CHAPPAQUIDDICK netting excellent reviews

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AndyDursin
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CHAPPAQUIDDICK netting excellent reviews

#1 Post by AndyDursin »

Really looking forward to this after reading this review. Does not seem at all they sugarcoated the material as many would've done....

http://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/ch ... 53436/amp/

Eric W.
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Re: CHAPPAQUIDDICK netting excellent reviewa

#2 Post by Eric W. »

I'm honestly amazed anyone had to the courage to come out with this. Good for them.

Eric Paddon
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Re: CHAPPAQUIDDICK netting excellent reviewa

#3 Post by Eric Paddon »

I definitely need to see this. If they told this story honestly, kudos to them, though it should have been told honestly while he was still alive.


Eric Paddon
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Re: CHAPPAQUIDDICK netting excellent reviews

#5 Post by Eric Paddon »

Saw it this afternoon. A definite 9 out of 10. The film doesn't imply any hanky-panky taking place between Teddy and Mary Jo Kopechne nor should it have, because what makes the story of Chappaquiddick so awful and terrible is what we know happened but which few people I don't think ever fully realized. That a woman was left to suffocate to death in an air pocket and a man cowardly thought of himself and his own future when quick action would have saved her life. And then what took place afterward was a cover-up of Watergate style dimensions that included tampering behind the scenes with the judicial process to prevent key facts from coming out (especially on the matter of how an autopsy would have revealed that it wasn't a drowning that took place).

Jason Clarke doesn't get Teddy's voice, but the gestures, mannerisms and bearing are all authentic. Bruce Dern, in his small but critically vital role as the infirmed patriarch, Joseph P. Kennedy is spellbinding. The film's biggest historical license is to inflate Joe Kennedy as a still active presence when he was by this point totally near death and not as active mentally in his deteriorated state as he'd been several years before. But the film uses Joe Kennedy, Sr. to depict what may be a more powerful truth, that namely the desire to still have his father's approval was why Teddy in the end is shown abandoning the gesture of integrity that his cousin Joe Gargan has offered him with a resignation speech, and instead decides to fall back on the handlers ploy of using the name of the Kennedy family and all its magic to ride this out with the speech he gives from handler Ted Sorensen. He's decided that to finally live up to expectations, he must seize the moment to spin a self-serving narrative and embrace it for all it's worth.

Joan Kennedy, Teddy's wife, has exactly one line in the film, when she angrily accompanies him to Mary Jo Kopechne's funeral. Riding in the back of a limo, he thanks her for coming and she coldly goes, "Go Fxxx yourself." It's powerful understatement in a role and performance by Andria Blackman that says enough.

This is ultimately not a film about political ideology. Mary Jo is shown as an idealist believer shattered by the RFK assassination. Teddy is not entirely unsympathetic as you see someone being pushed by other forces down a path he clearly had no desire for, but ultimately the film gives us a picture of someone whose political career should have ended the night he gave that speech, and who IMO had no business setting himself as any kind of arbiter to judge the integrity of others (least of all Judge Robert Bork).

The only thing negative about this film? That it wasn't made 10 or 15 years ago while he was still alive. And maybe we wouldn't have gotten such grotesque comments like this one from after his death by a Huffington Post hack, who suggested "We don't know how much Kennedy was affected by her death, or what she'd have thought about arguably being a catalyst for the most successful Senate career in history.....Who knows -- maybe she'd feel it was worth it." Or this bit of nonsense from a San Francisco columnist. "it takes a basic level of character and empathy to take a look at a person’s great life’s work after a mistake and give credit to them for a job well done. Such should be done for Senator Kennedy."

Somehow I don't think Mary Jo Kopechne's ambition was to give her life to be a "catalyst" or be thought of as a "mistake." And yet, we were told to think of her as that only because the image of Teddy Kennedy mattered to more people than her life did.

Other side note. The scenes in the Edgarton Town Hall made me wonder if they'd been able to shoot in the actual location, which of course is also where "Jaws" was filmed. While there was some filming down on the Vineyard its not clear whether the interior of the town hall was also used or whether they had to go elsewhere.

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Paul MacLean
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Re: CHAPPAQUIDDICK netting excellent reviews

#6 Post by Paul MacLean »

Eric Paddon wrote: Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:59 pm Saw it this afternoon. A definite 9 out of 10.
I saw it Friday night. Agreed on every point, though I'd probably give it an 8 out of 10 (owing to its perfunctory "TV movie" visual style). My only real criticism is that the actors cast as Gargan and Sorenson, respectively, looked so similar I repeatedly confused the two characters in several early scenes. Other than that however, the film was unimpeachable -- brutally honest without being partisan. (Dear Oliver Stone, this is how it's done.)

