Movie: Executive Action
Burt Lancaster & Robert Ryan Star in 1973 JFK Assassination Film
A trio of ultra right-wing businessmen headed by James Farrington (Burt Lancaster) plot to kill President Kennedy in director David Miller's 1973 film, Executive Action.
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, remains a hotbed of controversy. In 1973, National General Pictures added its name to the long list of conspiracy theorists, releasing the political thriller Executive Action, the first Hollywood film to dramatize the horrific events of Assassination Friday in Dallas, Texas.
Mark Lane's Rush to Judgment
Executive Action is based loosely on the 1966 nonfiction bestseller Rush to Judgment, authored by noted New York defense attorney Mark Lane. One of the earliest assassination investigators on the scene, Lane had been JFK's New York City area campaign manager in 1960 and had been retained by the mother of accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in 1964 to look after the interests of her murdered son.
In 1967, Lane's book became the basis for the documentary The Plot to Kill JFK: Rush to Judgment, in which he personally interviewed a number of witnesses who had been in Dealey Plaza the day President Kennedy was killed.
A Donald Sutherland Project
Executive Action, as written by Mark Lane and Donald Freed, had initially been championed by actor Donald Sutherland. But when Sutherland's proposed film was turned down by virtually every movie company in Hollywood, the actor sold the rights to producer Edward Lewis.
Dalton Trumbo Writes the Screenplay
Edward Lewis, who voiced the opinion that government officials had not told the whole truth concerning the JFK assassination, took his project to once-blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo. Armed with a small library of books on the assassination and an 8mm home movie that had captured the crime on tape, Trumbo began his research.
After concluding that the shots on President Kennedy's motorcade had come from two directions, Trumbo went to work on the screenplay. In order to lend authenticity to his conspiracy-themed script, Trumbo convinced director David Miller to interweave actual newsreels into the production.
Burt Lancaster and Robert Ryan Sign On
When first approached by Lewis to headline the film, Burt Lancaster demurred, telling the producer: "I won't do the picture unless I'm convinced that the plot could have happened." Several months later a confident Lancaster announced, "I'm convinced," signing on as the sinister James Farrington.
Robert Ryan, who would play Foster, had similar doubts. But after reading the script, he too signed on with Lewis. Ryan, who died on July 11, 1973 -- only several weeks after the picture had been completed -- later called Executive Action "the most important film I ever made."
Financing
Like Donald Sutherland before him, Edward Lewis hit a brick wall when it came time to finance his controversial movie. Finally, a private investor outside of Hollywood stepped forward, and Lewis had his financial backing.
Filming Locales
Executive Action was filmed primarily in three locations: infamous Dealey Plaza in Dallas, the actual scene of "the crime of the century"; Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park in Agua Dulce, California; and the Pasadena, California, mansion of actor Will Geer, who played Ferguson in the film. The latter was used as the palatial home where Geer, Lancaster and Ryan plan the assassination.
Right-Wing Movie Plot
Executive Action champions the view that wealthy businessmen of a right-wing, military-industrial complex bent conspired to kill President Kennedy in Dallas. They wanted the President dead, the film argues, because of Kennedy's plan to withdraw troops from Vietnam, his signing of the nuclear test-ban treaty with the Soviet Union, and his cutting of the oil depletion allowance.
The plotters accomplish their goal through subterfuge and shadow, recruiting several sniper teams to carry out the hit and then shifting the blame to a "patsy" in the person of Lee Harvey Oswald.
Release and Reviews
Executive Action -- which also features via period newsreels such real-life assassination figures as Texas Governor John Connally, Secret Service agent Clint Hill and Dallas police detective Jim Leavelle -- premiered on November 7, 1973, just 15 days prior to the tenth anniversary of the Kennedy assassination.
Nora Sayre of The New York Times (11/8/73) called the film "a tactful, low-key blend of fact and invention," resulting in "a cool, skillful, occasionally confusing argument for conspiracy."
On DVD
Executive Action, which garners its title from a term coined by the CIA in the 1950s referring to political assassination, was released on DVD by Warner Home Video in 2007. It's one of Burt Lancaster's lesser-known films in a career that encompassed such fare as Jim Thorpe - All American (1951) and Birdman of Alcatraz (1962).
"In the last two years, the Secret Service has established 149 threats against Kennedy's life from Texas alone, yet they send him into hostile territory with no more protection than you and I would arrange for a favorite dog," Foster informs co-conspirator James Farrington.
Chilling...
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