The Killing of RFK - A Welles-related book review

[Anton]

This is a brief review of the novel "The Killing of RFK", by Donald Freed. This book, published in 1975, was almost certainly based on a screenplay called "The Assassin", co-written by Freed with Orson Welles and Oja Kodar, a collaboration mentioned in the Munich Museum's booklet "The Unknown Orson Welles", sold in conjunction with their New York Welles festival last year.

The basic gist of the novel's premise is this: that Sirhan Sirhan, the man convicted of shooting Robert F. Kennedy to death in 1968, was a "Manchurian Candidate", programmed by a criminal network to act as a lunatic decoy while hired marksmen shot Kennedy from close range. The main evidence to support this theory is a coroner's report indicating that RFK was shot at close range, one to two inches at the most, while virtually all witnesses to the shooting contend that Sirhan was at least 6-7 feet away from Kennedy at the time of the shooting.

The criminal network itself consisted of, among other things, New Orleans Mob bosses, a Yugoslavian terrorist/fascist organization known as "The Ustaci", and out-of-control elements of the U.S. intelligence establishment, including ex-CIA officials who had been fired by John F. Kennedy in 1961 following the "Bay of Pigs" fiasco. Richard Nixon is never mentioned as part of the conspiracy, but an implication-of-sorts is made during a scene where the coordinator of the assassination team, a William A. Must, is given a report indicating that RFK is the only democratic candidate capable of defeating Nixon in the 1968 presidential election.

Orson Welles himself most likely would have played Must, and if so, it would have been one of the slimiest, most reptilian characters of his career, comparable to Harry Lime. In fact, there is an interesting scene where Must gazes down from his hotel suite on people waiting in line to vote, observing them as if they were bugs, like Harry Lime's "dots". Oja Kodar would have undoubtedly played Helen, a behavioural psychologist whose father is being held captive by the Ustaci. She is blackmailed by Must into brainwashing Sirhan "Clockwork-Orange" style, using a combination of film, drugs, sex, and hypnosis. Sirhan, known here as "Saladin", after the legendary Arab chief who repelled the first wave of European crusaders during the Middle Ages, is then set up as an Oswald-like patsy.

Did Orson Welles really subscribe to such a dark and grim view of recent American history? It's difficult to know, since Welles is not credited with co-authoring the book, and is not listed in the acknowledgements. It is however, very likely that he did co-author the screenplay on which the book, listed as fiction, is probably based, and the book does contain many flourishes and allusions that might be described as "Wellesian". The book is also concerned with the subject of Civil Rights, which were set back considerably by the assassinations of both Martin Luthor King and Robert F, Kennedy. Civil Rights was also a subject that was very important to Welles throughout his career. It would be very interesting to read the screenplay if it still exists or at least hear the full story as to why the screenplay was never made into a film. Or was it?

On the front cover of the paperback edition it says, "Soon to be a Major Motion Picture", and although neither Welles nor Kodar is cited in the acknowledgements section, it does say that a certain person "was" important in the making of the book "and the motion picture of the same name", which implies that the film may have in fact, been made. Two other film were made from Donald Freed's work: "Executive Action" from 1973, which like Oliver Stone's film, deals with possible scenarios surrounding JFK's assassination, and "Secret Honor", a 1984 film by Robert Altman, which dealt with the hidden reasons behind Nixon's resignation. "The Assassin" would have been a missing link between those two films, which were both made quickly and cheaply. "The Assassin" could have been made cheaply and quickly by Welles too, as it would have required nothing but real locations and a fairly small cast. Do we dare hope...?

[R Kadin]

Unfortunately, Stefan Droessler seems yet to have discovered the Terra Incognita above the 49th parallel, a place known as Canada (or, apparently, as "There Be Dragons" to München-ites). In other words, we didn't get to see the Munich Filmmuseum's travelling "Orson Welles" show up here, despite having reserved an igloo and everything; so that whole Freed-Welles connection you're making is news to our frostbitten ears.

All that aside, the distance from some sales pitch on an obscure 30-year-old paperback to speculation about an undiscovered Welles film strikes me as more mythical than real. With the fanciful Welles Batman and Moonraker shenanigans already cluttering the landscape, forgive me for inviting some harder evidence.

[Welles Fan]

I hope Welles was not involved in some (Robert)Kennedy/Assasination/Conspiracy theory. I saw Executive Action when it came out. It had about as much credence as the "documentary" on Nostradamus. Maybe that's where Welles comes in?

