Director: Robert Drew
Cast: John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, George Wallace
A note (or, the bulk of the review, whatever works) before we begin, as I was a little unsure of how to organize these reviews, per se. Whereas each film normally warrants its own review (although Justice League (2017) and Rocky IV (1985) both managed to get two*) but this review will cover four films. Primary (1960) focuses on Kennedy’s fight in that year’s Wisconsin primary against Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota. Adventures on the New Frontier (1961), produced for ABC, attempts a fly-on-the-wall study of the early days of the Kennedy Administration. Crisis (1963) depicts Robert Kennedy’s standoff with Alabama Governor George Wallace as Federal Courts order the admission of black students to the University of Alabama. Finally, Faces of November (1964) is a nearly wordless few minutes depicting the funeral services after Dallas They are grouped together as a series. Footage from several of them overlap, primarily New Frontier borrowing from Primary. Some could barely be considered feature length, while Faces is barely over ten minutes**. Taken together, they are worthy of their own review.
Have I Seen It Before: Never.
Did I Like It: After all of that? It’s a slight split decision. Adventures in the New Frontier is easily the weakest of the four entries, roping in too many disparate threads into something less than total of its parts.
Primary is exactly what you would hope for from a deep-access political campaign documentary, but there is probably a note of warning needed. The film seems to have more insight on Humphrey than Kennedy. That might be more to do with the fact that John F. Kennedy might not have had another layer to peel back.
Faces is exactly what you would expect, but it does have the virtue of letting the aftermath of the tragedy play out without even the slightest bit of commentary.
But Crisis is the one by which I was most delighted. We all know the story of the integration of the University of Alabama and Wallace parking himself on the wrong side of history. However, just exactly how this standoff was going to play out. Exactly how Wallace would have to back down. Did those kids get enrolled without any problems. The film goes through all of that in an hour that builds the tension surprisingly well.
*If you had gone back in time and told me that I would be making reference to Justice League and Rocky IV in this review, I’d believe you, because it sounds like me… But also suspicious because you haven’t used your time travel abilities to negate the need for Faces of November to be made. I was fairly sure I’d probably make a time travel reference before the review was done.
**Nearly an hour of people looking very sad is certainly an idea for a documentary.