Stone has always been an insistent and somewhat simplistic provocateur. Always. Even as a writer. Just count the (then) record number of “f-words” in the “Scarface” script. Or that boundary pushing chainsaw torture sequence that had the MPAA ready to give it a X. Oliver Stone has always transacted in shock and outrage to gain attention for himself.

Back in the day, before the internet allowed every common joe to shock and troll an audience, a handful of celebrities broke with tradition and decided that stirring up outrage was a fast track to gaining press and attention. Madonna and Spike Lee were certainly guilty of this. The problem with building a brand on shock and outrage is that you have to keep topping yourself. It’s a house of cards. If you can’t find an off-ramp to staid, establishment credibility, eventually you are just going to embarrass yourself out of business. No one likes a gray haired bad boy.

After the winning streak of “Platoon”, “Wall Street”, “Born on the Fourth of July”, “The Doors” and “JFK”, Stone had the opportunity to let go of the childish, schlocky-er aspects of his brand and go full respectable. With “JFK”, Stone had finally demonstrated a virtuoso command of the technical aspects of filmmaking. Now he just needed to take it down a notch and apply some restraint to the right project. But after the disastrous performance of “Heaven and Earth”, he retreated back to his attention crutch of shock and schlock with “Natural Born Killers” and sealed his fate. He’s been scrambling for notoriety ever since.

And THAT is the film he should be blaming for his stunted credibility and middling-to-poor brand traction. Not “JFK”.