My summary line would have been "I forgot to duck" by the President to his wife at the hospital, but his opening remark to a joint session of Congress upon his return seemed more appropriate. The man had a great sense of humor, as evidenced also by the way he summed up his Alzheimer's diagnosis. That wasn't in the film, but reportedly he stated that 'he'll get to meet new people every day'.
For students of history, and even for those who aren't, this presentation of "Killing Reagan" was as best as I can tell, a faithful rendering of the events before, during and after the failed assassination attempt by the troubled John Hinckley Jr. (Kyle S. More). Some viewers will undoubtedly be confused by the opening of the story when it appears that Hinckley was stalking President Jimmy Carter. That scene reinforces the idea that Hinckley was not acting out a politically or ideologically motivated assassination attempt, and as the story goes on to reveal, he was fully obsessed with the idea of impressing actress Jodie Foster to notice and acknowledge him as a worthy suitor.
The one fact to come out of this documentary-like program that I must have missed during the news coverage at the time was the information about the bullet that injured the President. It actually ricocheted off the Presidential limousine that he was about to enter for his next stop. I'm puzzled about that now and wonder how I missed that information at the time. The other notable item about this presentation was the way it humanized the First Lady. Accounts of the era depicted Nancy Reagan as almost a Svengali type of character who shielded her husband from bad news and detractors within his circle. The business about her reliance on astrology is given appropriate consideration without making her seem extreme in her beliefs.
Over all, I thought this was a well done treatment of the Reagan/Hinckley story, based on the Bill O'Reilly book as part of his 'Killing' series. There were critics of the book who thought O'Reilly didn't play fair with Reagan's Alzheimer period, but that didn't seem to come into play here. For anyone who wasn't around or wasn't paying attention in 1981, this is about the best one can hope for in describing the events as they occurred. Without actually being there, one gets a pretty good bird's eye look at the behind the scenes care given President Reagan and the way his Cabinet responded to what could have been another black day in the history of the country.
For students of history, and even for those who aren't, this presentation of "Killing Reagan" was as best as I can tell, a faithful rendering of the events before, during and after the failed assassination attempt by the troubled John Hinckley Jr. (Kyle S. More). Some viewers will undoubtedly be confused by the opening of the story when it appears that Hinckley was stalking President Jimmy Carter. That scene reinforces the idea that Hinckley was not acting out a politically or ideologically motivated assassination attempt, and as the story goes on to reveal, he was fully obsessed with the idea of impressing actress Jodie Foster to notice and acknowledge him as a worthy suitor.
The one fact to come out of this documentary-like program that I must have missed during the news coverage at the time was the information about the bullet that injured the President. It actually ricocheted off the Presidential limousine that he was about to enter for his next stop. I'm puzzled about that now and wonder how I missed that information at the time. The other notable item about this presentation was the way it humanized the First Lady. Accounts of the era depicted Nancy Reagan as almost a Svengali type of character who shielded her husband from bad news and detractors within his circle. The business about her reliance on astrology is given appropriate consideration without making her seem extreme in her beliefs.
Over all, I thought this was a well done treatment of the Reagan/Hinckley story, based on the Bill O'Reilly book as part of his 'Killing' series. There were critics of the book who thought O'Reilly didn't play fair with Reagan's Alzheimer period, but that didn't seem to come into play here. For anyone who wasn't around or wasn't paying attention in 1981, this is about the best one can hope for in describing the events as they occurred. Without actually being there, one gets a pretty good bird's eye look at the behind the scenes care given President Reagan and the way his Cabinet responded to what could have been another black day in the history of the country.