Kennedy – The Complete Series (1983 TV Mini-Series/MPI DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: D     Episodes: B-

 

 

As the TV Mini-Series dipped into decline, good ones were still getting made here and there, but the bottom was just starting to fall out when the Alan Lansdburg (In Search Of…) production of Kennedy with Martin Sheen as JFK arrived on TV in 1983.  Nicely directed by Jim Goddard, it has a good cast including John Shea as Bobby Kennedy, E.G. Marshall as Joseph Kennedy, Geraldine Fitzgerald as Rose Kennedy, Vincent Gardenia as an interesting J. Edgar Hoover, future animated Batman voice Kevin Conroy as Ted Kennedy, Blair Brown as Jackie Kennedy, John Glover and Kelsey Grammer among a pretty decent cast.

 

At nearly six hours, it cannot help become a bit like a soap opera in the hands of Reg Gadney, but the cast and way it is done make it worth seeing.  Director Jim Goddard is a longtime British helmer who juggles everything with some finesse and makes this fun when it does not work and pretty good when it does.  It is ambitious enough to enjoy again over a quarter century later and holds up well enough that it is among the last great U.S. TV Mini-Series before such projects became overblown and even dumb.  Glad to see it on DVD.

 

The 1.33 X 1 full frame image was shot on film, yet this is an older analog transfer that disappointed me.  This deserves a new HD transfer next time.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is better, yet can be a bit weak at times.  There are no extras.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo