Killing Kennedy

It's 1959. John F. Kennedy is a young, ambitious senator getting ready to make his run for the White House. Lee Harvey Oswald, a former Marine increasingly disillusioned with his country, moves to the Soviet Union, where he meets Marina, the woman he'll eventually bring back to the United States.

From there 'Killing Kennedy' cuts between the two lives over the next four years: a president dealing with crises at home and abroad alongside Jackie and his brother Bobby, and a resentful man drifting from job to job, until their paths meet in Dallas on 22 November 1963. There's no time for conspiracy theories here. The film sticks to the known facts and weaves in news footage from the period.

Based on the book by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard, it was made for National Geographic Channel to mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination. Rob Lowe, Sam Seaborn in 'The West Wing', plays Kennedy and Will Rothhaar is Oswald, with Ginnifer Goodwin as Jackie, Michelle Trachtenberg as Marina and Jack Noseworthy as Bobby. Nelson McCormick directed from a script by Kelly Masterson, and Ridley Scott was among the executive producers.

Its US premiere on 10 November 2013 drew 3.4 million viewers, a record for the channel, and Channel 4 showed it in the UK on 23 November. It was nominated for the Emmy for Outstanding Television Movie and earned Lowe a SAG nomination, while the critics were split: its average across the 14 outlets collected on Movienco is 5.4 out of 10.

• Biography
• Drama
• History