This film was directed by one of the worst film directors of the 1960s, Larry Buchanan. Up until he made "The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald", he'd made a few porno films and following this film he made a small name for himself as a crap film maker--with such dreck as "Mars Needs Women", "Zontar The Thing From Venus" and "Curse of the Swamp Creature". In fact, his bad films are the reason I actually decided to watch this DVD. After all, the dozen or so of his films I have seen were hilarious--unintentionally so!. This is because they were so horribly made that they simply have to be seen to believed--and they'll induce laughs in the process! "The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald" is not a terrible film...and this really surprised me. Now I am NOT saying it is good--there is a lot that is pretty poor. But, the overall idea is pretty good and I loved the printed text at the beginning of the movie--it served to set a great mood.
The movie purports of be what WOULD have happened if Lee Harvey Oswald had actually made it to trial. I am sure that when the film debuted the grieving public was no-doubt offended by its exploitational nature, but the idea was pretty clever. The only problem, however, is that the film is incredibly dull for several reasons. First, the perspective of much of the film is as if the audience is in the jury box. This makes the film feel very confined and static. Second, none of the actors are recognizable actors and mostly seem to be inexperienced--and their delivery often betrays this. This is NOT a film created by thespians!! Third, because it comes off like a court trial, it's pretty unexciting--because real court cases are pretty dull stuff. Fourth, there aren't too many surprises or interesting stuff. Conspiracy nuts and everyone else just won't find enough to keep them awake! Despite all the serious problems, the film at least has some merits and is an occasionally interesting curio. But, sadly, because there are so few interesting moments and it doesn't totally suck like the rest of Buchanan's films, it's certainly NOT a must-see.
