THE ZAPRUDER FILM
The Warren Commission almost came close to having an open and shut case. Three shots fired by one rifleman who is now dead. Case closed. However one totally unpredictable thing happened that day which would make that completely impossible. That one thing was an 8mm silent home movie taken by Abraham Zapruder while standing on a concrete platform between the Book Depository and the grassy knoll.
Zapruder first took his film to the Secret Service and then to the media. Only hours after the assassination a dazed and confused Zapruder went on television to talk about his not yet developed film. The press and the public hoped that the film would soon be developed and shown. They would have to wait another twelve years.
It would turn out that the film would have to be developed by Kodak in another city. Two copies of the film were given to the Secret Service and Time Life. Time Life bought the rights to the film for $150,000. 25,000 of which Zapruder gave to Marie Tippit, the widow of JD Tippit. Despite the high amount of money, Time Life never once made the film available to the public. But it did publish stills of the film in Life magazine. However the stills were improperly labeled.
The Warren Commission marked stills of the film as evidence which were published in volume XVIII of their report, as exhibit 885. However some stills were in the wrong order or missing. J. Edgar Hoover claimed that this was a printing error.
The Warren Commission also called Zapruder as a witness. He broke down on the stand and began crying, saying that he still had nightmares about the film. Here are the highlights of his Warren Commission testimony. He is being questioned by New York attorney Wesley J. Liebeler.
Mr. Zapruder.
... 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].
Mr. Liebeler.
That’s all right, Mr. Zapruder, would you like a drink of water? Why don’t you step out and have a drink of water?
Mr. Zapruder.
I’m sorry-I’m ashamed of myself really, but I couldn’t help it.
Mr. Liebeler.
Nobody should ever be ashamed of feeling that way, Mr. Zapruder. I feel the same way myself...
Secret Service agent in charge, Forest V. Sorrels testified that Zapruder told him, “My God, I saw the whole thing. I saw the man’s brains come out of his head.”
In 1967 Jim Garrison subpoenaed the film, but Time Life refused to hand it over. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court who found in Garrison’s favor. Garrison also subpoenaed Zapruder to testify that the film was authentic. Zapruder said, “I saw his head open up, blood and other things- I don’t know what it was- brains coming out of his head.”
Abraham Zapruder died of cancer in 1970.
With Time Life’s refusal to show the film to the American people, many wondered what was on the film that Time Life didn’t want anyone to see? In 1975 the American people finally found out. The Zapruder film was finally shown to the public by Geraldo Revera on a late night show ‘Good Night America’ without Time Life’s permission. Now the public could finally see for themselves what had really happened.
After the show aired there was a great public outcry. Why had Time Life withheld the truth from the public? To help calm this criticism, Time Life sold the film back to the Zapruder family for one dollar.
Some accused conspiracy buffs of tampering with the film. Many people questioned whether the film really did show the assassination. In 1997 the LMH company and the MPI Media Group created a copy from the original film, which had not been copied since the day of the assassination. This new version of the film contained segments 64% wider than ever shown before as part of a moving sequence. This new film version proved that Garrison and other conspiracy buffs had not altered the film.
In 1999 the United States government bought the film back from the Zapruder family for $16,000,000.
The Zapruder film is the key to the entire case because it clearly shows the assassination from beginning to end in graphic detail. Films were also taken by Orville O. Nix and Maria Muchmore. However due to their position they do not show the assassination nearly as clear. If not for the Zapruder film the truth about the assassination may have never been known.
