Upon theatrical release, it polarized critics. "The New York Times" ran an article by Bernard Weinraub entitled, "Hollywood Wonders If Warner Brothers let "JFK" Go Too Far." The article called for intervention by the studio: "At what point does a studio exercise its leverage and blunt the highly charged message of a film maker like Oliver Stone?" The newspaper also ran a review of the film by Vincent Canby who wrote, "Mr. Stone's hyperbolic style of film making is familiar: lots of short, often hysterical scenes tumbling one after another, backed by a soundtrack that is layered, strudel-like, with noises, dialogue, music, more noises, more dialogue." Pat Dowell, film critic for "The Washingtonian", had her 34-word capsule review for the January issue rejected by her editor John Limpert on the grounds that he did not want a positive review for a film he felt was "preposterous" associated with the magazine. Dowell resigned in protest.