Ruby

As Todd Gitlin has pointed out, even if all the mysteries about the John F. Kennedy assassination were cleared up tomorrow, nothing in our current political situation would change. This camp spin-off of the already campy JFK simultaneously deconstructs assassination countermyths and contrived movie packages through its very ineptness. Danny Aiello as Jack Ruby may sound like dream casting, but without a script or a character of any substance Aiello encounters trouble the moment familiar historical details loom into view, and so does the rest of the movie, whose cast includes Sherilyn Fenn as one of Ruby’s strippers and Arliss Howard as a CIA operative. Adapting his own play Love Field, Stephen Davis seems strapped for ideas about what made Ruby tick, and John Mackenzie’s sluggish direction only compounds the awkwardness. As a general principle, I don’t like to recommend bad movies, but this is such a hoot you might well find it as enjoyable as I did. (JR)

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