Please don't spend money on this.

One of the worst movies I've ever seen

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

I had never heard of this film but bought it only because I saw Billy Bob Thornton was in it. It's about the Kennedy assassination but from a totally different perspective than the usual. It is seen through the eyes of the people, the ordinary people who lived it and the impact it had on them. Seeing how camera man Abraham Zapruder was horrified at what he saw takes things to a deeper lever. As does the Lee Harvey's brother, who although innocent of anything, knows his life is changed and so is that of his and Lee's children. My only complaint is the somewhat graphic scene in the emergency room when the doctors and nurses where trying to save the presidents life. In typical modern hollywood style they had to go over the top. The doctors,nurses,, everyone,, was covered in blood. The president was already dead he wouldn't have been squirting blood around the room. There's no reason for the nurses to be drenched in blood. It was too over the top. As one who works in emergency medicine,, this doesn't happen. I was disappointed they went so hollywood and followed the modern version of added gore and blood. Otherwise , a really good film. Well thought out. Great acting all around. Really makes this a personal incident. Thank you.

Like many people I've read so much about the Kennedy Assassination that I know the names and stories and even the back stories of just about every character in this movie. And having read Bugliosi's books on the topic (both the short facts-only book on which this movie is based and also the very long, devastating thorough take-down of every conspiracy theory), I know the narrative practically the way Bugliosi presents it, minute by minute. Even so, I was gripped by this movie right from the beginning shortly before the assassination and stayed with it right to the poetic, pathetic ending where Oswald is buried in Fort Worth. At the end of the movie, I really felt wrung out.The movie operates a bit like a Greek tragedy, not just in its tragic arc, but also in the fact that it assumes that you the viewer generally know the story. This allows it to cover a huge amount of historical ground in just 90 effectively and efficiently presented minutes of drama. It's a remarkable achievement. There's ten times more info in this short film than in Oliver Stone's ridiculous "JFK" which is twice as long.Stone's 'JFK' indulges in some of the most unfocused teenage fantasizing ever filmed. 'Parkland' on the other hand presents without hype some aspects of the assassination story that show where the federal government did indeed fail: the failure to stop Oswald (the first of the "known wolves") and also the Secret Service's arrogant bullying of the Dallas coroner, in complete violation the governing law. If the Secret Service had followed the law instead of acting like the praetorian guard of a Roman emperor, there's a good chance that conspiracy theories could have died in the cradle as they should have. We'd never have had the questions that arose from the transportation of Kennedy's body back to Bethesda. The other big movie I want to compare this one to is James Cameron's 'Titanic', which is as ridiculous as Stone's 'JFK.' Why oh why did Cameron, having been handed one of the most copiously documented and most dramatic stories of all time, feel the need to embellish it with an adolescent love story? The director of 'Parkland' shows much more artistic discipline not to mention better taste. He knows he's got a helluva story and he sticks very closely to it. So this is a movie for grown-ups. In additional to being accurate history, it's a big black cup of hot drama, served up without cream or sugar. It'll certainly keep you awake.

I have a keen and long-standing interest in the assassination of JFK. While this movie did not appear to have a particular agenda -- it was based on Bugliosi's book, but was simply a retelling of the immediate aftermath of the assassination -- it did leave me wondering, what was the point? Do we really need a movie that DOESN'T present a POV on this topic? Perhaps if it was more in-depth and accurate, I'd have felt differently. Also, the number of factual errors, many around the timeline of certain events, others in the details, was disappointing. There are numerous reliable sources -- interviews, photographs, and the like -- to render the errors inexcusable. The presentation was matter-of-fact, but the story was not compelling. We were drawn to no particular character or angle. Whether one views it as a documentary or entertainment, it fails in either regard and ultimately disappoints in both. 6 stars because the topic interests me and the movie prompted me to research certain matters, which was an interesting side effect. My scale:1-5 decreasing degrees of "terrible", with 5 being "mediocre"6- OK. Generally held my interest OR had reasonable cast and/or cinematography, might watch it again7 - Good. My default rating for a movie I liked enough to watch again, but didn't rise to the upper echelons8- Very Good. Would watch again and recommend to others9- Outstanding. Would watch over and over; top 10% of my ratings10 - A Classic (6 of 430 movies have received this)

I have been studying, watching, speaking about, and all around fascinated with this event that happened 8 years before I was even born. I've seen every adaptation and film about this event, and this is the first one that actually captured the 'human' element of the story. For decades we've grown so jaded by the coverage, and documentaries and reports that go on year after year on the anniversary, that we've disassociated the 'human' element of what happened.We've never been given a real glimpse into the emotions of the doctors, and nurses in the room that day. We've NEVER truly felt Jackie's pain and anguish in that room, on that day, until now. I cried, after years and years of watching, and reading, and talking about all this... during the emergency room scene, I cried. The 'human' element of all of it, FINALLY hit home.Great film, great story, told from a great angle. Conspiracy theorists, and detractors should set aside their agendas for a moment, and just feel what the Doctor's and Nurses, and all the others felt during those moments. Truly moving, no matter what you believe happened that day.