[Anton]

I don't have any hard evidence for a Welles film of "The Assassin", and honestly, I'd say the chances of it having been made are very slim. But what differentiates this from the Batman and Moonraker hoaxes is that, per Oja Kodar, there was a screenplay prepared. Whether it still exists or not I haven't a clue. Freed's novel appears to be the only remnant of the project available to the average Welles fan.

I also agree with Wellesfan that "Executive Action" is not much of a film, despite having Burt Lancaster and Robert Ryan in it. It does have some interesting theories in it, although as you said, their credibility is questionable. Altman's "Secret Honor", which I haven't seen, is a much more respected film. A Criterion LD of it turns up on ebay from time to time.

Putting the RFK project together with his hosting of "Future Shock", "Chariots of the Gods", "The Late, Great Planet Earth", and the Nostradamus film, one can see that Orson Welles had become quite the alarmist-for-hire in his later years. I'm sure his War of the Worlds infamy helped create these opportunities, many of which were probably done for the money.

[PT Caffey]

THIS IS ORSON WELLES (p. 446) suggests that "The Assassin" was "an adaptation with OK of a nonfiction script and book about Sirhan Sirhan by Donald Freed."

During this period, Welles also co-wrote adaptations of Greene's "The Honorary Cousul" and Thompson's "A #### of a Woman."

If "The Assassin" (1977) is only an adaptation of Freed's previously published book (1975), then any supposed Wellesian elements in the book cannot be said to be Welles's direct contribution.

Yet Welles' interest in Freed is intriguing. Freed has a history of spinning "interesting" conspiracy theories. In addition to those works already mentioned, Freed wrote an unproduced screenplay with Mark Lane about an alleged conspiracy behind the murder of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr, "Slaying the Dreamer." Here, the twist was organized labor. "The death of Martin Luther King, Jr.," says Freed,"takes place at the largest labor action since the Second World War in Memphis. It isn't civil rights at all that led to King's murder. It was a labor action."

Freed also coauthored a book on, of all things, the O.J. Simpson case. "Publishers Weekly" summarizes Freed's theories about that case: "Using detailed time lines and maps, [the authors] propose several alternative scenarios for the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Some scenarios posit two killers, with Simpson as a co-conspirator or bystander. In other scenarios, Goldman was the primary target, and the authors point to a pattern of drug- and mob-related violence surrounding Goldman and O.J. Simpson. Another theory advanced is that a professional assassin employed by a drug cartel committed the murders."

So what about Freed's work interested Welles? The mutability of the past, perhaps--the multiplicity of realities. Fakes. After all, does any single account fully explain a mysterious murder or an assassination?

"No, I don't think it explains anything. I don't think any word explain's a man's life."

Or his death.

[PT Caffey]

To be clear, the Thompson novel Welles adapted was entitled "A Shell of a Woman," minus the "S."

[Glenn Anders]

Anton, PT Caffey:

You should not be surprised that Welles lent himself to "alarmist" projects in later years. After all, much of his career hinged on the theme of Democracy against Totalitarism or the Apocalypse. What were his superb theater productions of "The Cradle Will Rock" (Union Workers vs. Reactionary Steel Mill Owners), his Black "Macbeth" (The Making of a Tyrant), his modern dress "Julius Caesar" ("Patriots" vs Nazism), etc.

In Radio, his six part production of "Les Miserables" (A Poor Man and his Like Buck the French Neo-Royalists) or his adaptation of Conrad's "The Heart of Darkness" (Absolute Power Turns a Colonialist into a Beast), and many others, carry on that theme. Even his breakthrough "The War of the Worlds" (A Rational Scientist vs American Complacency toward the Little Green Men or an Unseen Fascist Cataclysm?) fits the theme.

In his Movies, CITIZEN KANE, JOURNEY INTO FEAR, THE STRANGER, IT'S ALL TRUE, CONFIDENTIAL REPORT, TOUCH OF EVIL, THE TRIAL, and perhaps others are about the contest and/or corruption of the individual in the game of power.

In THE THIRD MAN, His most famous role in a picture directed by someone else his role is that of Harry Lime, an American fascist who lands on his feet after World War II by black-marketing adulterated penicillin to children, against a background of vast destruction and despair. The picture is about bringing Lime to some sort of justice.

Welles was a man who wrote speeches for FDR, claimed to have seriously considered running against Joe McCarthy in their home state, and Ronald Reagan in his adopted California.

