Not Alright Jack
"Prince Jack" is a documentary style look at the presidency of John F. Kennedy, here played by Robert Hogan. It looks at various events such as the Cuban missile crisis whilst also taking a look at his relationships which his brother Bobby (James F. Kelly) and the ambitious Lyndon B Johnson (Kenneth Mars).
To quantify where I am coming from when it comes to this review of "Prince Jack" here are a few facts. I am a Brit who wasn't even born when John F. Kennedy was assassinated and it is almost 30 years since "Prince Jack" was made. I feel it is important for you to know that as those who lived through the Kennedy administration and the Cuban Missile Crisis may have a better under standing of things.
Now what I really hoped when I sat down to watch "Prince Jack" was to get an understanding of what made him so special that even today John F. Kennedy is held in such high esteem. But what I got was a very dry look at various events which to be frank did nothing to draw me in. It made me pretty sure that this was a movie made for those who lived through the Kennedy era rather than for those wanting to learn something about it. The thing is that it could have been exciting but constantly fell short of the mark such as a scene where Kennedy is talking to Martin Luther King, Jr., played by Robert Guillaume, and rather than being a scene buzzing because of the exciting characters it is bogged down by dry delivery of dull dialogue.
I could go on about the actual content being dull but "Prince Jack" has other more significant issues especially with Robert Hogan failing to visually convince as Kennedy. This is not helped by the use of some archive footage which only goes to highlight the movie's shortfalls. It is not just Hogan as other actors struggle to convince you that they are who they are meant to be and none of them really breathe life in to their characters.
What this all boils down to is that "Prince Jack" didn't work for me and by the time it was over I didn't feel like I had learned any more about Kennedy and what made him special. Maybe for those who lived through the Kennedy administration it will be more interesting but for me it comes up short of the mark.
