Ruby and Oswald

Last updated
Ruby and Oswald
A - Ruby and Oswald - VHS.jpg
GenreDrama
History
Written by John McGreevey
Michael McGreevey
Directed by Mel Stuart
Starring Michael Lerner
Frederic Forrest
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producers Alan Landsburg
Howard Lipstone
ProducerPaul Freeman
Production location Dallas
Cinematography Matthew F. Leonetti
Editors Corky Ehlers
George Hively
Running time180 minutes
Production company Alan Landsburg Productions
Original release
Network CBS
ReleaseFebruary 8, 1978 (1978-02-08)

Ruby and Oswald is a 1978 American television movie about the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy. It stars Michael Lerner and Frederic Forrest. [1]

Contents

Overview

Jack Ruby (Michael Lerner) is a warm-hearted but hot-tempered and patriotic nightclub owner, who loves President Kennedy. Lee Harvey Oswald (Frederic Forrest), a troubled loner with a speckled past is looking to merely acquire fame. On November 22, Oswald kills the president. On the 24th, Ruby kills Oswald, being motivated exclusively by his love for the president.

Cast

Reviews

Journalist Jeremiah O'Leary witnessed Ruby's shooting of Oswald in the basement of Dallas Police headquarters on November 24, 1963. [2] In a review for The Washington Times , O'Leary wrote: "The actors and the director succeeded only in making a bore of a weekend that was as exciting as it was horrible." [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Ruby</span> Murderer of Lee Harvey Oswald (1911–1967)

Jack Leon Ruby was an American nightclub owner who killed Lee Harvey Oswald on November 24, 1963, two days after Oswald was accused of assassinating President John F. Kennedy. Ruby shot and mortally wounded Oswald on live television in the basement of Dallas Police Headquarters and was immediately arrested.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Harvey Oswald</span> Assassin of John F. Kennedy (1939–1963)

Lee Harvey Oswald was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warren Commission</span> Investigation into JFKs death

The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established by President Lyndon B. Johnson through Executive Order 11130 on November 29, 1963, to investigate the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy that had taken place on November 22, 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assassination of John F. Kennedy</span> 1963 murder in Dallas, Texas, US

On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was in the vehicle with his wife Jacqueline, Texas governor John Connally, and Connally's wife Nellie, when he was fatally shot from the nearby Texas School Book Depository by Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U.S. Marine. The motorcade rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where Kennedy was pronounced dead about 30 minutes after the shooting; Connally was also wounded in the attack but recovered. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was hastily sworn in as president two hours and eight minutes later aboard Air Force One at Dallas Love Field.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abraham Zapruder</span> Witness to the Kennedy assassination

Abraham Zapruder was a Ukrainian-born American clothing manufacturer who witnessed the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. He unexpectedly captured the shooting in a home movie while filming the presidential limousine and motorcade as it traveled through Dealey Plaza. The Zapruder film is regarded as the most complete footage of the assassination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. D. Tippit</span> American police officer (1924–1963)

J. D. Tippit was an American World War II U.S. Army veteran and Bronze Star recipient, who was a police officer with the Dallas Police Department for 11 years. About 45 minutes after the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, Tippit was shot and killed in a residential neighborhood in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, Texas, by Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald was initially arrested for the murder of Tippit and was subsequently charged with killing President Kennedy. Oswald was murdered by Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner, two days later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Wade</span> American lawyer (1914–2001)

Henry Menasco Wade was an American lawyer who served as district attorney of Dallas County from 1951 to 1987. He participated in two notable U.S. court cases of the 20th century: the prosecution of Jack Ruby for killing Lee Harvey Oswald, and the U.S. Supreme Court case that held abortion was a constitutional right, Roe v. Wade. In addition, Wade was district attorney when Randall Dale Adams, the subject of the 1988 documentary film The Thin Blue Line, was wrongfully convicted in the murder of Robert Wood, a Dallas police officer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marina Oswald Porter</span> Wife of Lee Harvey Oswald (born 1941)

Marina Nikolayevna Oswald Porter is a Russian–American former pharmacist. Born in the Soviet Union in 1941, she immigrated to the United States after marrying American military veteran Lee Harvey Oswald in 1961. On November 22, 1963, Oswald, who had left the United States Marine Corps and defected to the Soviet Bloc in 1959, assassinated American president John F. Kennedy in the city of Dallas. Porter was widowed two days later, when Oswald was murdered by American nightclub owner Jack Ruby, and subsequently testified against Oswald for the Warren Commission. However, she ultimately came to believe that Oswald was innocent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of the John F. Kennedy assassination</span>

This article outlines the timeline of events before, during, and after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Ferrie</span> American who was accused of involvement in the assassination of John F. Kennedy

David William Ferrie was an American pilot who was alleged by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison to have been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. Garrison also alleged that Ferrie knew Lee Harvey Oswald. Ferrie denied any involvement in a conspiracy and said he never knew Oswald. Decades later, photos emerged establishing that Ferrie had been in the same Civil Air Patrol unit as Oswald in the 1950s, but critics have argued this does not prove that either Ferrie or Oswald was involved in an assassination plot.

