Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14003 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-06-04
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 112 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Reviews
In the final quarter or so of Bobby, writer-director-actor Emilio Estevez finally starts tightening his grip on the viewer as we head inexorably toward the film's climax: the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in a Los Angeles hotel kitchen. In the course of these scenes--among them Kennedy's acceptance speech after winning the California Democratic presidential primary (the senator is seen only in file footage), his death at the hands of gunman Sirhan Sirhan, and the chaos and despair that ensued--Estevez steadily ratchets up the sense of tension and dread. Knowing exactly what's coming, while the characters onscreen don't, is excruciating, as is our grief at hearing RFK's own words, so eloquent, so hopeful and inspiring, as we watch the horrible events unfold and wonder what might have been (sure it's manipulative--but it works). But the rest of Bobby isn't nearly as compelling. Nor is it really about Kennedy, despite its obvious adulation of the man whom many thought would defeat Richard Nixon in the '68 general election. In the tradition of, say, an Irwin Allen disaster flick, we're invited into the lives of nearly two dozen folks, most of them at least partly fictional, who were at the Ambassador Hotel that June day, including guests, staff (kitchen workers, switchboard operators, management, etc.), campaign workers, reporters, and more.

There are lots of movie stars in the cast, and some of them (Sharon Stone, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy) are very good. But caring about the quotidian minutiae of these people's existences is a chore, and Estevez crams so many issues into his story (the Vietnam war, drugs, alcoholism, voting irregularities, adultery, racism, immigration, communism... even L.A. Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale's streak of consecutive shutouts) and tries so obviously to establish parallels between then and now that too much of the movie feels gratuitous and forced. A warts-and-all film about Robert Kennedy's extraordinary life and career would be welcome. Unfortunately Bobby isn't it. --Sam Graham

Synopsis
An ambitious labour of love from writer/director/actor Emilio Estevez, BOBBY depicts the hope, anger, and frustration that gripped the U.S. in the late 1960s. With the civil rights movement still reeling from the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the country stuck in a quagmire over Vietnam, Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s campaign preached a message of peace and tolerance. Ironically, that message would be his undoing, when on June 5th, 1969, a day after winning the California primaries, he was gunned down by a Palestinian terrorist. The film’s Ambassador Hotel setting serves as a microcosm of class and race, with characters ricocheting off each other like charged particles, until the inevitably violent denouement. In the hotel’s kitchen, the mostly Mexican staff suffer abuse at the hands of their bigoted manager Timmons (Christian Slater). This doesn’t go unnoticed by hotelier Paul Ebbers (William H. Macy), who scolds Timmons for his racist behaviour. But Ebbers’ own conduct is not without reproach; he’s having an affair with a switchboard operator (Heather Graham) behind the back of his beautician wife (Sharon Stone). Elsewhere, young Diane (Lindsay Lohan) prepares to marry her classmate, William (Elijah Wood), in order to save him from going to Vietnam, and two collegiate campaigners for Senator Kennedy remove their ties to take their first LSD trip, courtesy of a resident hippie drug dealer (Ashton Kutcher). As with the sprawling works of Robert Altman and Paul Thomas Anderson, the sheer volume of characters--and celebrities portraying them--is often overwhelming, though Estevez succeeds in making each plot strand relevant to the story, if only to contextualise. While BOBBY is not a biopic per se, and will in no way be mistaken for a definitive statement on the man’s life and times, it is thoroughly adept at distilling both his message and the period of history in which he fought to deliver it.

Customer Reviews

A time of shame and sorrow
Robert F. Kennedy was adored by the masses when he won the primary for the Democratic party, on his way to becoming the president. Then, like his presidential brother, he was gunned down in public. (That was WAY before I was born, so much of what I know comes from books)

Emilio Estevez doesn't exactly focus on that in "Bobby." Instead, he creates an elaborate "Grand Hotel"-style plot, focusing on the people who surrounded Kennedy on the last day of his life. The movie is a little scattered throughout the first parts, but Estevez yanks it together in time for the inevitable, tragic denouement.

