This study examines three presidential assassination films in their relation to the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy. They have long been neglected as potential factors in Lee Oswald's motivation. The study presents several major revelations. To begin with, Oswald was definitely very aware of The Manchurian Candidate, from reviews, advertisements, and his daily walks and bus rides right past a Dallas theater (the Palace, on Elm near Ervay) where it played for one month in late 1962. The film then played for another month at other Dallas theaters, including the Texas Theatre near his apartment (the same theater in which he would be arrested on November 22, 1963). Since Oswald's wife Marina later reported that he went to movies alone during the same period, it seems probable that he even saw the film. In any event, within weeks thereafter he bought his fateful rifle, a near-twin of the one featured in the film. In April 1963 he used the rifle when trying to assassinate General Edwin Walker, a nationally-prominent Dallas conservative. The attempt failed, but emboldened Oswald in his militant Marxism. Then, in October 1963, only days after learning that President Kennedy would soon visit Dallas, Oswald definitely saw another presidential assassination film, We Were Strangers (1949). He saw it on television and even watched it twice on the same weekend, October 12-13. Dallas TV guides prove that the film was broadcast twice, Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, during hours when Oswald had access to a television and was known to watch it. Moreover, that December his widow Marina reported that he had seen the film twice. Finally, Oswald did not see a third presidential assassination film, Suddenly (1954, starring Frank Sinatra) in the autumn of 1963, despite some claims to the contrary, but he was also influenced by it, at least indirectly. In sum, this study strongly supports the lone assassin conclusion about Oswald by adding significant copycat factors to it.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"This penetrating investigation ... is very important." -- Prof. Joan Gaughan
"Very persuasive" -- Prof. W.D. Rubinstein
"explores ... these movies ... in more detail than I've ever seen. I always thought they played some role." -- Dr. Diane Holloway, author, The Mind of Oswald
"Very persuasive" -- Prof. W.D. Rubinstein
"explores ... these movies ... in more detail than I've ever seen. I always thought they played some role." -- Dr. Diane Holloway, author, The Mind of Oswald
From the Publisher
Readers should welcome the brevity of this book, which can be read in a single evening (but slowly and carefully, please). The main text of Oswald's Trigger Films is 42 pages long. Most of this is new material, unknown to the field before. Then come 12 pages of notes, including much detailed and, again, new information. On 14 further pages there are 21 illustrations that constitute important evidence in the case. Almost all of these illustrations have been previously published only in works not available to most readers today. The illustrations include relevant Dallas street plans, photographs of relevant sites and objects, a Time Magazine film review of The Manchurian Candidate from Nov. 2, 1962 ("At the climax, he holds in his telescopic sights a U.S. presidential candidate whose death...."), Dallas newspaper advertisements for The Manchurian Candidate (exactly as Oswald himself once saw them), excerpts from rarely seen government documents, and pages from Dallas TV guides proving that We Were Strangers was shown there twice on the weekend of October 12-13, 1963. With such evidence in hand, readers can better judge the case for themselves.
While the book is very focused on its copycat case, its presentation is neatly chronological and includes much background information about the assassination. It therefore serves well both as a specialist study and as a general introduction to the tragedy for any readers unfamiliar with it. Given the large number of wild conspiracy theories still proposed in the field today, this sober yet fresh analysis should be greatly appreciated. Anyone who has ever imitated a specific word, gesture, fashion, or action from a movie should understand the validity of the copycat case.
Of course, some people will deny the strength of the case made in Oswald's Trigger Films. Two noteworthy examples have already made themselves known: Prof. Louis Menand, a book and film reviewer for the New Yorker, and R. Hoberman, a prolific film scholar and film reviewer for the Village Voice.
Professor Menand, writing about The Manchurian Candidate in a September 15, 2003 article (available on-line) in the New Yorker, mentions Oswald's Trigger Films at length, but finally expresses skepticism about its copycat case with regard to The Manchurian Candidate: "What self-respecting assassin [Oswald] would take such a [brainwashed] character for his role model?" But Menand's objection is weak, and comes from a reviewer who loves movies and clearly does not wish any movies implicated in President Kennedy's assassination. The facts are these: Oswald was not yet an assassin, self-respecting or otherwise, before he become well aware of The Manchurian Candidate in late 1962. Nor did he own any guns at that time. He was also an impressionable young man (just 23), prone to copying other people (e.g., his brother Robert). Moreover, the brainwashed movie assassin, Raymond, is a moody loner, who, however, is portrayed as sympathetic and in the end even heroic - precisely through his act of assassination. What an obvious role model for Oswald after all.
