Based on the nonfiction book of Vincent Bugliosi, Four Days in November: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy (2007), the film Parkland (the name of the hospital that received dying bodies of both John F. Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald) does not try to respond to the speculative JFK (1991), directed by Oliver Stone, but rather to identify unsung heroes and unexpected villains. The heroes include emergency room physician Dr. Charles Caricco (played by Zac Efron), who tried valiantly to save their lives; photographer-journalist Abraham Zabruder (Paul Giamatti), the only one to film JFK’s assassination; and Oswald’s persevering brother Robert (James Badge Dale). Beyond Lee Harvey Oswald, the villains include his crazed mother Marguerite (Jacki Weaver); secret service agent James Hosty (John Livingston), who could have arrested the assassin weeks before and then was ordered to burn his file; and the paparazzi. But two facts, perhaps forgotten over the years, are fully documented amid the panic that pervades most of the film: Scurrilous one-page notices accusing President Kennedy of treason did not result in heightened security to protect him, and the Dallas Police likewise did not protect Lee Harvey Oswald. The fact that federal officials removed Kennedy’s dead body from Dallas, where the crime was committed, despite protests of Dallas medical examiner Dr. Earl Rose (Rory Cochrane), may not be as well known. The later life of the heroes and villains is revealed in titles at the end of the film, which was directed by Peter Landesman. MH