If you could libel the dead, JFK would have bankrupted Stone; even if everything he said about Clay Shaw was true, he would have run up big legal fees defending himself…
Shaw’s perspectives about how his life had been destroyed are both poignant and cautionary—insight into how the sloppy and ideological pursuit of justice can cause more harm than good. (…)
Carpenter explores Shaw’s gay orientation with finesse and sensitivity, eliciting from his former associates a rarely seen side of Shaw. Unlike the portrayal by Tommy Lee Jones in Stone’s JFK, the real Shaw was discreetly “in the closet,” revealing his personal tastes to only a select few. Garrison knew this, and the thread of homosexuality runs throughout his case.