Product Details

• Actors: Vincent Bugliosi
• Directors: n, a
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO
• DVD Release Date: October 28, 2008
• Run Time: 330 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001CDLASU
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #79,078 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

ON TRIAL:LEE HARVEY OSWALD - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "LEE WAS A VERY ORDINARY PERSON...PEOPLE CAN KILL A PRESIDENT WITHOUT THAT BEING SOMETHING THAT SHOWS ON THEM IN ADVANCE", October 28, 2008

By 

David Von Pein (Mooresville, Indiana; USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On Trial: Lee Harvey Oswald (DVD)

The quote I used in the title of this review came from the lips of Mrs. Ruth Paine in 1986, and can be heard on this DVD. Mrs. Paine was one of the very few people in the world who knew Mr. and Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald fairly well just prior to November 22, 1963, which was the Friday when Lee Oswald took a gun to work and assassinated President John F. Kennedy.

In July of 1986, Mrs. Paine was one of several people who travelled from America to London in order to participate in a TV "docu-trial" ("ON TRIAL: LEE HARVEY OSWALD"), a simulated courtroom trial produced by "London Weekend Television".

The mock trial was 21 hours long, but approximately 75% of that filmed footage was left on the cutting-room floor, with the 21 hours' worth of trial material being trimmed down to a little more than 5 hours for its original two-part "Showtime" cable-TV broadcast on November 21 and 22, 1986.

This 2-Disc DVD edition of "On Trial: Lee Harvey Oswald" contains the entire uncut docu-trial as it was originally aired in November 1986 by the Showtime network in the United States (5+ hours of programming).

However, some portions of the original Showtime broadcast featuring host Edwin Newman and other commentators (such as Jack Anderson, Ramsey Clark, and Alan Dershowitz) have not been included on this DVD.

Very brief interview snippets with the two lead attorneys involved in the trial (Vincent Bugliosi and Gerry Spence) that were aired on TV in '86 have also been removed for this DVD presentation. But all of the in-the-courtroom footage from the original '86 Showtime broadcast appears to be intact and included in this MPI Home Video version.

Footnote regarding running time --- Each of the two DVDs in this set has an incorrect (too short) running time shown on it. Based on the printed information on the discs, the total run time is only 4 hours and 8 minutes. But the total time for both DVDs is actually 5 hours and 7 minutes, which almost certainly represents the whole program as it first aired on Showtime (minus some of the wraparound segments with Edwin Newman, et al).*

* = At least one subsequent airing of this docu-trial on a different U.S. network (in 1988), however, does contain additional courtroom footage that is not included in this Showtime/MPI version.

But it's not entirely surprising that alternate versions of this lengthy program were produced, featuring different editing, given the fact that more than three-fourths of the filmed trial was edited out in the first place (including the entire testimony of at least one witness, Jack Tatum).

Another packaging error can be found on the back cover of this MPI DVD, where we find this absurdly-overstated blurb -- "On Trial: Lee Harvey Oswald recalls all of the surviving witnesses...".

But quite obviously, as of July 1986 (when the Oswald TV trial took place), more than just the 21 people who took the witness stand at this mock trial were still among the living (as far as assassination-related witnesses are concerned).

No witnesses were subpoenaed, however. The people who took the witness stand at the mock trial did so voluntarily. They were not being forced to appear. So, that fact certainly must have limited the length of the witness lists for both the defense and the prosecution to a large degree.

"On Trial: Lee Harvey Oswald" has the feel of a real trial (although, of course, it isn't, since the defendant in the case, Lee Harvey Oswald, was himself shot and killed by Dallas nightclub operator Jack Ruby just two days after President Kennedy was murdered)....with a real judge sitting on the bench in the London courtroom, 12 real Dallas jurors sitting in the jury box, 21 real sworn-in witnesses (connected in various ways to the JFK and/or J.D. Tippit murder cases) taking the witness stand to testify on behalf of either the prosecution or the defense, and two prominent U.S. trial attorneys presenting their cases in front of the jury -- Vincent T. Bugliosi for the prosecution (representing the "U.S. Government") and Gerry Spence representing the deceased defendant, Lee Oswald.

Mr. Bugliosi, in 2005, said it was his belief that the 1986 television docu-trial was "the closest thing to a trial that Lee Harvey Oswald ever had or will have". And after having watched that trial many times since '86, I have to fully concur with Vince's assessment as well.