To a man so passionately dedicated to humanism, democracy and the best ideals of the past, the events he observed during much of his life must have seemed "alarming" to him. The McCarthy Period destroyed his last major artistic independence, and from the Assassination of John F. Kennedy on, such a patriot and Citizen of the World must have felt the healthy paranoia of his early life increasingly justified.

The word "conspiracy" has been made dirty by strident commentators who have dominated the public stage for the last 25 years, as the word "fascism" is met with howls of the smug if one dares suggest parallels between our present reactionary retrograde progress with empires of the past century and further back.

Glenn

[Glenn Anders]

Anton, PT: Whatever the evidence of a Welles' involvement with adaptations of Donald Freed's novels, I disagree with Welles Fan about the quality of EXECUTIVE ACTION. Though it does not have JFK's dazzling edit style, photography, or deluge of evidence supporting a conspiracy in the death of John F. Kennedy, David Miller's film has memorable performances by Burt Lancaster and Robert Ryan, plus half a dozen fine supporting performances, including several by actors who were blacklisted after the "McCarthy Period" for 10 to 20 years.

[Kevin Costner's bland performance as New Orleans' DA Jim Garrison reduces the verisimilitude and power of the personal side of the story.]

EXECUTIVE ACTION presents a reasonable case for a conspiracy run by "Cowboy" oil men and other powerful executives, who fear restrictions on their "depletion allowances," and the prospect of a "Yankee Dynasty" that may last for another decade.

The performance of Robert Ryan [the conspiracy's executive chief], dying in real life of throat cancer at the time, is particulary poignant when he wearily quotes Shakespeare's "sealing wax and kings" speech at the news that the operation is "a Go" ; and when, at the end, he laconically remarks on Lancaster's death before making a pool shot: "Heart attack. Highland Hospital."

[It reminded me of President George W. Bush's commiserating remarks on the sacrifices in Iraq before he tees off on a golf course, in FAHRENHEIT 9/11, a similarly audacious picture.]

David Miller's direction of EXECUTIVE ACTION is workmanlike, and the script for Donald Freed's novel, is by old left-wing pro (also a blacklist victim), Dalton Trumbo, one of his last.

The film was criticised at the time for being a "failed thriller" on a controversial subject, but with the passage of time, we can see it was really a "docu-drama," a relatively new form in 1973 -- "a docu-essay," if you will. If so, we can understand the attraction Freed's work might have had for Welles, given his experience and interests, because he was moving toward the "docu-essay" in his F FOR FAKE that very year.

You summed up Welles in those years very well, PT.

Glenn

[R Kadin]

No question about it, Welles (God bless 'im) was a dedicated anti-fascist. Fascism is a concern present in the majority of his theatrical efforts and crucial to every film he made.

However, that still doesn't draw a straight-line between Welles and someone else's dust-cover promise of an upcoming film.

PT Caffey's citation,

THIS IS ORSON WELLES (p. 446) suggests that "The Assassin" was "an adaptation with OK of a nonfiction script and book about Sirhan Sirhan by Donald Freed."

seems the most telling connection, so far. As I regret not having direct access to TIOW, exactly how the book "suggests" that connection might be equally telling.

Nevertheless, if Welles' script followed years after the Freed book, then wouldn't that fact put paid to any suggestion of a serious connection between Welles and the book's cover blurb? (I admit it's conceivable that an early expression of interest from a person of Welles' stature and infectious enthusiasm might tempt an over-eager publisher to read into it the likelihood of a future film; but kudos to Anton for stepping back and leaving a leap like that better to be dealt with by the publisher's explanation than by speculation on this intrepid little community's part.)

That said, if anyone can offer something solid on all this, now's your chance to chime in...

[Welles Fan]

Sorry, I had not thought of approaching Executive Action from the point of view if ascribing more merit to it than it deserves because I may or may not agree with its politics. Sure, it shows how a right wing coup could have assassinated JFK, and the one theory they did not seriously pursue is the (IMO) correct one-that JFK was in fact killed by a left-wing, communist, pro-Castro nut who pefectly fit the profile for an assassin. Strange that...ahem...Dalton Trumbo did not want to go there. (I notice that once again, Trumbo is referred to as a left-winger and blacklist victim, but not as a communist party member- "Not that there's anything wrong with it")

I also like how a film about the JFK assassination can remind people of George W Bush. In fact, maybe there should be a sequel that somehow links G.W. (Hitler) Bush to the murder (at least RFK's-maybe this is what W was doing when he was "AWOL" from the Guard? Hmmm.....) Maybe Moore can win a Golden Palm for doing a ...ahem...documentary on it?

