Character Relationship Map: JFK

Characters

• Jim Garrison (played by Kevin Costner) — protagonist

  Jim Garrison is the New Orleans District Attorney who leads the renewed investigation into the Kennedy assassination after finding flaws in the Warren Report. He questions witnesses, links Clay Shaw t...

• Clay Shaw (played by Tommy Lee Jones) — protagonist

  Clay Shaw is a New Orleans businessman whom Jim Garrison identifies as the man known as “Clay Bertrand.” Garrison accuses him of conspiring to murder Kennedy after connecting him to claims involving D...

• Lee Harvey Oswald (played by Gary Oldman) — supporting

  Lee Harvey Oswald is an ex-Marine and suspected Soviet defector who is arrested for the murder of police officer J. D. Tippit and charged in connection with both deaths. The investigation later theori...

• Willie O'Keefe (played by Kevin Bacon) — supporting

  Willie O'Keefe is a male prostitute serving a five-year prison sentence for solicitation who becomes an important witness for Jim Garrison's investigation. He says he saw David Ferrie discussing Kenne...

• Bill Broussard (played by Michael Rooker) — supporting

  Bill Broussard is a member of Jim Garrison's investigative staff who initially works on the Kennedy case but later becomes doubtful of Garrison's motives and methods. He leaves the investigation, and...

• Jack Ruby (played by Brian Doyle-Murray) — minor
• David Ferrie (played by Joe Pesci) — supporting

  David Ferrie is a private pilot and activist whose possible New Orleans connections to Lee Harvey Oswald draw Jim Garrison's attention. Witness Willie O'Keefe links Ferrie to discussions about killing...

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Jim Garrison → Bill Broussard (Professional Supervisor And Staff Member) — Broussard's position within Garrison's team becomes a source of institutional tension.

  Broussard is identified as one of Garrison's staff members and later leaves or undermines the investigation after doubts arise.

• Jim Garrison → David Ferrie (Professional Investigator And Witness) — Ferrie becomes a major investigative lead and source of alleged insider information.

  Garrison and his team investigate Ferrie, and Ferrie later tells Garrison that there was a conspiracy to kill Kennedy.

• Jim Garrison → Willie O'Keefe (Professional Investigator And Witness) — O'Keefe supplies testimony supporting Garrison's investigation.

  Garrison's team interrogates Willie O'Keefe, who describes Ferrie's conversation about assassinating Kennedy and his brief meeting with Oswald.

• Jim Garrison → Clay Shaw (Professional Prosecutor And Defendant) — Garrison prosecutes Shaw in the central legal confrontation of the film.

  Garrison comes to believe that Clay Shaw is the man called Clay Bertrand and indicts Shaw for conspiring to murder Kennedy.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Jack Ruby → Jim Garrison (Narrative Investigative Lead) — Ruby is an important unresolved figure in Garrison's reconstruction.

  Ruby's killing of Oswald and his later suspicious death are included among the circumstances Garrison investigates.

• David Ferrie → Lee Harvey Oswald (Unknown Alleged Associate) — The investigation treats Ferrie and Oswald as connected through a disputed network.

  O'Keefe's account places Ferrie in an alleged assassination discussion, and Garrison's team investigates people involved with both Ferrie and Oswald.

• Clay Shaw → Lee Harvey Oswald (Unknown Alleged Associate) — The alleged Shaw-Oswald connection is part of the prosecution's disputed theory.

  Shaw denies ever meeting Oswald, but Garrison's theory places Shaw within the network alleged to have framed Oswald.

• Clay Shaw → Willie O'Keefe (Unknown Alleged Connection) — O'Keefe's testimony is used to connect Shaw to the alleged conspiracy.

  Garrison believes Shaw is Clay Bertrand, the man O'Keefe identifies in Ferrie's assassination conversation, while Shaw denies meeting O'Keefe.

• Clay Shaw → David Ferrie (Unknown Alleged Associate) — Their alleged connection remains contested at the center of the prosecution.

  Garrison suspects that Shaw is Clay Bertrand, the man O'Keefe says was discussed with Ferrie, while Shaw denies ever meeting Ferrie.

• Willie O'Keefe → Lee Harvey Oswald (Social Brief Acquaintance) — Their limited encounter gives O'Keefe a personal connection to the investigation.

  O'Keefe says that he briefly met Oswald.

• Willie O'Keefe → David Ferrie (Narrative Witness And Subject) — O'Keefe's testimony directly places Ferrie within an alleged assassination discussion.

  O'Keefe says he witnessed Ferrie talking with a man called Clay Bertrand about assassinating Kennedy.

• Jack Ruby → Lee Harvey Oswald (Conflict Killer And Victim) — Ruby's killing of Oswald removes the principal accused assassin from public proceedings.

  Oswald is killed by nightclub owner Jack Ruby after being arrested and arraigned for the two murders.

• Jim Garrison → Lee Harvey Oswald (Narrative Investigative Subject) — Oswald is a central figure in Garrison's reconstruction of the assassination.

  Garrison and his staff interrogate people involved with Oswald and theorize that Oswald was framed for the assassination.

Story Analysis

Jim Garrison's investigation challenges the official assassination narrative while imposing severe personal and professional costs.

Plot Progression

1. A Nation in Suspicion — The film establishes the political background surrounding Kennedy's presidency and assassination. Oswald's arrest and Ruby's killing of him leave the official account surrounded by unanswered question...
2. The Case Reopens — Garrison's first inquiry is closed after federal criticism, but the Warren Report prompts him to reopen the investigation. Witness testimony begins to challenge the single-assassin explanation.
3. Evidence Against Certainty — Accounts of the grassy knoll and tests of the Carcano rifle strengthen Garrison's belief that Oswald could not have acted alone. Shaw becomes the suspected identity behind Clay Bertrand.
4. The Conspiracy Closes In — Witnesses retreat, key figures die under suspicious circumstances, and Ferrie provides a final disclosure. A Washington source expands the theory into an alleged coup involving powerful institutions.
5. The Trial and Its Cost — Garrison indicts Shaw and presents a multiple-shooter theory in court. Shaw is acquitted, but Garrison's persistence restores his family's respect despite the legal defeat.