I am most definitely one of the world's biggest Kennedy fans. I am sure that I own every series, movie, documentary about the Kennedy family (anyone who has a list of Kennedy movies please email me and make sure I have them all.) I finally got the opportunity to watch this 2001 mini series focusing on the Kennedy women, Jackie, Ethel and Joan and on a lesser extent Rose the matriarch.
The mini series follows the lives closely of the Kennedy family for the better part of 3 decades from JFK's presidency to Ted's defunct run at the Presidency in 1980. However it follows the events of their lives from the perspective of the three wives and how it effected them and how they played a part in it.
The movie jumps around a lot and it takes more than half of the time to really get a feel for the pace of the film and what it's aiming to do. The film aims to be less of entertainment than it is a chronicle, and recreation of the major events of the Kennedy family from the point of the women. What role they played, their personalities etc. The men have all been done to death but who has really shown the women? I know this is the first Kennedy film I ever saw that really went in depth into Joan Kennedy.
The casting was done (in my opinion) in an attempt to capture the best possible most realistic looking person they could find. Director Larry Shaw really puts forth an incredible effort to recreate scenes and the look of famous pictures and events possibly better than any other I have scene. Although actor Daniel Kelly who played JFK doesn't look all that much like the late President, there are certain angles and shots used that are downright startling as to how much he looks like him. Add in the fact that they recreate the death scene of Bobby and use word for word speeches and announcements and also work to recreate news footage with the actors as opposed to the real people.
Jill Hennesey is quite possibly the best Jackie I have ever seen. She portrays her brilliantly and looks a lot like her. She comes across as a strong, independent, woman and not the quiet laid back, always calm woman that she is often portrayed as in the past. I think Hennesey's Jackie is much more accurate. Leslie Stefanson gives a powerful portrayal as Joan Kennedy. Strong, yet afraid, withdrawn, stressed, and misunderstood. She was definitely a sore thumb to the Kennedy brood. The real brilliance here is Lauren Holly. She absolutely floored me as the rather harsh Ethel Kennedy. She is very brash and outgoing, loud and obnoxious and nails the voice. I thought for sure she would disappoint me but for certain this was the performance of Holly's career. The men were all well casted in particular Ted Kennedy played by Matt Letscher. Basically despite it's rather rapid time line and it's jumpy story this is one of the best recreations out there I have no doubt. It didn't get the critical acclaim that it should have. I am somewhat biased being I love all things Kennedy but I will forever have this one in my top favorites because of the performance of these women. I think they perhaps assumed too much when it came to their roles in certain situations but you have to assume to make things believable because none of us were there and I think Shaw did a decent job in his assumptions. I liked that he never focused on just one of the women which is easy to do being Jackie was really the forefront of the Kennedy women. Instead he took each women and showed the critical events in their lives and the lives of their men. Overall a great mini series. 9/10
The mini series follows the lives closely of the Kennedy family for the better part of 3 decades from JFK's presidency to Ted's defunct run at the Presidency in 1980. However it follows the events of their lives from the perspective of the three wives and how it effected them and how they played a part in it.
The movie jumps around a lot and it takes more than half of the time to really get a feel for the pace of the film and what it's aiming to do. The film aims to be less of entertainment than it is a chronicle, and recreation of the major events of the Kennedy family from the point of the women. What role they played, their personalities etc. The men have all been done to death but who has really shown the women? I know this is the first Kennedy film I ever saw that really went in depth into Joan Kennedy.
The casting was done (in my opinion) in an attempt to capture the best possible most realistic looking person they could find. Director Larry Shaw really puts forth an incredible effort to recreate scenes and the look of famous pictures and events possibly better than any other I have scene. Although actor Daniel Kelly who played JFK doesn't look all that much like the late President, there are certain angles and shots used that are downright startling as to how much he looks like him. Add in the fact that they recreate the death scene of Bobby and use word for word speeches and announcements and also work to recreate news footage with the actors as opposed to the real people.
Jill Hennesey is quite possibly the best Jackie I have ever seen. She portrays her brilliantly and looks a lot like her. She comes across as a strong, independent, woman and not the quiet laid back, always calm woman that she is often portrayed as in the past. I think Hennesey's Jackie is much more accurate. Leslie Stefanson gives a powerful portrayal as Joan Kennedy. Strong, yet afraid, withdrawn, stressed, and misunderstood. She was definitely a sore thumb to the Kennedy brood. The real brilliance here is Lauren Holly. She absolutely floored me as the rather harsh Ethel Kennedy. She is very brash and outgoing, loud and obnoxious and nails the voice. I thought for sure she would disappoint me but for certain this was the performance of Holly's career. The men were all well casted in particular Ted Kennedy played by Matt Letscher. Basically despite it's rather rapid time line and it's jumpy story this is one of the best recreations out there I have no doubt. It didn't get the critical acclaim that it should have. I am somewhat biased being I love all things Kennedy but I will forever have this one in my top favorites because of the performance of these women. I think they perhaps assumed too much when it came to their roles in certain situations but you have to assume to make things believable because none of us were there and I think Shaw did a decent job in his assumptions. I liked that he never focused on just one of the women which is easy to do being Jackie was really the forefront of the Kennedy women. Instead he took each women and showed the critical events in their lives and the lives of their men. Overall a great mini series. 9/10