A Woman Named Jackie

My god her accent and melodramatic overreacting made me have to turn it off for a few days and return later. Stephen Collins as Jack is actually quite good mostly because he doesn't even attempt the accent which all actors playing JFK fail terribly at. The story is good of course, but it's their life! She doesn't look like Jackie and just tries to hard with the accent. She would have done better to just tone down her Irish accent and leave it at that. The scenery is pretty good and I'd say an accurate portrayal of the times. From a distance a lot of the screenshots really do resemble actual photos of them. I'm giving it a 5 because it's a pretty good portrayal of the story, but less of Jackie's essence.

Actually, I didn't really pay attention to Roma's accent as much as the different goofs in the various rooms shown in the movie at the diff times.The day of the wedding, after she took her vows, it shows her in a bedroom using a "princess phone", which did not come out until much later . The mention again of her yearbook comment of not wanting to become a housewife backfired on her as was indeed a housewife after marrying Jack, There were other goofs in the movie and it would appear that those researching for scenes were not particularly careful when doing so. Unfortunately the portrayal of Jack was way off and lacking in acting and character and a good thing he was not the major player in this movie . Of all the movies about this misguided and over played families in history, Roma's portrayal was probably the better of them all. The latter mini series out with Katie Holmes was awful to be blunt. She cannot act her way out of a paper bag and did an injustice to the latest of all the movies about the Kennedys.

I played the physician who treated JFK at Parkland Memorial. I removed him from the car and told Jackie (Roma) "You've got to let me have him." As far as the factual depiction, I brought up to the director that, if JFK had been shot in the neck (as we were being told), he wouldn't have been orally intubated, he would have had a tracheotomy. Even though this created more work for the staff, when the fact checker found that JFK DID actually have a "trach," that was the way it was filmed.

If you notice the scene where we are actually working on JFK (filmed in an old surgery suite at the Richmond, VA Veteran's Administration Hospital), you will see that he is being "bagged" via a tracheotomy tube. I thought the film crew paid an incredible amount of attention to detail.

As a side note, having been in the room when Roma Downey filmed the scene where JFK is pronounced dead, she was spectacular! She had the cast and crew in tears! NOW THAT'S ACTING!

Well not by watching this miniseries. This is strictly for laughs. I read the book which believe it or not was much better than this.

There are some fun scenes, like when Jackie walks up to Jack and hands him some women's panties and says, "The maid found these. They aren't my size." Implying he'd brought a woman with a big rear end into the marriage bed. Also, a scene with bombed Marilyn Monroe calling the White House and getting Jackie by mistake. They argue and Marilyn call a Jackie a beottch.

Great fun!

The fact that this mini-series came to be is unbelievable in itself. The source biography by C. David Heymann is full of details, but they never seem to be put into any sort of sensible order. Roger O. Hirson scripted an almost unreadable book into three, two-hour segments which were not only comprehensive, but also intriguing. The film spans Jacqueline's life up to the late 1980's. She was still alive at the time this film aired. Roma Downey as Jackie Kennedy is very believable. She carries herself most of the time as we all saw Jackie...very aloof. At other times, usually with her children, she is very human. Downey's Irish accent is constantly present just below the surface, and this bothered me a bit. But never the less, one believes that she is Jackie by the end of the film. The other great castings are those of Josef Sommer as Joe Kennedy Sr., Wendy Hughes as Janet Auchincloss, Carlin Glynn as Lady Bird Johnson, and William Devane as Jack Bouvier. As for the rest of the cast, I feel they were not wise choices for the roles they played. Stephen Collins is nothing like Jack Kennedy. He cannot even hold the accent through one scene. Historical accuracy is NOT one of this film's strong points. Some of the wardrobe is not accurate, i.e. Ethel Kennedy's dress at Good Samaritan Hospital, Jackie's hair styles, and the interiors of the White House are not correct in any way. But this shouldn't distract you if you are not a purist. This film will be entertaining to anyone interested in Jackie Kennedy Onassis, because it tells her story in a non-biased, honest fashion.