Ruby and Oswald

{{Short description|1978 television film directed by Mel Stuart}}

{{Infobox television

| image = A_-_Ruby_and_Oswald_-_VHS.jpg

| image_size =

| image_alt =

| caption =

| genre = Drama
History

| based_on =

| writer = John McGreevey
Michael McGreevey

| screenplay =

| story =

| director = Mel Stuart

| starring = Michael Lerner
Frederic Forrest

| music =

| country = United States

| language = English

| executive_producer = Alan Landsburg
Howard Lipstone

| producer = Paul Freeman

| location = Dallas

| cinematography = Matthew F. Leonetti

| editor = Corky Ehlers
George Hively

| camera =

| runtime = 180 minutes

| company = Alan Landsburg Productions

| budget =

| network = CBS

| released = {{Start date|1978|02|08}}

}}

Ruby and Oswald is a 1978 American television movie about the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy. It stars Michael Lerner and Frederic Forrest.{{cite web|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/128637/Ruby-and-Oswald/overview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526044023/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/128637/Ruby-and-Oswald/overview|url-status=dead|archive-date=2008-05-26|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|author=Hal Erickson|author-link=Hal Erickson (author)|date=2008|title=Ruby and Oswald}}

Overview

Jack Ruby (Michael Lerner) is a warm-hearted but hot-tempered and patriotic nightclub owner, who loves President Kennedy. Lee Harvey Oswald (Frederic Forrest), a troubled loner with a speckled past is looking to merely acquire fame. On November 22, Oswald kills the president. On the 24th, Ruby kills Oswald, being motivated exclusively by his love for the president.

Cast

Michael Lerner as Jack Ruby
Frederic Forrest as Lee Harvey Oswald
Lou Frizzell as Captain J. Will Fritz
Doris Roberts as Eva
Lanna Saunders as Marina Oswald
Bruce French as Robert Oswald
Sandy McPeak as Henry Wade
Sandy Ward as Jesse Curry
Brian Dennehy as George Paulsen
Michael Pataki as Ike Pappas
Richard Sanders as Agent Kelley
Gordon Jump as Clyde Gaydosh
Gwynne Gilford as Little Lyn
Hillel Silverman as Himself
Jim Leavelle as Himself

Reviews

Journalist Jeremiah O'Leary witnessed Ruby's shooting of Oswald in the basement of Dallas Police headquarters on November 24, 1963.{{cite news |last=O'Leary |first=Jeremiah |authorlink=Jeremiah O'Leary |date=February 8, 1978 |title='Ruby and Oswald'; Those Single Blinding Moments Become A Banal Exercise |url=http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/CBS-TV%20News%20Special%20Ruby%20&%20Oswald/Item%2009.pdf |work=The Washington Times |location=Washington, D.C. |at=Section C|access-date=August 30, 2017}}

In a review for The Washington Times, O'Leary wrote: "The actors and the director succeeded only in making a bore of a weekend that was as exciting as it was horrible."