This simulated trial was the springboard that led Bugliosi to write his mammoth and all-encompassing book on the JFK assassination, "Reclaiming History", which took Vince more than 20 years to research and write. The book was finally published in May 2007.

As mentioned previously, Ruth Paine was among the 21 witnesses who testified at the TV docu-trial, and Paine's testimony is among the most riveting and enlightening during the five-hour program. Even after 23 years, the raw emotion of that day back in 1963 still resonates deeply within her. Ruth's testimony is worth the price of this DVD set alone.

Another standout section of "On Trial" comes during the latter portion of the program, when noted conspiracy theorist and House Select Committee on Assassinations [HSCA] member Dr. Cyril H. Wecht takes the witness stand to face off against Vince Bugliosi.

The sparks begin to fly when Bugliosi wants Dr. Wecht to explain what happened to the intact bullet that exited President Kennedy's throat, heading downward and forward, directly toward Governor John Connally in the limousine.

Although Wecht agrees with Bugliosi that the bullet did, indeed, go completely through JFK's body without deviating from its original flight path, Cyril also contends that the bullet did not strike Governor Connally at all. Instead, evidently it vanished into thin air without a trace. (Talk about a "magic bullet".)

Other witnesses who put in an appearance include (among a few others): Charles Brehm, Buell Wesley Frazier, Dallas police officer Marrion Baker (who actually stopped Oswald and spoke to him inside the Texas School Book Depository within minutes of JFK's assassination), Harold Norman, Johnny Brewer, Nelson Delgado, Edwin Lopez, Seth Kantor, Ted Callaway, Eugene Boone (the deputy sheriff who first discovered Oswald's rifle on the sixth floor of the Depository), William Newman, Dr. Vincent Guinn, Dr. Charles Petty, and FBI agent James Hosty (who was aware of Oswald's presence in Dallas weeks prior to 11/22/63).

A full DVD chapter/witness list is provided later in this review.

Vince Bugliosi puts on a strong prosecutor's case against Oswald in "On Trial", relying heavily, of course, on the wide array of physical and circumstantial evidence that easily shows Oswald to be guilty of not only killing President Kennedy, but also of murdering a second man on November 22, 1963 -- Dallas policeman J.D. Tippit, who was shot four times by Oswald on 10th Street in the Dallas suburb of Oak Cliff, approximately 45 minutes after Kennedy was slain right in front of Oswald's workplace on Elm Street.

Gerry Spence, on the other hand, relies mainly on guesswork, unsupportable theories, and "what if" scenarios in his attempted (and anemic) defense of his "client", Lee H. Oswald.

Mr. Spence is a good showman, though, I must say that. He's fun to watch in the courtroom. And so is Bugliosi, I might add. But Spence's choice of witnesses to try and buttress his case for conspiracy was rather weak, to say the least, with only 7 witnesses called to the stand (per the final 5-hour version of the trial seen on Showtime anyway), with one of those seven being the laughable Tom Tilson.

Mr. Tilson, who was a Dallas police officer in 1963, tells the jury a crazy tale about how Jack Ruby killed President Kennedy, with Tilson witnessing Ruby's getaway just after the assassination.

Not all of Tilson's testimony was shown on TV, however. Here's the text of a portion of Mr. Tilson's testimony that didn't make the final television cut (and it's a howl too). The following paragraph comes directly from Vincent Bugliosi's outstanding and comprehensive book on the assassination, "Reclaiming History":

"I asked Tilson why, if he believed the man he pursued was Ruby, didn't he give Dallas homicide Ruby's name when he called them with his information? Unbelievably, Tilson answered, 'Well, I couldn't. Somebody might go get Jack Ruby and he might not have been guilty.' (Translation: Never pursue any suspect to a crime because there's always a chance the suspect might not be guilty.)" -- Vincent T. Bugliosi; Page 879 of "Reclaiming History: The Assassination Of President John F. Kennedy" (W.W. Norton & Company)(c.2007)

~LOL break~

In the end, thankfully, the real evidence against the defendant is able to conquer the fanciful "what ifs" in the minds of the jurors, and after six hours of deliberations, Lee Harvey Oswald was declared "Guilty" at the conclusion of the mock trial.

Three of those jurors, however, weren't convinced that there was no "conspiracy" to murder the President; but all twelve of them were convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Lee Oswald did, in fact, kill John Kennedy.

