"JFK: Destiny Betrayed" by Oliver Stone, Bobby Kennedy for President (Netflix miniseries)

AGC Television, the TV production-distribution division of Stuart Ford’s still fast expanding independent content studio AGC Studios, has landed worldwide rights to another high-profile doc-series which it describes as “probing” and “explosive”: Oliver Stone’s “JFK: Destiny Betrayed.” No one could deny that Oliver Stone’s work spoke directly to America’s dreams and nightmares. Films like “Wall Street” and “Natural Born Killers” had a particularly nuanced take on the rotten amorality at our society’s core, and the treatment of the country’s self-deceptions in “Born on the Fourth of July” and “J.F.K.” “I never wanted arguments,” Stone writes in his upcoming memoir, “Chasing the Light”: “I never wanted to provoke. I was just seeking the truth.” “JFK” proved to be the most controversial of his films. In the new doc-series, Stone and writer James DiEugenio, author of “Destiny Betrayed: JFK, Cuba, and the Garrison Case,” place now declassified files related to President Kennedy’s assassination in a far larger context, aiming to shine more light on what really happened in 1963. Coming in on the assassination from the angle of Kennedy’s far-reaching policy speeches that threatened the status-quo, Stone will “reveal that Kennedy’s foreign policy actions were revolutionary in many ways and were a conscious decision he had been contemplating for a decade before taking office,” said an AGC Television statement. It went on: “Stone will put Kennedy’s assassination in context politically, and present interviews, documents, and forensics reports that will change forever how Kennedy’s life, political career, and assassination will be considered.” Those interviewed in the series include John Tunheim, chairman of the Assassination Records Review Board, criminologist Henry Lee, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., James Galbraith, and Salon founder David Talbot. “It’s not an exaggeration to state that this series features the most distinguished collection of talent and knowledge on the JFK case ever assembled,” said the AGC Television press release. Diaz added: “We have long admired Oliver Stone and his work, and the revelatory information his new documentary brings forward not only sheds a new light on JFK’s presidency and his assassination, it informs us about our contemporary world.” “This documentary film represents an important bookend to my 1991 film. It ties up many loose threads, and hopefully repudiates much of the ignorance around the case and the movie.” “JFK: Destiny Betrayed” reunites Stone with ace cinematographer Robert Richardson (“Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood,” “Nixon,” “The Aviator”), who won the first of his three Academy Awards for “JFK.” Source: variety.com

Oliver Stone: There’s no chain of custody on the magic bullet, which is called CE-399. There’s also no chain of custody on this damn rifle, the Mannlicher-Carcano, which Lee Harvey Oswald was accused of shooting. I don’t want to go into the details, but we can’t account for who was in possession of the bullets and the rifle at various times. It’s a mess. Then we got more detail than ever showing that there was a huge back-of-the-head wound in Kennedy, which clearly indicates a shot from the front. It’s also clear that the autopsy from Bethesda, Md., was completely fraudulent. And there’s Vietnam. No historian can now honestly say that the Vietnam War was Kennedy’s child. That’s crucial. The last thing is the C.I.A. connection to Oswald. We have a stronger case, not only for post-Russia but also for pre-Russia. In other words, he was working with the C.I.A. before he went and when he came back. Those are the main points. I don’t want to criticize your paper, but if it was honest, it would be doing this work instead of just saying, “It’s all settled.” 

-But on some level you must know that we’ll never be able to tie up all the loose ends of the Kennedy assassination. So what do you want people to take away from your new work on this?

-Oliver Stone: Those who are interested will find it’s pretty clear that J.F.K. was murdered by forces that were powerful in our government. We point the finger at a couple of individuals. But I don’t want to get into that here. Now, why do I have to do this? I’m doing the documentary for the record so that you can see for yourself what the evidence is. That’s all. We’re just finishing it and beginning to show it. It will be out. Even if it’s on YouTube.

Jim DiEugenio: There are now 5 million pages of declassified documents about Kennedy's presidency and assassination. Why doesn't the press read what is in those pages? Why does The Telegraph and Yahoo let people like Tom Fordy distort the facts and keep the public in the dark about 11/22/63? The public wants to know the truth. They won't get it from shills like Fordy. The last thing the world needs right now is more hackery about the assassination of President Kennedy. John Newman had a hand in writing all the Vietnam scenes in the film JFK. They were all based upon his research. The reason they were so shocking is because the MSM, the Establishment and the public had all bought this lie that LBJ continued Kennedy's policy in Vietnam. That was not true at all. It was a huge and pernicious deception. I am proud of collaborating with this new JFK documentary by Oliver Stone, this has been going on for well over a year now. Many long days where we did not get out of the office until like 9 PM. And Rob Wilson, the producer, has been doing a remarkable job digging up archival footage which I did not even know existed. The material we have on Vietnam is striking, thanks to the research of Newman and James Galbraith. Galbraith talks about his father and JFK, what a story. Kennedy was really lucky to have James Kenneth Galbraith as a tutor because that is the way he communicated with him when he became president. I liked the line in the NYT interview where Stone wonders why he has to do the investigative reporting on JFK and Vietnam, instead of the "investigative reporters" in the MSM. Although David Marchese in The New York Times deliberately tried to misconstrue what Oliver said about CE 399. The SBT is not the same as the issue of CE 399. Stone has been prevented from making feature films about the My Lai Massacre, the MLK assassination, and other subjects (the film industry blames the commercial failure of NIXON, a great film), so he has turned to making insightful documentaries. Source: www.nytimes.com

The Kennedy Family and their controversial time in The White House and politics in general is arguably one of the most intriguing periods in history playing host to numerous conspiracy theories around the suspicious nature of their deaths. Bobby Kennedy For President is a four part Netflix documentary series that focuses on Bobby’s political rise to presidential candidacy before being assassinated. Exploring big political issues around Vietnam, worker’s rights and the Civil Rights movement, Bobby Kennedy For President is a fascinating look at the Kennedy brothers and the mood encapsulating America during this tumultuous time. The first episode begins in the early 60s with Robert F Kennedy directing his brother John F Kennedy’s presidential campaign. After briefly touching on JFK’s murder, the documentary continues through another 2 episodes that sees Bobby run for the U.S. Senate while committing to fighting for Civil Rights and campaigning against the war in Vietnam. The final episode takes a reflective stance following Bobby’s shocking murder, exploring various conspiracy theories and suspicion surrounding the handling of the investigation and if there ever will be a time we know for definite what really happened. Source: readysteadycut.com

"If Lincoln didn't get us there, and Dr. King didn't get us there, and Bobby Kennedy didn't get us there, what the hell is left to say, that's going to have a rude awakening, to make a nation alive, and to greet the better part of itself? But we have to keep trying. And that's what Bobby Kennedy was really about. He was trying to find a solution." -Harry Belafonte