 A conspiracy theorist's fever dream marks JFK anniversary on PBS By Ted Cox - TV/Radio Publication date 11/18/2004 While Jacqueline Kennedy's dresses take up a residency at the Field Museum, WTTW Channel 11 comes up with an even more unconventional - and in fact slightly macabre - way of marking the anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination this weekend. "Blackstone" is a locally produced movie picked up this month by PBS, no doubt to ride the annual increase in interest in JFK around the time of his death. Airing at 9:30 p.m. Sunday locally on Channel 11, it posits the possibility that mobster Sam Giancana had an opportunity to slay JFK a year before it actually happened. So much for the romanticized Camelot mystique. "Blackstone" has more the quality of a fever dream. Part of that is out of necessity. Chicago writer-director Vito Brancato originally intended "Blackstone" as a feature film, and even had Michael Madsen and Burt Young lined up for the cast. Later, Robert Blake took an interest, before he became more concerned with saving his own neck from a murder rap in his wife's death. Similarly, the film's investor "was sent on an extended vacation to a Federal resort," according to co-producer Ronn Vrhel. So the version of "Blackstone" that runs on Channel 11 seems abbreviated (and will no doubt have its rough language edited out as well). Ideally, Brancato and Vrhel hope it stirs enough interest to generate funding for the complete film version, much the same way "Meet the Parents" went from indie smash to Hollywood hit. As it is, "Blackstone" has the neon feel of a chromacolor film noir, with a jazzy soundtrack to match. (Dig Charles Mingus' "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" from the album "Mingus Ah Um," Aware One.) While the story seems jumpy and fragmented, it's effectively so. Shot entirely in Chicago, "Blackstone" strains belief even as it seems entirely possible. Frank Calabrese stars as Sam Giancana, approached by a shadowy (and corpulent) government agent to potentially kill JFK in 1962 on a trip to Chicago. As unlikely as this seems, history has already informed us that the Mafia was recruited in assassination attempts on Fidel Castro, and Giancana and JFK seem to have shared a mistress. So it's not as far-fetched as all that. In fact, it makes perfect sense to this Giancana, who's miffed at Frank Sinatra for recruiting him to help sway the 1960 election in Chicago, only to have Robert Kennedy go on the warpath against organized crime. "This might be the only way we have to get the feds off our backs - for good," Giancana tells an associate. So, turning the tables, they fly in a gunman from Cuba to do the deed at a fund-raiser at the Blackstone Hotel downtown. Giancana also calls in a debt from a Chicago cop who had the misfortune to drop $23,000 at one of his poker games. "From now on, your ... badge belongs to me," Giancana growls, and he knows exactly how to put the cop to use. Drawing parallels with Giancana and JFK, the gunman, Ivan Vega's Ernesto, and the cop, Joe Iffland's Murphy, are also sharing the same woman, Danette Sigut's polio-afflicted Mary. It's not exactly the best thing for bad-guy unity. Fleshed out, one can imagine "Blackstone" as a paranoid caper flick, a mix of "The Asphalt Jungle" and the original "The Manchurian Candidate." Unfortunately, with a running time of well under an hour, a lot is left to the imagination. Conspiracy theorists should have a field day, however. "Blackstone" resonates with what's speculated about JFK's assassination (the front-man assassin and the "real killer" behind the grassy knoll) and what's known about RFK's death (the hotel worker killing him on a trip through the kitchen). As unlikely as it seems, "Blackstone" feels real, which is what makes it so entrancingly uncomfortable. No, it's not great by any means, and it's not even a finished product. What's more, it seems an odd way to "celebrate" the anniversary of JFK's assassination on Monday. Yet, like a dream with a foundation in reality, it's too haunting to be ignored. |
