JFK

Factual error: Throughout the movie, it's been said that President John F. Kennedy's motorcade route had been changed at the last minute. This is not true. The route was set in stone for days. In fact, assassin Lee Harvey Oswald supposedly found out that Kennedy was going to ride right past Oswald's work building from a newspaper days before. He rode the same route the newspaper published.

Character mistake: Jim Garrison and Lou Ivon are discussing the shooting at the book depository and Jim refers to "our friend Clay Shaw" as having introduced General Charles Cavill at the Foreign Policy Commission in New Orleans. However, Garrison does not find out that Clay Bertrand is Clay Shaw until Bill Broussard finds out from his informant and tells Jim in later scenes. (01:18:54)

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Jim Garrison: "One may smile and smile and be a villain."

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Trivia: In the scene where an FBI agent is harassing one of Garrison's investigators, Bill Brousard, the FBI agent bears a striking resemblance to the real police officer who was also "assassinated" on the same day in Dallas as JFK, Dallas Police Officer J. D. Tippet. It turns out that the actor is Tippet's brother in real life.

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Question: Was the head movement argument to the jury verbatim from the transcript of the actual trial of Clay Shaw?

Answer: No. The argument which mentions was the first closing argument by an assistant to Garrison and in it he mentions "back and to the left" once but not the multiple statements shown in the movie. The actual transcripts are available on line.

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