Product Description
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An inside look at the Kennedy family during the 1960's.
.com
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It's not hard to see why the History Channel declined to air The
Kennedys after members of America's "royal family" objected to
the series' more salacious aspects. To be sure, there are plenty
of them: drug habits, mobsters, election fixing, enough
philandering to shame Tiger Woods, bad behavior ranging from
cynical manipulation to outright cruelty… and Marilyn Monroe. But
it's not as if these things haven't been covered at length
elsewhere. And in any case, this is hardly a documentary; the
eight-part miniseries, which spans the years from just before
World War II to 1968, has been variously described, including by
the filmmakers themselves, as "history through personality" and
"a Greek tragedy," with a dose of hagiography added for good
measure. The emphasis on the personal approach (commingled with
major political events like the Bay of Pigs debacle, the Cuban
missile crisis, and the forced integration of the University of
Mississippi) is something of a mixed blessing. On the one hand,
there's something appealingly juicy about being privy to the
private conversations of this very public family; but at the same
time, the dialogue created for such scenes is often on the nose
("Men can't say no to me," Monroe says as she tries to seduce
Robert Kennedy), melodramatic, and risibly portentous ("I've
never been so happy in my life," says Jackie Kennedy to her
husband… as Air Force One lands in Dallas on November 22, 1963).
The complete absence of Edward Kennedy--who is never mentioned,
let alone seen--is peculiar; sisters Kathleen, Eunice, and Jean
are also nowhere to be found. That leaves the primary focus on
paterfamilias Joseph Kennedy Sr., wife Rose, sons Jack and Bobby,
and Jackie, and the portrayals of these near-mythic characters
are among the best ever filmed. Tom Wilkinson plays Joe as a
thoroughly ruthless, imperious kingmaker who, after his own and
eldest son Joe Jr.'s presidential ambitions are ended (Sr. was
fired from his post as British ambassador after disagreeing with
President Franklin D. Roosevelt's war policies, while Jr. died in
combat), forces the reluctant JFK to enter politics. As Jack,
Greg Kinnear beautifully conveys the late president's humor,
charisma, and compassion, while Barry Pepper is a revelation as
the rebellious but strait-laced and dutiful Bobby, whose
principal responsibility seems to be cleaning up after his older
brother's many sexual indiscretions (Katie Holmes's
long-suffering Jackie is a bit of a cipher, as was the first lady
in real life). That these and other performances, including Diana
Hardcastle's Rose and Don Allison's Lyndon Johnson, are in the
service of material better suited to a soap opera than a serious
drama hardly matters; any way you look at it, The Kennedys is
compulsively watchable and never less than entertaining. --Sam
Graham
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Review
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Without a doubt one of the best, most riveting, historically
accurate dramas about a time and place in American history that
has ever been done for TV. --New York Post
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