- KENNEDY: THE COMPLETE SERIES (DVD MOVIE)
Martin Sheen (The West Wing, JFK) stars in the title role in this landmark mini-series which centres on the momentous presidential years and the loves, lives, triumphs and tragedies of one of the most controversial families of this century.
KENNEDY covers momentous events including the abortive invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, the turmoil of violent racial conflict, the escalation of America s involvement in Vietnam and the Missile Crisis. It also explores the private life of the man - the tragic death of his son aged only 39 hours, and his chronic womanising, scrutinised by the FBI under the leadership of the sinister and obsessive J. Edgar Hoover.
Nominated for three Golden Globes
Top-rated NBC mini-series starring a young Martin SheenMartin Sheen played president well before his stint on television's
The West Wing in t! his affecting miniseries about John F. Kennedy. All of the momentous events of JFK's remarkable term are covered (with actual news footage used to excellent effect), but it is the portrayal of the entire Kennedy family as real, flawed people that gives
Kennedy its power. The Kennedys gossip, snipe, joke, and bother each other like a real family rather than rigid historical figures or threadbare caricatures. Sheen plays Kennedy as a man with lofty ideals who is more than willing to dirty his hands to serve his greater purpose. Blair Brown plays Jacqueline Kennedy with a shrewd understanding of politics, but also a whiff of vanity. In addition to the strong performances by both leads, Vincent Gardenia gives a brilliant performance as J. Edgar Hoover: stiff, quirky and strange, prurient and moralistic at the same time, and boiling with hatred. The DVD includes 75 minutes of documentary footage from the Kennedy library.
--Ali Davis 