Eric Paddon
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Re: CHAPPAQUIDDICK netting excellent reviews

#7 Post by Eric Paddon »

And a giant thumbs down to Neal Gabler's piece in the NY Times dissing the film. Gabler, fancying himself as the heir to Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. in terms of court historian hackery for the myth of Camelot has the gall to declare that this was nothing but "a tragic accident in which nothing much was covered up."

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AndyDursin
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Re: CHAPPAQUIDDICK netting excellent reviews

#8 Post by AndyDursin »

Gabler is and always has been a jerk. I could never stand him even back when he took over on Sneak Previews with Jeffrey Lyons when I was a kid.

Really looking forward to seeing this film, but it's tough right now to get out. Will probably have to wait for video.

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Paul MacLean
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Re: CHAPPAQUIDDICK netting excellent reviews

#9 Post by Paul MacLean »

Eric Paddon wrote: Mon Apr 09, 2018 1:03 am Gabler, fancying himself as the heir to Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. in terms of court historian hackery for the myth of Camelot has the gall to declare that this was nothing but "a tragic accident in which nothing much was covered up."
I wonder if Gabler is aware that Schlesinger was barely tolerated by the Kennedy boys (who once hurled their "court historian", fully clothed, into a swimming pool).

KevinEK
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Re: CHAPPAQUIDDICK netting excellent reviews

#10 Post by KevinEK »

Interesting to see the attention this film is getting. We'll see how it does over time.

I'd agree that the incident should have ended Teddy Kennedy's political career, and that it was a major frustration for the Right Wing when it didn't. We continue to see this happen with political figures, who repeatedly bounce back from scandals that should have stopped them in their tracks. In the current iteration, we have the unfortunate revelations that regularly come out regarding Donald Trump, and yet his base continues to blindly support him, even the evangelical community that you'd think would reject such behavior. Some personalities simply are more popular or have more influence.

I enjoyed the reference to Robert Bork there. I of course disagree with the notion that anyone would be disqualified from noting the truth about Bork's positions. Bork will go down in history as the man who fired Archibald Cox, for better or for worse. And we will likely see many more references to him later this year, if and when Mueller indicts Don Jr and Kushner for their actions. The only question will be how many Justice officials will need to resign this time before Pence finds the one who will go ahead and fire the man the President wants gone.

I'll be very curious to see how AM radio hosts promote this movie, particularly as we get into the midterms.

Eric Paddon
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Re: CHAPPAQUIDDICK netting excellent reviews

#11 Post by Eric Paddon »

The day Donald Trump lets someone suffocate to death in the backseat of a car is the day such an attempt to look for a parallel can have any relevance. Until then, it has none, especially in this thread. I will not respond to any points that have nothing to do with the subject of this movie.
Last edited by Eric Paddon on Mon Apr 09, 2018 4:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

KevinEK
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Re: CHAPPAQUIDDICK netting excellent reviews

#12 Post by KevinEK »

No, Eric. You don't get to throw political nastiness around and then hide when someone calls you on it.
If you don't want to discuss this, then don't bring it up.
And don't use that woman's death as a cover. Be honest about your intentions on this.

Eric Paddon
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Re: CHAPPAQUIDDICK netting excellent reviews

#13 Post by Eric Paddon »

There is no hiding going on. This movie isn't about Donald Trump or any of the other irrelevant topics you want to yap about again. I stuck to the subject of this movie and this thread and will discuss nothing else with you, here or anyplace else.

KevinEK
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Re: CHAPPAQUIDDICK netting excellent reviews

#14 Post by KevinEK »

Eric, you turned the discussion of this film into a political diatribe. I simply responded. You need to understand that you can’t just make blanket statements as you did and not ever hear an answer. Throwing a tantrum and trying to bully other posters will not change that fact. If you don’t like hearing the views of others, one really must wonder why you post on any forum.

Eric Paddon
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Re: CHAPPAQUIDDICK netting excellent reviews

#15 Post by Eric Paddon »

AndyDursin wrote: Mon Apr 09, 2018 10:05 am Gabler is and always has been a jerk. I could never stand him even back when he took over on Sneak Previews with Jeffrey Lyons when I was a kid.
Really looking forward to seeing this film, but it's tough right now to get out. Will probably have to wait for video.
Hope you get a chance, Andy, it's definitely worth seeing.

The amusing thing about Gabler is that he offered nothing in the way of factual rebuttal to justify his diss of the film.

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