The entire movie takes place on one day: June 4, 1968. The place: Los Angeles' Ambassador Hotel. And there's as much drama out of the campaign as in it: For example, the manager (William H. Macy) is cheating on his smart beautician wife (Sharon Stone) with the switchboard girl (Heather Graham), but takes some time out to fire a racist supervisor (Christian Slater) because the guy won't let the black and Latin employees vote.

The doorman (Anthony Hopkins) and his pal (Harry Belafonte) play chess and talk. A lounge singer (Demi Moore) is struggling with alcoholism, a young girl (Lindsay Lohan) is marrying a guy she doesn't love (Elijah Wood) to keep him from going to Vietnam, and campaign workers drop acid. Their stories are only loosely intwertwined -- until Sirhan Sirhan arrives.

Estevez has created a movie that Tries To Have It All. It tackles racism, war, love, voting, women's rights, and the adored icons of an era. It also stars just about every kind of actor: veterans, Bratpackers, ex-sexpots, MTV stars, party girls and accomplished young actors.

In fact, "Bobby" spills over with plot and characters, and for the first two thirds, it seems that there is almost too much of EVERYTHING. But Estevez captures the you-are-there ambience, with crisp suits and longer dresses, neat hair, period music and the occasional baseball reference. For a day, you ARE in Los Angeles in 1968.

And he has a knack for creating a sense of foreboding and sadness, which hangs independently of the characters. Yet in some scenes where Kennedy is supposed to be speaking, the shining eagerness that you see in the audience's faces is enough to bowl you over. It captures the hope that was present during that era, and afterwards died quickly, as hope usually does.

The enormous cast makes it hard to single out one, but there are several good ones: Laurence Fishborne and Freddy Rodriguez as cooks who discuss the racism they struggle with, Macy as the manager who struggles to regain his lost youth by an affair, Stone as his faded beauty of a wife, and Wood's bittersweet, ironic portrayal of the young groom.

Kennedy himself is a nebulous figure -- most of what we see are archival clips, which show the young candidate's charisma and power. Although "Bobby's" take on him is rather naive, it does leave you wondering how he might have changed the US, had he lived.

"Bobby" is high on ambition, and Estevez manages to create a truly poignant, thought-provoking film. It has its flaws, but it also captures a shocking moment in American history.

Bobby
This is an incredible film. I wasn't quite prepared for it to be as good as it was. I was expecting a biopic about Bobby Kennedy and instead I got a poignant, moving and powerful film about life in the ambassador hotel before he got shot. It looks at the lives of campaign volunteers, various hotel staff and customers, amongst others, as they go about their lives in the run up to Bobby's death. This film is inter-cut with real footage of Bobby and his speeches which really adds to to the overall effect of the film. The breadth and sheer quality of the cast is unbeatable. They all put in amazing performances, with Laurence Fishburne bringing particular gravitas to his role, but it is truly unfair to highlight any one actor as they are all outstanding. I was genuinely moved at the end and felt extremely choked up. I think it may help if you know a bit about the period and the Kennedy's to fully appreciate the film, but saying that, it shouldn't diminish your enjoyment if you don't. I haven't enjoyed a film as much as this in a long time and highly recommend it. Simply superb.

Tribute to RFK
Stellar cast...Perhaps the only time you will see so many stars in one movie;
The screenplay is a bit similar (a bit...) to Love Actually which was also a multistarrer.Several stories that intertwine at the end (albeit less than Love Actually).Here the common factor is the imminent presence of Bobby 'RFK' Kennedy culminating in his unfortunate death. This is a very gripping film and sometimes you tend to forget that it is about RFK's last hours such is the vast characterization.

Standouts include Sharon Stone (who has a a chance at a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination if the Academy can overlook Basic Instinct 2), Nick Cannon as a young Black-American working on the campaign, and Freddy Rodriguez as a young Latino working in the kitchen. The later two, combined with Lindsey Lohan as a woman marrying to save a man's life, serve as the heart of the movie and bring a well-balanced view of many of the hot issues of the day.

The movie has an incredible, emotional climax that is enhanced by an actual speech of Bobby Kennedy. The audio and visual clips of Kennedy serve as snapshots into his life and the work he did during his short time in the public eye. You can read whatever you want to into the political agenda of the movie, but in the end this movie is a tribute to Robert F. Kennedy and his time.