The Zapruder
Film was taken by Abraham Zapruder. Zapruder was planning to watch
the Presidential parade on Elm Street in Dealey Plaza when he was reminded
to go get his new silent movie camera, a Model 414 PD Bell & Howell
Zoomatic Director Series Camera. It used color film and he had taken
a few frames with it already. Zapruder and his secretary, climbed up
on a concrete abutment on on the grassy knoll that slopes down to the
street. He had the perfect vantage point to film the president and First
Lady. Somehow Zapruder found the strength to continue to film even when
shoots were fired. He filmed until the president's limousine went under
the railroad bridge and out of sight. The Zapruder film is considered the best recorded evidence
in the assassination of President Kennedy and is studied carefully by historians
and researchers alike. Each frame was numbered during the time of the Warren
Commission. The Zapruder frames used by the Warren Commission were published
in black and white as Commission Exhibit 885 in volume XVIII of the Hearings
and Exhibits.
A full frame, including the sprocket
hole image, of frame 183.
(mouse over for larger view)
There has been much recent discussion
and debate about the authenticity of the Zapruder film of the assassination
of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963. To a large
extent, the non-technical aspects of that discussion revolve around the
questions of when and where any substitution or alteration of the true
camera-original film could have taken place.
This
paper attempts to document the whereabouts of the “camera original”
film (and the three “first-day copies” which were created in Dallas on
the evening of November 22, 1963) in the days immediately following the
assassination. Anyone who embarks on a study like this has endless decisions
to make about whose account to believe, and whose account not to believe.
Such decisions that I had to make are therefore reflected in this paper,
but always within the context of trying to ensure the accuracy of the
chronology .- Chris Scally
OWNERSHIP BY LIFE MAGAZINE
The November 29, 1963 issue of Life
published about 30 frames of the Zapruder film in black and white. Frames
were also published in color in the December 6, 1963 special "John F. Kennedy
Memorial Edition", and in issues dated October 2, 1964 (a special article
on the film and the Warren Commission report), November 25, 1966, and November
24, 1967. The original film was damaged while in Life's care. Copies
were made for the Secret Service before the damage occured.
A SELECTION FROM THE WARREN COMMISSION
TESTIMONY OF ABRAHAM ZAPRUDER
Well,
as the car came in line almost--I believe it was almost in line.
I was standing up here and I was shooting through a telephoto lens,
which is a zoom lens and as it reached about--I imagine it was around
here--I heard the first shot and I saw the President lean over and
grab himself like this (holding his left chest area).
In other words, he was sitting
like this and waving and then after the shot he just went like that.
Leaning--leaning toward the side
of Jacqueline. For a moment I thought it was, you know, like you say, "Oh,
he got me,"
when you hear a shot--you've heard these expressions and then I saw---I
don't believe the President is going to make jokes like this, but before
I had a chance to organize my mind, I heard a second shot and then
I saw his head opened up and the blood and everything came out and
I started--I can hardly talk about it [ the witness crying].
I thought I heard two, it could
be three, because to my estimation I thought he was hit on the second--I
really don't know. The whole thing that has been transpiring--it was
very upsetting and as you see I got a little better all the time and
this came up again and it to me looked like the second shot, but I
don't know. I never even heard a third shot.
I
heard the second--after the first shot--I saw him leaning over and
after the second shot--it's possible after what I saw, you know, then
I started yelling, "They killed him, they killed him," and
I just felt that somebody had ganged up on him and I was still shooting
the pictures until he got under the underpass--I don't even know how
I did it.
And then, I didn't even remember
how I got down from that abutment there, but there I was, I guess,
and I was walking toward--back toward my office and screaming, "They
killed him, they killed him," and the people that I met on the
way didn't even know what happened and they kept yelling, "What
happened, what happened, what happened?" It seemed that they had
heard a shot but they didn't know exactly what had happened as the
car sped away, and I kept on just yelling, "They killed him, they
killed him, they killed him," and finally got to my office and
my secretary--I told her to call the police or the Secret Service--I
don't know what she was doing, and that's about all. I was very much
upset. Naturally, I couldn't imagine such a thing being done. I just
went to my desk and stopped there until the police came and then we
were required to get a place to develop the films. I knew I had something,
I figured it might be of some help--I didn't know what.
The first time the Zapruder film was shown to the public was
in 1975 on the "Good Night America" show hosted by Geraldo
Rivera.
The
Abraham Zapruder film is acknowledged to be the definitive
view of the death of President Kennedy, for it is the only
known movie showing the entire assassination sequence. Experts
still debate over exactly what it does show and what is not
clearly revealed. The film reel begins with family scenes
of Zapruder’s grandchildren (not seen here), then shows his
office assistant, Lillian Rogers, at her desk the morning
of the assassination. After filming two of his coworkers
in Dealey Plaza, Zapruder filmed the approaching motorcade
from a pedestal above and to the right of the parade route.
A U.S. Congressional committee confiscated the original film
from the Zapruder family in 1997; after being compensated
by the U.S. government, the family donated copies of the
film and color transparencies of each frame, as well as the
film’s copyright, to The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
in 1999. (Note: two extremely short pre-assassination scenes,
one in Zapruder’s office and one in Dealey Plaza, are not
included here until film restoration work has been completed.)
