Autopsy of 'Parkland,' the JFK Movie That Was DOA

A drama about November 22 that evades the story

Last month, in an empty movie theater in Washington, DC, I saw "Parkland," the Tom Hanks-Peter Landesmann film about the assassination of President Kennedy. I was so underwhelmed I didn't know what to say.

The fact that the movie tanked at the box office and puzzled critics indicated its presentation of JFK's murder as a fairly ordinary homicide in Texas…