Hoberman, writing a review (accessible on-line) of the new film version of The Manchurian Candidate in the U.K. newspaper The Guardian on October 30, 2004, likewise alluded to Oswald's Trigger Films in skeptical terms. He wrote: "There's no proof that Oswald ever saw or even heard of The Manchurian Candidate." The first part of Hoberman's statement, "... no proof that Oswald ever saw....," is correct, but is very misleading, because the second part is completely incorrect. There are indeed abundant proofs that Oswald was massively aware of The Manchurian Candidate in late 1962. Those proofs are documented at length in Oswald's Trigger Films, which Hoberman had presumably read, however superficially, since he alludes to its author. To deny that Oswald was even aware of the film betrays a certain desperation on Hoberman's part, similar to that of Menand. Maybe the only proof that Hoberman would accept is a signed statement by Oswald that he knew of the film. Moreover, those many proofs that Oswald was indeed aware of the film certainly also constitute evidence - not proof, admittedly, but evidence - that he may very well have gone to see the film, too. Even if he did not see it, his reading knowledge of its plot line, including assassinations with pistol and rifle, can only have encouraged him - and perhaps originally inspired him.
Since the 1970s, the copycat phenomenon has been abundantly documented as a significant psychological factor in many instances of youthful violence. Oswald's act, so similar in detail (rifle, window) to that of The Manchurian Candidate, and so similar in purpose (Cuba) to that of We Were Strangers, should now be included among such instances, despite entrenched denials by Hollywood and its loyalists.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Copycat Thesis,
By taoman (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Oswald's Trigger Films: The Manchurian Candidate, We Were Strangers, Suddenly? (Paperback)
When one first learns of the thesis of this book, it seems pretty far-fetched: Oswald was influenced to murder Kenndy by the films he watched? Surely a man as disturbed as Oswald, who had already attempted a local Texas assassination, wouldn't need any more to jump to a larger target. And yet, John Loken surprises. He makes a very convincing case for these movies being the inspiration for Oswald's desperate act of becoming infamous. He follows every thread he can find and doesn't spare us the details, whether they are ultimately convincing or obscured by time. It's a quick read (and priced as one) yet still contains supporting footnotes and photos of newspaper clippings. All in all, an unexpected idea fleshed out by facts. Well worth the read.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well Written Analysis,
By
This review is from: Oswald's Trigger Films: The Manchurian Candidate, We Were Strangers, Suddenly? (Paperback)
Establishing a motive for Lee Harvey Oswald in the assassination of JFK has always been a goal of those who promote the lone assassin view of that event. John Loken's "Oswald's Trigger Films: The Manchurian Candidate, We Were Strangers, Suddenly?" does not prove such motive of course. It does show, if one accepts the well-reasoned premise, that Oswald could have been "triggered" to act, at least in part, by films with a powerful visual impact.The author shows that Oswald almost certainly did see the film We Were Strangers (with its subject of a revolution in Cuba involving an assassination plot) very shortly before the assassination. Further, Loken breaks new ground by proving that The Manchurian Candidate (starring Frank Sinatra and involving programmed assassins) was playing in Dallas for two months in late 1962. Oswald would have certainly known of the film through his reading of Time magazine (which he subscribed to) and newspapers, and had access to two theaters that ran the film. Loken presents evidence that Oswald did not see the film Suddenly, another Sinatra thriller. This is unfortunate since that film with its images of an assassin at a window, a scoped rifle, and a dark limousine had the most potential for a psychological trigger. Still, Loken shows that Oswald may have been indirectly influenced by this movie's powerful imagery. Today, we accept the fact that motion pictures can influence a person to commit a violent act (John Hinckley and the Columbine killers are two examples). Oswald's Trigger Films is a thought provoking and well-written look at Lee Harvey Oswald and three films that may have had a similar sway.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Simple but Important Contribution,
By
This review is from: Oswald's Trigger Films: The Manchurian Candidate, We Were Strangers, Suddenly? (Paperback)
A quick, clear read, Loken's investigation provides a compelling look into this surprisingly sparsely considered area among the body of written work about JFK's assassination. The strength of Loken's thesis lies in the fact that he does not try to reach too far with or make careless assertions about the information he has uncovered. It's definitely worth a read, and its brevity allows for multiple ones.Kudos to John Loken for his fine bit of research about this important area of assassination research. His book should added to those mythical "must read" lists of JFK assassination books which, oddly enough, seem to be conspicuously lacking any balance in terms of books that support the "lone gunman" theory. Oswald's Trigger Films provides one example of work that seems to be interested in providing objective, reasoned evidence and allowing the reader to draw his own conclusions about it.
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