The Zapruder Film at The
Sixth Floor Museum The Museum advises
visitors to this page that the Abraham Zapruder
film depicts the graphic assassination of
President John F. Kennedy. The film includes
the fatal shot to the President's head and
is shown in its entirety. Caution is strongly
advised for young children and sensitive
viewers. Researchers
are invited to make an appointment to see
the Museum's Zapruder film copies or individual
frames.
The Original Camera
Just after noon on November 22, 1963, Mr. Abraham Zapruder, a
woman's clothing manufacturer, climbed onto a small concrete pedestal
in Dealey Plaza with his 8mm movie camera. After President Kennedy's
motorcade came into view and passed, Mr. Zapruder's 26 second film
record of the assassination became the most significant amateur
recording of a news event in history. The Bell & Howell 414PD 8mm
camera was, in 1963, a top of the line, high quality 8mm amateur
movie camera.
Galanor:
The Jet Effect
The Zapruder film was not shown on television until 12 years
after the ... No jet stream is seen in the Zapruder film that
even remotely resembles the ...
Did
the Limousine driver shoot JFK?
For years people have been fooled by low resolution, inferior
copies of the Zapruder film -- finding reflections or shadows
that are much more clear in the better copies available of
this historic film.
The Zapruder Film Panel; Zavada Report Discussion:
Non-Alteration Position: Hal Verb, Josiah
Thompson
Alteration Position: Jack White, David Lifton,
David Mantik
Commentators: James Tague, Beverly Oliver,
Jim Fetzer, Michael Parks
Art & Margaret Snyder, A Study of the Jet Effect
Image of an Assassination (Note: Some frames are out of
order or missing on the digital copies on the DVD.
There are many copies of the Zapruder
film online, however, it is recommended that researchers
use the DVD "Image of An Assassination, A New
Look At The Zapruder Film" for study.
This first commercially
available video version of the legendary 26-second "Zapruder
Film"--the 8mm record of John F. Kennedy's 1963
assassination. This unprecedented release has been digitally
mastered with the approval of the Zapruder family. An
accompanying documentary, which explores the mastering
process in detail, features a short portrait of Zapruder
and a fascinating history of the film's official and
unofficial showings up to the present. The tape also
includes a frame-by-frame analysis of the film, a chronology
of events, and additional historical video. This short
film is still too gruesome and upsetting for many to
watch, but Abraham Zapruder's famous home movie remains
to this day one of the most controversial pieces of filmed
history.
--Sean Axmaker
National
Nightmare on Six Feet of Film: Mr. Zapruder's Home
Movie And the Murder of President Kennedy ~ Richard B. Trask
National Archives
JFK Exhibit.
Experience the American
Journey through our country's visual heritage in this
historical recording provided by the National Archives
of the United States. A reconstruction of the assassination
of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. From the
U.S. Secret Service. [SILENT, UNEDITED] This historical
recording from the National Archives may contain variations
in audio and video quality based on the limitations of
the original source material.
The Murder of JFK: A
Revisionist History
takes a comprehensive examination
into the theories behind the assassination itself. It
also explains the tragedy within the context of the existing
U.S. political and cultural climate, and the global context
of the Cold War. The Murder of JFK: A Revisionist History
includes: The first digital rendering of the Zapruder
film, mastered from the original. The only known color
footage of Lee Harvey Oswald. Cuban source material on
the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis. First-time
use of audio material from Robert F. Kennedy¹s oral history.
Interviews with Arthur Schlesinger, John Frankenheimer,
Jack Anderson and Sam Halpern. A link between the film
Psycho and the FBI’s report on Oswald. Newly discovered
footage from local television archives and foreign news
sources, including Lyndon B. Johnson’s thoughts concerning
a conspiracy.
The
Zapruder Film: Reframing JFK's Assassination" by David R. Wrone
David Wrone, one of our nation's foremost authorities
on the assassination, re-examines Zapruder's film with
a fresh eye and a deep knowledge of the forensic evidence.
He traces the film's forty-year history from its creation
on the 'grassy knoll' by Dallas dressmaker Zapruder
through its initial sale to Life magazine, analysis
by the Warren Commission and countless assassination
researchers, licensing by the Zapruder family, legal
battles over bootleg copies, and sale to the federal
government for sixteen million dollars.
Wrone's major contribution, however,
is to demonstrate how the film itself necessarily refutes
the Warren Commission's lone-gunman and single-bullet
theories. The film, he notes, provides a scientifically
precise timeline of events, as well as crucial clues
regarding the timing, number, origins, and impact of
the shots fired that day. Analyzing it frame-by-frame
in relation to other evidence, including two key photos
by Phil Willis and Ike Altgens, he builds a convincing
case against the official findings.
News
Stories (all links may not be active after news event)
I
heard the second--after the first shot--I saw him leaning over and
after the second shot--it's possible after what I saw, you know, then
I started yelling, "They killed him, they killed him," and
I just felt that somebody had ganged up on him and I was still shooting
the pictures until he got under the underpass--I don't even know how
I did it.
11-22-63 WFAA-TV Interview
with Mr. Zapruder (©1999 by WFAA-TV Co.) just after the assassination.
"