Lewis Reynolds Posted July 10, 2019 Share Posted July 10, 2019 I've only just heard about the 2003 film starring Martin Sheen, called 'The Commission', which is about the Warren Commission. I've looked all over the net, but cannpt find a copy to watch or buy. Is the film worth watching, and if so has anyone got a copy I could buy? Thank you! Lewis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Varnell Posted July 10, 2019 Share Posted July 10, 2019 Here's a trailer. http://dvp-potpourri.blogspot.com/2010/09/commission-movie-trailer.html A previous thread on this topic: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bulman Posted July 10, 2019 Share Posted July 10, 2019 Lewis, thanks for bringing this up, I don't think I've ever heard about it either. The only thing I could find on it is the IMDb link. Based on the reviews there it would be well worth watching, 11 of the 14 reviews there are 8-10 of 10. It is presented as fact based from the transcripts, letting the viewer conclude what they may. The actors all did this free of charge because the believed it should be done. It was eight years in the making. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310906/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310906/reviews?ref_=tt_urv From the 2006 Michael Hogan link above it seems there was a premier in 2003 (?) but it never made it into theaters. Then it was supposed to be out in 2013 for the 50th. Nothing since then, never made it to DVD from what I can tell and that seems a shame. As Joseph McBride is the resident film expert that posts sometimes on this site maybe he could offer further insight if he sees this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James DiEugenio Posted July 10, 2019 Share Posted July 10, 2019 Its really weird what happened to this film. Its supposed to have some names in it like Asner and Sheen. But it never got released anywhere as far as I can tell. general release either. One would think that with the proliferation of platforms now--Hulu, Amazon, Netflix--that somehow they would find a way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Reynolds Posted July 11, 2019 Author Share Posted July 11, 2019 From reading all the post it doesnt sound like this films actually ever been screened or released. The website: http://www.marksobel.com/COMMISSION/menu.htm no longer exists. Anyone got contact details for Mark Sobel? Might be worth emailing him. On a slight tangent, I'm going to a talk and Q&A with Martin and Charlie Sheen end of this month in London, so I could ask Martin about The Commission and also Rush to Judgement II. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawrence Schnapf Posted July 12, 2019 Share Posted July 12, 2019 catch and kill again? Like what happened with the proposed movie "Profile in Silver". anyway, its simply turning Commission transcript into film. nothing new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawrence Schnapf Posted July 12, 2019 Share Posted July 12, 2019 BTW- CAPA may show this at its conference in November Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bulman Posted July 12, 2019 Share Posted July 12, 2019 1 hour ago, Lawrence Schnapf said: catch and kill again? Like what happened with the proposed movie "Profile in Silver". anyway, its simply turning Commission transcript into film. nothing new. Catch and kill was my first thought after searching for info on it. Thought maybe someone bought up all rights to it and deep sixed it. But if it might be coming to Dallas in November, maybe not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Speer Posted July 12, 2019 Share Posted July 12, 2019 I met Mark Sobel at the 2004 Lancer Conference at which The Commission was shown, and had lunch with him in Studio City a couple of times over the next couple of years. His film featured an all-star cast. They acted out the official transcripts. Martin Landau was Warren. Martin Sheen was Rankin. Corbin Bernsen was Ford. Edward Asner was Russell, if I recall. I believe Joe Don Baker was Boggs. In any event, it was well acted, but a little dry. Mark decided to add some color snippets of JFK's body at the autopsy, and asked me to play JFK's body. We shot the sequence at his house. He then decided to put the film on hold while he worked on a documentary on RFK. This film was shown at an RFK conference. It was quite good, IMO. It didn't take a hard-line stance on the conspiracy question, but raised so many questions about the official story that it would have been quite effective...if it ever got shown anywhere. I believe he did get this film shown at some festivals, but couldn't get the widespread distribution deal he was looking for. Last I talked to Mark, roughly 2009, he was still hoping to get a limited release for The Commission, which would be followed up by a DVD release of the film with an extra disc which included a taste of the interviews he'd conducted at the conferences he'd attended. He interviewed me for about an hour. I think he interviewed Larry Hancock as well, along with some of the other Lancer speakers, such as Jim Marrs, and perhaps even some of the witnesses in attendance at the conference, such as James Tague. I hope he's well. This case tends to disrupt people's lives and burn them out. I hope he's not another victim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph McBride Posted July 12, 2019 Share Posted July 12, 2019 An excellent film that disappeared is Barbara Frank's documentary feature on the 1968 Robert Kennedy campaign, THE LAST CAMPAIGN. It played at the Deauville film festival in France but was never otherwise released, as far as I know. I saw it -- it is intimate and quite moving and beautifully filmed. Frank had access to RFK throughout the campaign up and down California. She was changing film in the Ambassador ballroom at the time of the assassination. She and her cameraman then shot part of the aftermath. She smuggled it out in her underwear. I don't know why this important film is missing in action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James DiEugenio Posted July 12, 2019 Share Posted July 12, 2019 (edited) Its really a shame what happens to these films. Lisa Pease saw the Sobel film about the RFK case and said it was pretty good. I never even heard of The Last Campaign. Edited July 12, 2019 by James DiEugenio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Reynolds Posted July 12, 2019 Author Share Posted July 12, 2019 Agreed. Just goes to show how hard it is to get movies out into the public. I think a lot of this is to do with the majority of the public not being interested in films that aren't about super heroes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Hancock Posted July 12, 2019 Share Posted July 12, 2019 Mark did a wonderful job on the film, including its cast. We did preview it in its earliest form at the Lancer 2004 conference and it was most impressive. However funding is key not in just doing a film but in getting it placed and released for commercial use - I know Mark tried that for some time. No doubt it was a frustrating experience and he increasingly turned to RFK. It was during his RFK iwork with William Law that they were gracious enough to interrupt filming interviews on that to get the Wheaton interview on video. Some of the newer members who may not fully appreciate how long this all has been going on but it does wear people down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephanie Goldberg Posted July 13, 2019 Share Posted July 13, 2019 I would love to see either film. And this is spoken as a person who pays money to see/read things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Clark Posted July 13, 2019 Share Posted July 13, 2019 (edited) It’s not about the WC, but it is timely, so I figured I would post it. Rip Torn died the other day. He did a great job, in a great movie: Flashpoint. R.I.P. Rip. From Wkiepedia: “The original score was composed and performed by Tangerine Dream. It was the first theatrical film produced by Home Box Office” Edited July 13, 2019 by Michael Clark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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