Fred Litwin
- Aug 6
- 3 min read

Garrison's "total contempt for American justice"

Baton Rouge Advocate, March 4, 1992

Money Quote 1:

Garrison himself was not without mental delusions. One of his postulates, which goes unmentioned in "He Must Have Something," was that other JFK assassins hid in the storm drains of Elm Street and shot the president from below the asphalt. These sewers were only three feet high, which would have required the CIA to recruit midget hit men to carry off the job.

I've written about the ridiculous sewer shot here, here, here, and here.

Money Quote 2:

Stone, like Garrison, is a man prone to brainstorming in public -- throwing out one idea after another, hoping that if he says everything, he will eventually say something. What results is stuff like "JFK," a film that leans heavily on "Elvis-is-still-alive" mythology.

The antidote to Stone, the non-thinking man's thinking man, is "He Must Have Something." As it turns out, the something that Jim Garrison had was a total contempt for American justice.

The TV editor of the Sunday Advocate also wrote about Tyler's documentary:

Baton Rouge Sunday Advocate, March 1, 1992

Money Quote:

"Nowhere in my research or interviews did anyone come remotely close to describing Clay Shaw as a menacing fop, as portrayed in JFK," he [Stephen Tyler] said. "But thanks to the movie, most of the nation, if not most of the world, view Clay Shaw as a man who walked around with a cigarette in a cigarette holder and played cat-and-mouse with Jim Garrison ... Maybe this will serve as a reminder to people that the man was acquitted, and how unconscionable it is that Stone continues to portray him as the bad guy."

If the facts are examined with any kind of objectivity, he said, a person can't help but "feel sympathy for Clay Shaw. That's my own personal feeling and I think that's what comes out in my show."

Relevant Link:

When Tommy Lee Jones met Jim Garrison...

Garrison instructed Tommy Lee Jones on how to play Clay Shaw.

Here is Stephen Tyler's terrific documentary, He Must Have Something: