Product Details

• Actors: Martin Sheen, John Shea, E.G. Marshall, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Vincent Gardenia
• Directors: Jim Goddard
• Writers: Reg Gadney
• Producers: Alan Landsburg, Andrew Brown, Bob Morris, Joan Barnett, Margaret Matheson
• Format: NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Starmaker/Anchor Bay
• VHS Release Date: December 14, 1989
• Run Time: 282 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302281474
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #221,822 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Martin Sheen played president well before his stint on television's The West Wing in this affecting miniseries about John F. Kennedy. All of the momentous events of JFK's remarkable term are covered (with actual news footage used to excellent effect), but it is the portrayal of the entire Kennedy family as real, flawed people that gives Kennedy its power. The Kennedys gossip, snipe, joke, and bother each other like a real family rather than rigid historical figures or threadbare caricatures. Sheen plays Kennedy as a man with lofty ideals who is more than willing to dirty his hands to serve his greater purpose. Blair Brown plays Jacqueline Kennedy with a shrewd understanding of politics, but also a whiff of vanity. In addition to the strong performances by both leads, Vincent Gardenia gives a brilliant performance as J. Edgar Hoover: stiff, quirky and strange, prurient and moralistic at the same time, and boiling with hatred. The DVD includes 75 minutes of documentary footage from the Kennedy library. --Ali Davis

Product Description

Item Name: Kennedy; Studio: KOCH VISION

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Kennedy Years, Warts and All, November 29, 2002

By 

Christopher M. MacNeil "Chris M" (Fort Wayne, IN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Kennedy TV Mini-Series [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This 1983 NBC mini-series may well be the best of its kind and remains probably the definitive Kennedy docu-drama. The film is confined to the brief years of the presidential administration, and is refreshingly honest in retelling the Bay of Pigs fiasco, the presidential philandering and, of course, the drama of that fateful final day. Martin Sheen is magnificent, as usual, in the title role, and he plays his presidential role with a believeable human quality that the real man thought of his constituency as the disenfranchised. As the first lady, Blair Brown's portrait of Jacqueline Kennedy is riveting and haunting as impressed throughout with her voiced-over prophecy of her "appointment with death." Beyond the two leads, a stellar supporting cast is headed by the late E.G. Marshall as the Kennedy patriarch, Joe Sr., John Shea as RFK and the late Vincent Gardenia in a sinister turn as FBI head J. Edgar Hoover. But this film belongs to Sheen and Brown, and together they ignite a sense of glamour and vitality that defined the real couple. Brown, especially, however, is mesmerizing, and her accomplishment here is a must-see. There are apparently two versions on the market, the original and an edited time-condensed version. Stay away from the shorter one. The editing is so bad that continunity is sacrificed, and all we get is a jumbled mess. The original is well worth the five or so hours to watch it, and its an impassioned account of the successes and shortcomings of the Camelot administration.

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ONE OF TV'S BEST MINI-SERIES, May 20, 2004

By 

Gregory Saffady (Michigan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Kennedy (DVD)

Having already mastered RFK in 1975's THE MISSLES OF OCTOBER, it was only logical that Martin Sheen step up to the role he was seemingly born to play in what has proved to be one of the best mini-series ever produced. KENNEDY is a believable docu-drama that stays true to the 1000 day historical record. What's very commendable is Jim Goddard staying away in mass from the soap opera element of JFK's now much publicized adultery and the blind eye turned (to it) by his wife, staff and family. Vincent Gardinia offers memory burn as J. Edgar Hoover, just as Sheen does with JFK. The final ride through Dealy Plaza is horrific.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The accents go wrong here and there, October 25, 2009

By 

Bradley F. Smith (Miami Beach, FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Kennedy: The Complete Series (DVD)

Being from Massachusetts, I can say that the attempted Kennedy accents in this 1983 miniseries are occassionally almost accurate, never entirely perfect, and sometimes just plain awful. Still, the writing and acting here are pretty good for a TV movie of this vintage. Some parts go on way too long, such as the Bay of Pig and civil rights segments, and J. Edgar Hoover is creepy sometimes, but mostly just over the top. Resemblances are uncanny, though, to the real Hoover and Jackie Kennedy. Martin Sheen as JFK is close, but no cigar. EG Marshall as old man Kennedy does a great job. This is certainly no substitute for history, but as a TV entertainment, it remains impressive. The cutting is pretty contemporary for something of this vintage. This, overall, holds up pretty well.