Oswald's Ghost (2007)

77% of critics liked it
(22 reviews)
63% of users liked it
(386 ratings)

For the Baby Boomers, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy took on the same sense of tragedy as the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks did for Generation Y -- not only for the effect that it had on the nation's morale but for the conspiracy theories that would follow in its wake as well.… More For the Baby Boomers, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy took on the same sense of tragedy as the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks did for Generation Y -- not only for the effect that it had on the nation's morale but for the conspiracy theories that would follow in its wake as well. In the aftermath of the assassination, President Lyndon B. Johnson plunged the country into a divisive and questionable war in part due to paranoia, thus creating an atmosphere of distrust and disillusionment that would linger for decades to come. Later, following the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, President Richard M. Nixon's flagrant abuse of power seemed to be the final nail in the coffin of American idealism. In this documentary, acclaimed filmmaker Robert Stone (Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst) speaks with such renowned figures as Norman Mailer, Edward J. Epstein, Tom Hayden, and Gary Hart in order to explore the malaise that still lingers since the Kennedy assassination while drawing telling parallels between that pivotal event and the aftermath of the September 11th tragedy. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 23 min.
Directed By: Robert Stone
Written By: Robert Stone
Genres: Documentary, Special Interest

In Theaters: Nov 30, 2007 Wide
On DVD: Jan 15, 2008
Studio: 7th Art Releasing

Critic Reviews

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
A straightforward documentary on the assassination of President Kennedy.
Jack Mathews, New York Daily News
[A] meticulously researched, seemingly unbiased summary of the [JFK] killing and the major conspiracy theories.
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com
Oswald's Ghost is a thorough and systematic primer on how and why the JFK assassination became a generational obsession, and seemed to signal the demolition of at least one version of the American dream.
Michael Fox, Village Voice
Stone argues quite convincingly that Kennedy's horrifically violent death will continue to prickle the national psyche.
Joe Leydon, Variety
Impresses as a concise, intelligent and rigorously well-researched piece of work.
Maureen M. Hart, Chicago Tribune
After a strong start, Oswald's Ghost ends up as ephemeral as its namesake.
Andrew L. Urban, Urban Cinefile
Of course, it doesn't tell us what really happened; that's still shrouded in mystery and always will be, since Lee Harvey Oswald was shot within two days of his arrest.
Jules Brenner, Cinema Signals
So long as filmmakers think they're exposing hidden facts, we'll be experiencing the effects of "Oswald's Ghost" long into the future.
Kam Williams, Mount Desert Islander
Never quite fanning the flames, this superficial, 90-minute documentary only has enough time to touch the surface of the lingering questions surrounding Lee Harvey Oswald.
Kam Williams, Sly Fox
The more interesting question to raise might be "What toll does it take on a society when someone as inconsequential as Lee Harvey Oswald can slay someone as historically significant as JFK?
Andy Klein, Los Angeles CityBeat
What starts out interesting eventually feels unfocused: Just what was the rationale for making this in the first place?
Ron Wilkinson, Monsters and Critics
Taking on the most over-used documentary topic in America, this JFK assassination flick has to produce a new angle. It doesn't do it.
Phil Hall, Film Threat
The only obvious question that Oswald's Ghost raises is: how come Mort Sahl wasn't in the movie?
Brian Orndorf, eFilmCritic.com
Filmmaker Robert Stone doesn't have the answer, but his curiosity about Oswald and the entire assassination experience has been shaped into this fascinating documentary.
Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Veteran conspiracy buffs probably won't find much of Stone's material particularly new, but Stone's film does serve as a neat summary for the rest of us while offering a number of intriguing insights into how conspiracy theories work...
Eric Monder, Film Journal International
Though the film may not change many minds about what happened and why, at least it attempts to describe and explain events like few other documentaries on the same topic.
John P. McCarthy, Boxoffice Magazine
Although [the director] often shifts abruptly from micro to macro, the film holds together, and a two-pronged thesis gradually emerges.
Noel Murray, AV Club
Though the material is hardly fresh, it retains some fascination, and Stone has assembled Oswald's Ghost well, with few of the stylistic tics that marred his Guerilla: The Taking Of Patty Hearst.
Eric Kohn, New York Press
The selling point of Oswald's Ghost, Robert Stone's documentary about the enigmatic blue collar Texan generally regarded as the assassin of President John F. Kennedy, is its refusal to dispute the safest assumption.