Chappaquiddick (2018)

The first must-see film of the year.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

I was really looking forward to this movie after having read Leo Damore's landmark book Senatorial Privilege. Damore's book was landmark because Joe Gargan talked to him directly about the events surrounding that fatal evening. Ed Helms did a great job portraying Gargan in the movie. A surprising and welcome shift away from the usual clownish adult characters he has played in the past. As the "New Frontiersmen" planned the media cover-up at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis; Clancy Brown excelling here in his portrayal of the acerbic Robert McNamara; Gargan was shoved aside as the foolish cousin who got involved early and nearly destroyed Kennedy's career. In truth, this is Gargan's story as he personally and professionally paid the price for Kennedy whom he had pressured to deal immediately with the tragedy and to respectfully 'do the right thing'. Kennedy did not do the right thing. This is evident watching old Joe's dealing with the weak willed Teddie in the wake of events. Bruce Dern couldn't have been any better as the amoral and degenerate Joe Kennedy. So much power with so few spoken words. This insight into the Kennedy compound discussions and an account of the time spent between Teddie and Mary Jo after leaving the cottage and prior to the accident are the two threads that make this such a great movie. Damore did not postulate on what might have happened in either of those locations or time spans in his book. He reported facts and left it to the reader to decide what happened. The known facts were that both Kennedy and Mary Jo had been drinking; a lot. They had left the cottage to supposedly go to the ferry but Mary Jo did not take her purse. Over an hour later, Huck Look had seen the dark sedan on Cemetery Rd backup then speed off down Dyke Rd at an unusually high speed. Huck Look was an unimpeachable witness and recalled most of the license plate. Kennedy took Gargan and Marham back to the scene of the accident, then, giving up the attempted rescue, made it back to Edgartown in the wee hours of the morning. He then did nothing other than fiddle around town (and sober up) before Gargan and Markham showed up in the morning and demanded again that he report the accident. What Kennedy never revealed publicly is what Director John Curran focused on in his movie. First, what happened in that 'lost' hour and a half right before the accident, and secondly, what exactly was said and done in the compound in the weeks immediately following the accident. I believe Curran, Allen, and Logan got it right. I think they understand what was going on inside Kennedy's mind and at the compound. Other noteworthy performances are Olivia Thirlby as Rachel, the thinly veiled stage name for Esther Newberg, and Kate Mara as the unfortunate and pensive Mary Jo. The top performance is that of Jason Clarke. Physically he could be Teddy Kennedy in both looks and spoken accent. But it was in those moments when he was on the phone, or in the bath, or strutting down the streets of Edgartown that made his portrayal so important. You really got a sense of the mental torture that Kennedy was enduring. As a footnote, Damore's life was ruined by publishing his book and he committed suicide a broken man.

My wife and I watched this at home on DVD from a Redbox rental. We both were young adults when the depicted events happened and as such enjoyed the visual story and depictions of what all transpired.The movie covers just one week in the life of Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, younger brother of assassinated President John F. Kennedy. The story is an irony of sorts, JFK may be best known for his early 1960s declaration that we would land on the moon before the end of the decade, and we did in July 1969, the same week that younger brother Ted was involved in the accident that resulted in his losing his chance to become President. Fame and shame for the Kennedy family in the same week in 1969.Jason Clarke is really effective as Ted Kennedy, portrayed as a somewhat spoiled man of a rich family, when he needed something done he expected others to do it for him, promptly. From my own perspective, as a citizen watching Ted Kennedy, I believe it was in the best interests of our country that he did not become president.Kate Mara is effective as Mary Jo Kopechne, although her role is rather brief. The filmmakers claim their research and input from those in the know resulted in a very accurate depiction of that week, and it comes across that way. A rather large political machine spinning the events in a way to reduce the political impact on Kennedy. A quick inquest and arraignment was followed by Kennedy pleading guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, he served no jail time, was on parole for a year, and was reelected as Senator.

In the bonus track of the DVD of "Chappaquiddick," the film artists made the case for their film as a sincere recreation of the events on and following July 18, 1969, when Mary Jo Kopechne drowned in a vehicle driven by Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Unfortunately, the result of the film was a piece of fluff that felt more like the imaginative words of screenwriters than reality.There is no doubt that Sen. Kennedy should have been liable for manslaughter, given that he failed to call for first responders and did not even report the incident that he knew had taken the life of Miss Kopechne. There was even a house within walking distance of the bridge where Kennedy could have phoned for help. Instead, he did nothing, and that is the essence of the story of the tragedy at Poucha Pount.But this film goes well beyond what is known about the case to spin a character portrayal of a morose, self-destructive Kennedy that almost willed the tragedy at the bridge to fulfill his avoidance of having to run for president and continue the Kennedy legacy. The mood of Kennedy was gloomy and despondent throughout the film, as articulated in a line that Kennedy has "been on this path since Bobby died." But the self-loathing path was never convincing.Given the limited amount of factual information we have about the hours leading up to and following the accident, the filmmakers could have reigned in the tremendous license taken with hypothetical conversations. The banter at the party for the "boiler girls" seemed artificial and far too subdued. This was supposed to be a celebration, not a wake. Likewise, the dialogue between Kennedy and his two sidekicks, Gargan and Markham, was difficult to believe. The research team could have especially probed deeper into the testimony of Gargan. Yet another flaw in the film was the portrayal of the powerful Kennedy loyalists who served as the "fixers" in the case to ensure that Kennedy would get off with the most lenient sentence. Once again, the filmmakers twisted characters like Robert McNamara and Ted Sorensen into clichés that often lapsed into comedy. When the Chappaddick affair is likened to the Bay of Pigs incident, the film lost all of its momentum.Another glaring oversimplification was to assert that Chappaquiddick doomed Ted Kennedy's candidacy for president. This is inaccurate. It was not until a Roger Mudd interview conducted on CBS with Senator Ted Kennedy on November 4, 1979, that Kennedy's poor performance on national television made it clear that he would never unseat Jimmy Carter as the Democratic Party nominee that year. For the balance of his career, Kennedy settled on being the "Lion of the Senate," perhaps achieving more in practice than the short-lived political careers of his elder brothers.The most successful part of this substandard historical film was the dignity given to Miss Kopechne, who was a dedicated Kennedy loyalist with a bright future. As depicted in the film, the loss of this young woman was as painful as it was unnecessary.

Anything involving the Kennedy's becomes surrounded by mystery and intrigue, especially the men. The JFK and RFK murders have been and continue to be wrought with conspiracy theories or other implications and the Chappaquiddick event is no different. Ted Kennedy did draw sympathy for having to endure the murders of his beloved brothers for his entire life. But he would also have Chappaquiddick hanging over his head for his remaining political life and even following his own death. Now that the movie is finally out, I would say it was cleverly done not to show too much bias. It is what it is, or it was what it was, a girl died negligently at the age of 28. If this was to take place now, Senator Kennedy would not be so lucky to get a suspended sentence for his part in the accident. Mary Jo Kopechne and Ted Kennedy were supposedly not romantically linked. However, his brother Robert was reportedly involved with Mary Jo before he was assassinated, which is neither here not there. The truth of the matter is she died in an accident with not many answered questions. I can't imagine what her folks went through. I can't imagine what went through the minds of everyone directly or indirectly involved in the Chappaquiddick event. I'm sure that this whole incident haunted a lot of people for a long, long time.