[Sample B: Approval/Signature Sheet] - George Mason University

assassination of John F. Kennedy. In creating the following certain names and events
have been changed…[but] the testimony and historical scenes of November 21-24, 1963
have a factual basis.” 674 Oswald is portrayed in many ways like the Warren Commission
portrait: he is obstreperous and argumentative, has marital problems, and fails in his
attempts to find success in both the Soviet and American societies. While the production
tried to give both sides to the case, the film emphasized the personal motive for
assassinating Kennedy, especially in the final scene in which Oswald takes the witness
stand in his own defense. Jack Ruby is also edited out of the story, undermining what
many consider prima facie evidence of a conspiracy in his murder of Oswald. The film
sought to present both sides of assassination debate, but the actor John Pleshette played
Oswald in a way that emphasized his idiosyncrasy, orneriness, and troubled personal life
-- more in tune with the Warren Commission than conspiracy theories.
In the opening scene, Oswald is in his cell plastered with articles about himself
while watching a television report about his trial. Oswald argues with the television
announcer who is describing the alleged assassin as both an enigma and an outcast.
Oswald shouts at the TV, “Why because you think so?” In an instant, Oswald changes to
ask the guard to leave the TV on because “Free speech, that’s what this country is all
about, isn’t it?” 675 Oswald, however, is to be taken from his cell to hear the verdict in
his trial. He is a flinty and argumentative character more in line with the Warren
674
Robert E. Thompson, The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald, (New York: Ace Books,
1977), vii.
David Greene, dir., The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald, 192 min. (World Vision Home
Videos, 1976).
675
Thompson, 90.
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