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Bobby is a Golden Globe Award-nominated historical drama film written and directed by Emilio Estevez. The film features an ensemble cast and is a fictional account of the lives of several people present during the final hours in the life of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy, candidate for President of the United States, on June 5, 1968.
Bobby was released in New York and Los Angeles on November 17, 2006; wide release followed on November 23, one day after the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of Robert's brother. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where it received a seven-minute-long standing ovation. It received mixed reviews from critics, but nevertheless was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Picture.
The speech at the end of the film is as relevant and poignant today as it was back then and brought an emotional lump to our throats.
Bobby is a fictional account of events at the Ambassador Hotel on the day Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated. The film recreates the ambience and themes of 1968 and invokes the hopes killed with Kennedy, by portraying this day-in-the-life of 24 fictional characters. It uses the ensemble plot device of the 1932 film Grand Hotel to tell the story (a film that is referenced in dialogue).
Anthony Hopkins stars as the retired but ever-present doorman at The Ambassador Hotel. Harry Belafonte plays his retired friend, with whom he engages in games of chess.
Lindsay Lohan and Elijah Wood appear as a couple opposed to the Vietnam War who get married so Wood's character can avoid being sent to Vietnam and possible combat duty.
Emilio Estevez (who also wrote and directed the film) and Demi Moore play married entertainers on the downside of their careers.
Sharon Stone plays a beautician married to the hotel's manager (William H. Macy), who clashes with his food and beverage manager (Christian Slater), who oversees a chef (Laurence Fishburne) and busboys (Freddy Rodriguez and Jacob Vargas). Other hotel staff portrayed are two phone switchboard operators, (Heather Graham and Joy Bryant).
Helen Hunt and Martin Sheen (Estevez's father in real life) portray married socialites and Kennedy campaign donors staying at the hotel.
Joshua Jackson (Emilio Estevez's co-star in the The Mighty Ducks trilogy), Nick Cannon, Brian Geraghty, and Shia LaBeouf play Kennedy staffers and volunteers; the latter two vie for the affection of a waitress played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead and are willingly distracted by a drug dealer (Ashton Kutcher). A Czechoslovakian reporter (Svetlana Metkina) finally gets the campaign staff to grant her an interview with Kennedy, but he dies before she can interview him.
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