Rated PG-13
Starring Zac Efron, Marcia Gay Harden, Paul Giamatti, Billy Bob Thornton, Ron Livingston, James Badge Dale,
Written and Directed by Peter Landesman
The Story:
November 22nd, 1963. Dallas Texas. A chilling date in history shown from the perspectives of the many lives that were woven together over the course of the next few days in the most harrowing fashion. One day changed the course of America, and these people were all first-hand witnesses as it happened.
There is a lot to cram into 90 minutes of movie.
You know how you can complain that a movie was too long, or felt like it took forever?
The opposite could be held true here.
Apparently it was planned as a miniseries for HBO, but alas, that didn't pan out, and what's left is made up as Parkland.
The movie takes its name from Parkland Hospital, where they took Kennedy after he was shot. It was here that the medical staff (Efron, Harden and many more) work frantically to save his life. Then they are tasked just days later with trying to save another gunshot victim.
Then there is Mr. Zaprudar (Giamatti) who goes out to record the President and winds up with the footage of a lifetime that takes such a huge toll on his life.
There's the Dallas FBI Agent (Livingston) who learns that Oswald was in the bureau very recently.
Speaking of Oswald, his brother's (Dale) story is perhaps the most tragic of the whole group.
Finally there is Agent Sorrells (Thornton) who realizes he is the first Secret Service head to lose a President.
Taking a sad true story, and adding a layer of lives that were profoundly affected by that tragedy makes for a harrowing experience that should have been extended, but for what they managed to create, well done.
Final Grade: B
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