Must every board I visit be frequented by left-wingers who cannot keep their political views to themselves? Must a Welles fan, or movie fan share the same left-wing pro-commie views as many of the posters? Has the subject of Welles and his films been exhausted?

[dmolson]

There's plenty of interesting strings to connect Welles' F-for-Fake with Executive Action, in style and substance. I haven't seen either in decades but I remember enjoying EA a touch more, perhaps because nothing Robert Ryan did could rub me the wrong way... As to throwing our own politics into our comments, what's wrong with that? I'm sure Trumbo would have typed out a ####-good anti-Castro script if given the motivation ($), or a bizarre story about one brother buying the election of another through mysterious work at the polls -- change the brother to father and you've got a connect-the-dots from Bushes to Kennedys. As to us left-wingers, I'm pleased to feel an imagined thread of viscimile to our hero OW. That there's plenty of theories and conspiracies being bandied about in every decade only keeps the story fresh, too bad a guy like OW wasn't around today with access to a camera, because there's a great fictional film in today's headlines...

[Wilson]

Please leave all political insults and non-Welles related political discussion out of this thread please, or it will be locked. I wasn't following this thread closely due to a general lack of interest, but clearly that was my mistake.

A REFRESHER IN THE MAIN BOARD RULES:

1) NO POLITICAL OR RELIGIOUS DISCUSSIONS UNLESS RELATING DIRECTLY TO WELLES OR HIS WORK

2) NO PERSONAL ATTACKS

[Glenn Anders]

Right you are, Jeff. My apologies for the stray political observation. The trouble with political discussion on this board is that it so quickly degenerates into the absurd. However, anyone who ignores Welles' political ideas, as embodied in his work and his acts, is dealing with a stick figure.

Welles as a stick figure is a real distortion.

Glenn

[mteal]

But of course, the question is, what exactly were those political ideas and how did they change? Clearly in the 1930's Welles was a Roosevelt liberal who flirted with Marxism, and in fact, was probably the biggest star to emerge from FDR's Federal Theatre Project. But in his later years he seems to have become - as you said - an "alarmist" more then anything else. Anton suggests these things were done for the money, and they probably were in part, but I think there's more to it then that. I think Welles as he got older genuinely became very cynical about the general state of the world. In a 1974 interview with Tom Snyder, Welles said that overpopulation and nuclear weapons were the two reasons why he took a "terribly dim" view of mankind's future. This was also right around the time he hosted THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH, and if he could lend his name and fame to something like that, it's not hard to imagine him involved with political conspiracy theories, no matter how far-fetched. Even F FOR FAKE has a subtle whiff of paranoia to it, especially concerning Howard Hughes, such as when Welles looks up at Hughes' Vegas hotel suite and wonders, "What was he doing up there? What were THEY doing to HIM? If he broke his silence, would it be a cry for help?"

PT Caffey,
Like Glenn, I also like your description of why Welles may have been interested in the work of someone like Donald Freed. I especially like your phrase "the mutability of the past". It reminds me of a wry little quip I heard on CSPAN2's BOOK TV a couple of weeks ago:

"History is not very predictable".

[Glenn Anders]

Mteal: I like your summation here. I would only add that Welles had the thoughts of his later years very early. The 1937 Modern Dress Shakespeare as an alarm to America against Fascism, his early radio work like the six part Les Miserables and a role in his much admired friend Archibald McLeish's "The Fall of the City," how he kept coming back again and again to Macbeth as a metaphor for the rise of tyranny, Kane's fascistic act in causing the Spanish American War, the coming of Nazism to America in the Stranger, or the meditation above glorious Acapulco Harbor between Mike and Grisby on the inevitability of atomic anihilation -- all speak of a man who was fighting the good fight against an incredibly complacent American citizenry. Indeed, his opening monologue for "The War of the Worlds," with its references to infinitely superior minds of what became known as "The Little Green Men" is symbolic of the rise of Fascism, and his deep concerns about the future of Mankind.

By the 1970's, his hopes that America would rise to its potential as a democracy must have driven hard up against the World which was emerging in a different way than he might have hoped. To paraphrase "Westbrook Van Vorhis" on the old tycoon in CITIZEN KANE, the events of his World, some of which he had made, were passing him by.

I shall say no more.

Glenn