========================

Here are a few random excerpts that can be found in "On Trial: Lee Harvey Oswald":

"The evidence that will be presented at this trial will show that there is no substance to the persistent charge by these critics that Lee Harvey Oswald was just a patsy, set up to take the fall by some elaborate conspiracy. We expect the evidence -- ALL of the evidence -- to show that Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone, was responsible for the... Read more ›

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK for TV, but somewhat disappointing from a legal standpoint, November 23, 2008

By 

D. Michael Elkins "D. Michael Elkins" (Valrico, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On Trial: Lee Harvey Oswald (DVD)

I purchased this DVD after reading the lengthy book, "Reclaiming History" by Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecutor in the mock trial presented here. Like many people I have always believed in the probable existence of a conspiracy in the JFK assassination, nevertheless, my mind was changed after reading the very lengthy Bugliosi book. Frankly, I was unaware that a mock trial had ever taken place until reading of it in this book. Learning that Gerry Spence had been the defense attorney, and being an attorney myself, I was very eager to get a chance to see these two attorneys cross swords in a courtroom.

Unfortunately from an attorney's perspective, this DVD presentation of the mock trial was disappointing. From the very beginning I was shocked at the degree to which Mr. Bugliosi persisted in leading his witnesses, seemingly with no objection from Mr. Spence. I realize that leading the witnesses in a mock trial for television might be simply a means of saving time, but when Mr. Spence did finally object, he did so with a statement that he did not usually object to his opponent leading witnesses during trial testimony. Somehow I found this statement difficult to believe.

Naturally the trial made use of the Zapruder film. Unfortunately, however, the viewer was provided with no view of the diagrams of the wounds or bullet paths that played so important a role in determining whether Oswald acted alone or only as part of a conspiracy. I know that the jurors in the mock trial were made aware of those photos and diagrams since I saw some of the blow-ups of them in the courtroom. Perhaps if I had not seen them or already known of their existence, I would not have felt as cheated as a viewer by not having them presented as part of the trial on the DVD.

Lastly I must comment on the brevity of the closing arguments presented by both the prosecution and the defense in this DVD. Again, I recognize that there are time constraints when presenting a trial in a televised setting; nevertheless, considering that this might have been "The Trial of the Century" shouldn't we have expected the prosecutor to provide a much longer closing argument than was shown here?

Naturally Mr. Bugliosi considered his case to have been one of overwhelming evidence of guilt but wasn't he taking a big risk by not spending more time referring to the evidence that had been presented to the jury than he did here? Of course had he done so, he would probably have mentioned witnesses and items of evidence that the jury had seen but which had not been part of what was seen by the DVD viewer. The jarring effect that this might have had upon the viewer might have been lessened somewhat had there been a statement at the beginning of each disc reminding the viewer that they were seeing a presentation that had been edited from the much longer presentation that had been made before the mock jury.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Harbinger for "Reclaiming History", February 25, 2010

By 

S. V. Anderson (Idaho) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: On Trial: Lee Harvey Oswald (DVD)

This London trial--so long unavailable on DVD--is an invaluable tool for the serious Kennedy assassination researcher and scholar. For the first time actual assassination witnesses are subjected to direct and cross examination in an attempt to prove once and for all, 'Was Lee Harvey Oswald guilty of assassinating President John F. Kennedy.' Before purchasing and reading "Reclaiming History" this trial is a must see. There are NO actors and NO recreations. The witnesses questioned on the witness stand are the real deal. The experts are REAL experts and the questioning is authentic. Vince Bugliosi and Gerry Spence lock horns in the video trial of the decade. Clearly the evidence is on Bugliosi's side and Spence doesn't really have much ammunition with which to work (which is exactly how the REAL trial of Oswald would have been had Oswald lived.) For individuals looking for evidence of Oswald's guilt, there is plenty of it here. Additionally many of the pseudo-scientists with degrees in fraud and quakery such as Jack White, Robert Groden, and David Lifton do not appear. The LAST people Gerry Spence wanted arguing in favor of Oswald's innocence would be Jack White, Robert Groden, or David Lifton. Bugliosi would have disemboweled them in seconds and whatever credibility they ever had would have been totally destroyed. But the trial questioning is riviting and the logic employed by Bugliosi cannot be ignored.

An overall great trial to enjoy and learn from.