<i>Ruby</i> (1992 film) 1992 film

Ruby is a 1992 American drama film, released in the United States, about Jack Ruby, the Dallas, Texas nightclub owner who shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement garage of a Dallas city police station in 1963. The film was directed by John Mackenzie and stars Danny Aiello, Sherilyn Fenn, and Arliss Howard. It is based on a play written by British screenwriter Stephen Davis. Ruby was released three months after Oliver Stone's movie JFK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Leavelle</span> American police detective (1920–2019)

James Robert Leavelle was a Dallas Police Department homicide detective who, on November 24, 1963, was escorting Lee Harvey Oswald through the basement of Dallas Police headquarters when Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby. Leavelle prominently was noted in films and photographs—including one that won a Pulitzer Prize—taken just as Ruby shot Oswald.

The assassination of John F. Kennedy and the subsequent conspiracy theories surrounding it have been discussed, referenced, or recreated in popular culture numerous times.

<i>Reclaiming History</i> 2007 book by Vincent Bugliosi

Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy is a book by attorney Vincent Bugliosi that analyzes the events surrounding the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy, focusing on the lives of Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby. He drew from many sources, including the Warren Report. Bugliosi argues that the Warren Commission's conclusion that Lee Oswald acted alone in shooting Kennedy is correct. The book won the 2008 Edgar Award for the Best Fact Crime category. Bugliosi explored the issues at length; the book is 1,632 pages. It was published with an accompanying CD-ROM containing an additional 1,000+ pages of footnotes. He analyzed both the assassination itself and the rise of the conspiracy theories about the event in the following years.

<i>The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald</i> (1977 film) 1977 American TV series or program

The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald is an American two-part television film shown on ABC in September 1977. The film stars Ben Gazzara, Lorne Greene and John Pleshette in the title role. It is an example of alternative history. The hypothesis is what might have happened if Lee Harvey Oswald had not been killed by Jack Ruby and had stood trial for the murder of President John F. Kennedy.

<i>Four Days in November</i> 1964 film

Four Days in November is a 1964 American documentary film directed by Mel Stuart about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

The CIA Kennedy assassination is a prominent John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theory. According to ABC News, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is represented in nearly every theory that involves American conspirators. The secretive nature of the CIA, and the conjecture surrounding the high-profile political assassinations in the United States during the 1960s, has made the CIA a plausible suspect for some who believe in a conspiracy. Conspiracy theorists have ascribed various motives for CIA involvement in the assassination of President Kennedy, including Kennedy's firing of CIA director Allen Dulles, Kennedy's refusal to provide air support to the Bay of Pigs invasion, Kennedy's plan to cut the agency's budget by 20 percent, and the belief that the president was weak on communism. In 1979, the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) concluded that the CIA was not involved in the assassination of Kennedy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories</span> Conspiracy theories regarding the assassination of JFK

The assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, has spawned numerous conspiracy theories. These theories allege the involvement of the CIA, the Mafia, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro, the KGB, or some combination of these individuals and entities. Some conspiracy theories have alleged a coverup by parts of the federal government, such as the original FBI investigators, the Warren Commission, or the CIA. Former Los Angeles District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi estimated that a total of 42 groups, 82 assassins, and 214 people had been accused at one time or another in various conspiracy scenarios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl Rose (coroner)</span> American physician

Earl Forrest Rose was an American forensic pathologist, professor of medicine, and lecturer of law. Rose was the medical examiner for Dallas County, Texas, at the time of the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy and he performed autopsies on J. D. Tippit, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Jack Ruby. After being shoved by Kennedy's aides, he stepped aside and allowed Kennedy's body to be removed from Parkland Memorial Hospital without performing an autopsy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marguerite Oswald</span> Mother of Lee Harvey Oswald

Marguerite Frances Claverie Oswald Ekdahl, also known as Marguerite Oswald, was the mother of Lee Harvey Oswald. After the Kennedy assassination and subsequent murder of her son, Oswald maintained her son's innocence and claimed that he was an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency. She created a shrine in her home to honor his life and military service, and frequently promoted conspiracy theories regarding the assassination. She wrote a booklet titled Aftermath of an Execution: The Burial and Final Rites of Lee Harvey Oswald, which was never published.

References

  1. Hal Erickson (2008). "Ruby and Oswald". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . Archived from the original on 2008-05-26.
  2. 1 2 O'Leary, Jeremiah (February 8, 1978). "'Ruby and Oswald'; Those Single Blinding Moments Become A Banal Exercise" (PDF). The Washington Times. Washington, D.C. Section C. Retrieved August 30, 2017.