Executive Action

Director: David Miller David Miller

Overview

If you think that Oliver Stone invented the "political paranoia" movie, take a glance at Executive Action sometime. Based on Mark Lane's Rush to Judgment, the conspiracy theorist's bible, Executive Action perpetuates the popular urban legend that John F. Kennedy was assassinated at the behest of a right-wing cartel with military and industrial interests. The film further hypothesizes that Lee Harvey Oswald not only didn't pull the trigger, but was also set up as a disposable dupe (this notion wasn't even new in 1973). Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan and Will Geer play the sinister conspirators. In the film's coda, still photos of 18 witnesses to the assassination are shown, while the accompanying text informs us that all of these people had died between 1963 and 1973. We are further told that the odds against this coincidence are one in a trillion. When Oliver Stone's thematically similar JFK came out in 1991, viewers with long memories were quick to notice the eerie similarities between the Stone film and Executive Action -- right down to choice of camera angles. Hmmm....a conspiracy, perhaps?

Product Details

Release Date:	10/23/2007
UPC:	0085391177470
Original Release:	1973
Rating:	PG
Source:	STUDIO DISTRIBUTION SERVS LLC
Region Code:	1
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:31:00
Sales rank:	5,532

Special Features

Vintage featurette November 22, 1963: In Search of an Answer; Burt Lancast trailer gallery

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Burt Lancaster	Farrington
Will Geer	Ferguson
Robert Ryan	Foster
Gilbert Green	Paulitz
John Anderson	Halliday
Paul Carr	Gunman
Colby Chester	Tim
Walter Brooke	Smythe
Ed Lauter	Chief
Sidney Clute	Depository Clerk
Deanna Darrin	Stripper
Lloyd Gough	McCadden
Richard Hurst	Used Car Salesman,Used Car Salesman
Robert Karnes	Man at Rifle Range
James MacColl	Oswald Imposter
Joaquin Martinez	Art Mendoza
Dick Miller	Riflemen Team B
Hunter von Leer	Riflemen Team B
John Brascia	Riflemen Team B
Oscar Orcini	Jack Ruby
Tom Peters	Sergeant
Sandy Ward	Policeman
William Watson	Technician Team B
Richard Bull	Gunmen Team A
Lee Delano	Gunmen Team A
Edward Kemmer	Reporter,Actor
Paul Sorensen	Officer Brown
Randy Edelman	Composer

Technical Credits

Dalton Trumbo

David Miller	Director
Edward Lewis	Producer
Lea Stalmaster	Casting,Casting
Dalton Trumbo	Screenwriter
Bruce Bisenz	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

A few decades before Oliver Stone made JFK, this taut thriller was the first picture to explore a conspiracy theory premise about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The end result holds up surprisingly well. Executive Action remains compelling today because it is a very carefully assembled piece of work. Dalton Trumbo's script features many players and a lot of assassination-based theorizing but it never becomes confusing because he focuses its many elements around a line of reasoning that drives the proposed conspiracy and takes a breathless, "just the facts" approach to his storytelling. Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan and Will Geer all do an excellent job of providing faces for the various facets of this line of reasoning: Lancaster brings both the smarts and the intensity one would expect to his role while Ryan adds a weary, thoughtful note to his conspiratorial role and Geer is amusing as a sly, reluctant (but ultimately convinced) conspirator. Finally, the film is held together by David Miller's tidy direction: he gives the viewer plenty of visual stimulus, deftly crosscutting his narrative with newsreel footage (both real and re-created), and maintaining a taut pace that keeps the viewer involved from start to finish. To sum up, Executive Action is smart and engaging film that is worth seeing for anyone interested in intelligent political-minded thrillers.