost all of the parts from this book, some parts nearly verbatim, and makes it even more compelling. The only weak part of Stone�s film, I thought, was the inclusion of his disintegration of his family life due to his passion for trying to bring the conspirators to justice.
Interestingly enough, there�s none of that in this book. If I remember correctly, Oliver Stone�s child played the part of Jim Garrison�s oldest son (poorly, I might add), so that�s the only reason I can think of why he decided to put that stuff in the film.
If you�re looking for concrete answers on who was involved with the assassination, you�re not going to get it from this book. Though after reading it, I do have a theory: I think YOU did it.
But still, it does answer one question for me. This book provides definitive proof that Jim Garrison looks nothing like Kevin Costner.
