Ruby and Oswald (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)President Kennedy's murder occurred almost 50 years ago and most Americans were born after it happened or were too young to remember it (yes, I recall exactly where I was when I heard....my elementary school teacher told my class). Much nonsense has been drummed into the heads of Americans so that a majority now believes that some sort of bizarre conspiracy was responsible for the tragedy, some of which do have Oswald as the perpetrator, others claiming that he was a "patsy" and had nothing to do with it.
For those who have little knowledge of the actual events that occurred, viewing this film would be a good start in order to get a basic grip on the known facts of the case. The film focuses on Jack Ruby, who is portrayed in an excellent performance by Michael Lerner (the only really outstanding one in the film), but less so on Oswald, sheddling little light on his motivations and his strange relationship with his wife, her friends, Michael and Ruth Paine, and his mother, Marguerite (who was an interesting story in herself). Lerner shows how Ruby (a very complex man who alternated between a kind, generous personality and another, polar opposite being a hothead who went into tempestuous rages) went into a serious mental deterioration during the weekend following the assassination.
The film does give the sequence of events, showing the time each event occurred and many of the scenes were filmed at the actual location, including the Texas School Book Depository, Dealey Plaza, Oswald's rooming house, the Paine's home, etc. It is important to note the times because they make it VERY clear that Ruby could not have possibly left his home Sunday morning with the intention of shooting Oswald. Ruby went to the Western Union office in order to send a moneygram to one of the girls who worked at his nightclub and he waited in line, in no obvious hurry, and having the timestamp show 11:17 AM. He then wandered down to the police station where Oswald happened to be coming out of the elevator right towards Ruby four minutes later. We are also shown the fact that Ruby took one of his pet dogs with him whom he left in the car. Ruby was quite attached to his dogs (one he calls "his little wife") and he never would have taken the dog if he had known that he might not be coming back.
Regarding Oswald's guilt, it is quite clear that he had the means to shoot the President from the sixth floor of the Depository, he had brought a rifle to work with him when he hithced a ride with Wesley Frazier (claiming they were "curtain rods"), we see him flee the building, take a pistol, later encountering Patrolman J D Tippit and shooting him in front of numerous eyewitnesses. We see his use of multiple ID's for which he refuses to give any explanation, his resisting arrest at the theater, his arrogant attitude during questioning and his confronting the reporters.
It is time for the record to be set straight on this historical tragedy and to have people take an honest look at the evidence which can lead one only to the conclusion that Oswald and Ruby both acted alone and that the Warren Commission, for all its flaws, did get the basic facts right, and this film is not a bad place to start for the beginner.

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