TELE VISION

"they"? In the manner of Perry Mason, Greene sets out to find out—and therein lies the show's cheapest shot. Conspir- acy buffs have relentlessly tried to pin JFK's on both pro- and anti- and Castro Cubans, the FBI, the CIA even the Mafia. As Greene pursues leads to each of these links, the film keeps switching to dramatized flashback scenes in which Oswald is shown secret- ly meeting with a variety of sinister- looking figures. Obviously, someone is trying to recruit him for something. Back in the present, Oswald's team reads into the most neb- ulous of clues. One of their potential witnesses is Found dead after being stabbed with an ice pick. "That sounds like the Mob," concludes Greene's assis- tant. A second witness expires in an automobile crash. -Another accident?" ABC photos bellows Greene. The assistant then re- turns with an elaborate theory involving ABC's 'Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald': Revisionism and showbiz a CIA-Mafia connection motivated by the haziest of mutual interests. By the time Oswald himself takes the stand to Recipe for Paranoia deny his guilt, the audience has been conditioned to select a conspiracy to fit From inconsistencies in the Warren y many other names, what is today almost any prejudice. Commission Report, plus all manner of called a "docu-drama" has been A Fatal Covenant: Indeed, virtually ev- B subsequent speculations, ABC has fash- around ever since William Shakespeare ery ingredient in this production seems ioned what amounts to a brief for the did his semi-fictional number on Julius subtly designed to inject yet another conspiracy theory. The two-part movie Caesar. But the sudden burst of these dose of paranoia into the national psy. begins with a chilling re-enactment of slickly confected hybrids of fact and fan- che. Ersatz TV newsreels of the triaj the Dallas , filmed at its cy on television—with its highly suscep- keep cutting in and out, apparently tc actual Dealey Plaza locale. It goes on to lend an aura of journalistic credibility tt tible mass audience—is shaping up as- trace the life of Oswald—portrayed as the most controversial video develop- what is anything but journalism. Gaz alternately arrogant and vulnerable by ment since Archie Bunker brought bigot- zara's prosecutor registers as one of those look-alike John Pleshette—in both ry to the sitcom. Viewers of ABC were hyperambitious legal hustlers who.get America and Russia, and culminates in a still trying to sort out truth from supposi- ahead by knowing when to look the othe lengthy trial pitting prosecutor Ben Gaz• way. The choice of Lorne Greene to pla tion in "Washington: Behind- Closed zara against defense counsel Lorne Doors" earlier this month when the net- the wise old defense owl is almost guar Greene. anteed to make his myriad "Bonanza work hit them with "Young Joe: The Gazzara voices his doubts right from Forgotten Kennedy." That docu-drama the start "A poor shlub who couldn't fans accept whatever he avuncularly sin blithely fleshed out what little is known even hold a job is capable of planning a gests. And Pleshette's Oswald ultimate! about John F. Kennedy's older brother Presidential assassination?" he incredu- emerges as the classic patsy. The fib with enough Freudian assumptions to presents him as a man so determined even psychohistorians uneasy. lously asks an aide. But a phone call from make none other than "President And last weekend, NBC presented a Plesh ette as Oswald, Malone as Marina Johnson" advises him not to dramatized portrait of Caryl Chessman, try to look for a conspiracy the California sex criminal who was ex- because "there's no water in ecuted in 1960, strongly suggesting that that well . . and it wouldn't Chessman was denied a fair trial. Now ABC has applied the docu-drama be good for the country." Sighs Gazzara: "I've just technique to an even more explosive been told what to think." So subject On this Friday and Sunday, ABC have the viewers. There is will broadcast "The Trial of Lee Harvey not a shred of that Oswald," a four-hour film dealing with what might have happened had JFK's Johnson ever intruded in the assassination investigation. accused assassin lived to face prosecu- So much for establishing a tion. It's an engrossing notion, but what factually objective tone. emerges is a case study of the dangers of Now it is TV's pervasive new form. The docu-dra- - Who Are 'They'? left to Greene to perforate m a's creators maintain that they are offer- the prosecution's one-man, ing America a salutary catharsis, an op- one-gun case. As Gazzara portunity to *discover whether Oswald looks on with sheepish admi- would have been found guilty or inno- ration, Oswald's attorney re- cent—and whether he acted alone or as part of a conspiracy. Yet by indiscrimi- duces the state's witnesses to stammering cretins while nately blending hard evidence with pure Mother Oswald mutters from conjecture, ABC must stand accused of the audience, "They put my irresponsibility in the first degree. The son up to it." Just who are verdict here is guilty as charged. Newsweek, October 3, 1977 64 I . i i

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