Bobby
- Release Date
- September 5, 2006
- Director
- Emilio Estevez
- Cast
- Harry Belafonte , Joy Bryant , Nick Cannon , Emilio Estevez , Laurence Fishburne , Brian Geraghty
- Runtime
- 111
- Main Genre
- Drama
- Writers
- Emilio Estevez
- Tagline
- He saw wrong and tried to right it. He saw suffering and tried to heal it. He saw war and tried to stop it.
- Website
- http://www.Bobby-The-Movie.com
Summary
"What I think is quite clear is that we can work together in the last analysis. And that what has been going on with the United States over the period of the last 3 years- the divisions, the violence, the disenchantment with our society . . . whether it's between blacks and whites, between the poor and the more affluent, or between age groups or over the war in Vietnam -- that we can start to work together again. We are a great country, an unselfish country and a compassionate country. And I intend to make that my basis for running . . ." -- Robert F. Kennedy's final speech, June 5, 1968 "Bobby" re-imagines one of the most explosively tragic nights in American history. By following the stories of 22 fictional characters in the Ambassador Hotel on the fateful eve that Presidential hopeful Senator Robert F. Kennedy was shot, writer/director Emilio Estevez and an accomplished ensemble cast forge an intimate mosaic of an America careening towards a moment of shattering change - as different characters navigate prejudice, injustice, chaos and their own complicated personal lives, while seeking the last glimmering signs of hope in Kennedy's idealism. In exploring the diverse experiences of ordinary people, the film celebrates the spirit of an extraordinary man and servers as a snapshot of this emblematic time in history. Deftly combining fact, fiction and fate, the interwoven human stories of "Bobby" unfold on June 4th, 1968. The film begins its imaginative and stirring re-creation of that catalytic day just a few hours before Kennedy's assassination, as party-goers, performers, hotel employees and campaigners all descend on the hotel in preparation for the big night. They include the Ambassador's retired doorman (ANTHONY HOPKINS) who can't seem to leave his old haunt behind and plays chess in the grand lobby with fellow retiree Nelson (HARRY BELAFONTE); the hotel's current manager, Paul Ebbers (WILLIAM H. MACY), a kindhearted but flawed businessman whose wife Miriam (SHARON STONE) is the hotel's hairdresser; the stifled hotel switchboard operator Angela (HEATHER GRAHAM) who hopes her affair with Ebbers will lead to a promotion, to the dismay of her co-worker Patricia (JOY BRYANT); the hotel's kitchen workers, including the bigoted boss Timmons (CHRISTIAN SLATER), learned sous chef Edward Robinson (LAURENCE FISHBURNE); Latino workers Jose (FREDDY RODRIGUEZ), who would rather be watching the night's pivotal Dodgers baseball game, and Miguel (JACOB VARGAS); and the coffee shop waitress Susan (MARY ELIZABETH WINSTEAD), newly arrived from Ohio and hoping to become a big star. Meanwhile, the hotel's many guests include the alcoholic singer Virginia Fallon (DEMI MOORE), who is scheduled to introduce the Senator at his California Primary party, and her frustrated husband Tim (EMILIO ESTEVEZ); a young bride-to-be (LINDSAY LOHAN) who is about to marry a young man (ELIJAH WOOD) to save him from going to Vietnam; and a depressed East Coast socialite (MARTIN SHEEN) and his younger wife (HELEN HUNT) who are in California on a strained second honeymoon. Also gathered in the Ambassador are Kennedy campaign followers including devoted young aides Wade and Dwayne (JOSHUA JACKSON and NICK CANNON); persistent Czech journalist Lenka (SVETLANA METKINA); and novice volunteers Jimmy and Cooper (BRIAN GERAGHTY and SHIA LEBEOUF) whose day of campaigning is radically changed when they run into a drug dealer (ASHTON KUTCHER) who initiates them into the infamous acid trip experience. As the day progresses, each of these characters will encounter their own battles between the sexes, between races, between social classes, between personal despair and public hope as they all converge on the ballroom for Kennedy's speech, never to be the same again. The Weinstein Company and Bold Films presents "Bobby," a Michel Litvak production of a film written and directed by Emilio Estevez ("The War At Home"). The executive producers are Gary Michael Walters, Dan Grodnik, and Anthony Hopkins. The film's producers are Edward Bass, Michel Litvak, and Holly Wiersma. The co-producers are Lisa Niedenthal, Athena Ashburn and David Lancaster. The film stars Harry Belafonte, Joy Bryant, Nick Cannon, Emilio Estevez, Laurence Fishburne, Brian Geraghty, Heather Graham, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Joshua Jackson, David Krumholtz, Ashton Kutcher, Shia LaBeouf, Lindsay Lohan, William H. Macy, Svetlana Metkina, Demi Moore, Freddy Rodriguez, Martin Sheen, Christian Slater, Sharon Stone, Jacob Vargas, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Elijah Wood. Creating the world of the 1960s-era Ambassador Hotel is a behind the scenes team that includes director of photography Michael Barrett ("Goal!," "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang") production designer Patti Podesta ("Memento," "Annapolis"), Academy Award®-nominated costume designer Julie Weiss ("Frida," "American Beauty") and Academy Award®-winning editor Richard Chew ("Star Wars," "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"). The day Bobby Kennedy won the California Primary on his way to likely becoming the next President of the United States is one that still haunts America. It was a time not unlike our own - a time of war and fierce divisions - and in an America tearing at the seams, Kennedy was the sole candidate who seemed able to unite people of differing races, classes and beliefs. Having lost his own brother to unthinkable bloodshed, he had publicly transformed into an impassioned, yet pragmatic, advocate for creating a new American future - one that would look beyond rhetoric for credible ideas to end poverty, racism, injustice and, most of all, the growing epidemic of violence. A champion of the underdog, and a man compared to such magical cultural avatars as Dylan and the Beatles, Kennedy was a politician who crossed into territory never entered by a politician before or since. But Bobby's vision for what might have been possible never got the chance to be explored. Instead, he was gunned down, along with five others, shortly after midnight in the kitchen of the Ambassador, moments after giving his moving victory speech, only to collapse in the arms of a Mexican busboy. Shot in the head at close range, Kennedy would die at age 42 a day later. The other five victims survived. Despite all the shocks that had come before - the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King (who was killed just 2 months before Bobby), the agonizing violence of the Vietnam War and the protests at home - Bobby Kennedy's death felt to millions of Americans like the ultimate knockout blow to American idealism. It left many wondering, and still waiting, for a time when that kind of hope and belief in a better America might return.
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