Image of an Assassination - A New Look at the Zapruder Film

Rating:
Summary: HAS THIS FILM BEEN TAMPERED WITH?
Review: IMAGE OF AN ASSASSINATION - A NEW LOOK AT THE ZAPRUDER FILM (MPI,) is an alleged film record of Kennedy's murder. Alleged because this infamous home movie has been examined by optical experts and seems filled with puzzling anomalies that can't be reproduced using identical film, optics and allignments in Dealey Plaza and the infamous Grassy Knoll (see James Fetzer's book "Assassination Science"). The images of Kennedy's head exploding are still jolting. Four different views are included as is historical material surrounding the film. Whether tampered with or not, this film is a piece of history that defines the moment when America's social, political and psychological paradigm shifted.

Rating:
Summary: Tragic Clarity
Review: Image of an Assassination is both spectacularly grusome and technically beautiful. The film at once facinates and repels. It is and will forever remain the closest thing to having stood on Elm Street in Dealey Plaza on that sparkling day in November 1963. While the somewhat blurred and colorless images of the copies the public has heretofore watched are disturbing enough, these digitally processed images from the original Zapruder negative are stunningly clear and in vibrant color. The new images are heartstopping. Nevertheless this video is appealing to historians, conspiracy theorists, and yes - the merely morbidly curious. The impact on the viewer is unnerving - a split-second that changed history forever, destroyed a President of the United States, ended a man's life and seared the most heinous horror imaginable upon his young wife. This video is unforgettable.

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Summary: Restored footage of President John Kennedy murdered.
Review: In 1963, decades before there were video camcorders for public use, there were hand-held wide-up, push button movie cameras that used 8 millimeter, 16mm, or Super 8 Kodakrome film. You would thread the film in a partially dark room without sunlight through two spools inside, close the case and you were ready to film outside. On the tragic day of November 22, 1963, Abraham Zapruder had such a camera. What a wonderful day to make your own personal film of the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy parading down your own hometown street in Dallas, Texas. Zapruder of course had no idea what his film was about to capture that would end up being the most valuable, historic and greatest piece of film and evidence ever recorded. His film had to be given to the Secret Service. The piece of film captured the public assassination of President John F. Kennedy. You will notice the shot in his throat and then the fatal shot in his head. Kennedy's wife, Jackie, Nellie Connally and John Connally (who was also shot, but survived) were in the open car too. The film on this DVD has been totally restored in four different versions for you to see in full, brilliant color. Now you can see all of the film for the first time beyond the sprocket holes and the film replaced within the sprocket holes. All very painstakenly restored by the state-of-the-art digital equipment and computer by the professionals. Not for young children to see. Mature teenagers may watch this for educational purposes. Adults will be horrified. (Note: As you will realize, it was Lee Harvey Oswald who expertly shot President Kennedy from the Book Depository. Captured and arrested, Oswald was suddenly shot two days later by Jack Ruby while being escorted by policemen. Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner was convicted of murdering Oswald. Ruby died in 1967.

Rating:
Summary: Restored footage of President John Kennedy murdered.
Review: In 1963, decades before there were video camcorders for public use, there were hand-held wide-up, push button movie cameras that used 8 millimeter, 16mm, or Super 8 Kodakrome film. You would thread the film in a partially dark room without sunlight through two spools inside, close the case and you were ready to film outside. On the tragic day of November 22, 1963, Abraham Zapruder had such a camera. What a wonderful day to make your own personal film of the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy parading down your own hometown street in Dallas, Texas. Zapruder of course had no idea what his film was about to capture that would end up being the most valuable, historic and greatest piece of film and evidence ever recorded. His film had to be given to the Secret Service. The piece of film captured the public assassination of President John F. Kennedy. You will notice the shot in his throat and then the fatal shot in his head. Kennedy's wife, Jackie, Nellie Connally and John Connally (who was also shot, but survived) were in the open car too. The film on this DVD has been totally restored in four different versions for you to see in full, brilliant color. Now you can see all of the film for the first time beyond the sprocket holes and the film replaced within the sprocket holes. All very painstakenly restored by the state-of-the-art digital equipment and computer by the professionals. Not for young children to see. Mature teenagers may watch this for educational purposes. Adults will be horrified. (Note: As you will realize, it was Lee Harvey Oswald who expertly shot President Kennedy from the Book Depository. Captured and arrested, Oswald was suddenly shot two days later by Jack Ruby while being escorted by policemen. Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner was convicted of murdering Oswald. Ruby died in 1967.

Rating:
Summary: The Holy Grail of JFK assassination evidence
Review: It is important that you know exactly what Image of an Assassination is before you decide to spend your money on it. The entire focus of the DVD is Abraham Zapruder's 26-second, 8 mm film showing the assassination of John F. Kennedy from start to finish. This is not a "who shot JFK?" documentary - there's no place for conspiracy theories or defenses of the Warren Commission conclusions to be found here. This is a new and much improved look at the single most important piece of evidence in the assassination of President Kennedy, complemented by a look at the process behind the digitalization of the film. There is no real analysis of the film, and no allusion to the criticisms some have made about the integrity of the film. Any conclusions to be made are left up to the viewer, and this video gives the viewer the ultimate look at this most famous, most important home video ever made.

The documentary does provide a timeline for the original film's travel across the decades, beginning on the morning of November 22, 1963, when the meek and mild Abraham Zapruder was encouraged to go home and get his camera so that he could film the passing of the Presidential motorcade. You get a brief personal look at Zapruder himself, a most reluctant of celebrities, including footage of the interview he gave to TV station WFAA hours after the assassination. There are interviews with several individuals associated with Zapruder and Time Life, the company which bought the rights to the film in the days after the assassination. You will follow the trail of the original film to the possession of Time Life (oddly, there is no mention of the mysteriously reversed frames that were printed in Life magazine shortly after the assassination) and, in 1975, back to the Zapruder family (it was sold back for $1). Time Life was feeling a little heat from the public for supposedly suppressing the original film itself after an obviously second-generation copy was unveiled to the American television public by ABC on Geraldo Rivera's talk show Good Night America in March of that year. The Zapruder family asked the National Archives to take possession of the film so that it could be stored under optimal conditions, and that is where the original 26-second film remains.

At this point, we get into the recent project to make a digital copy of the original film, one that could be made available to researchers and the public at large. Every time the original film is taken out of cold storage and viewed, deterioration is possible, and indeed some problems have been caused by the copying of the film way back in 1963. It is an impressive, laborious, strictly controlled process of a highly technical, ruthlessly documented nature, but it is much more than that. The digitalization process allowed for the vast improvement of the original film's quality. Each frame was scanned at resolutions up to 1500 dpi so that the footage could be blown up larger, dust and scratches were removed (except for those around the splices, which were just too damaged), and the sequencing is well nigh perfectly done. Best of all, though, we can now view the each frame from one film edge to the other, including all of the sprocket holes. Thus, some details can now be seen for the very first time.

The video is only 45 minutes long, culminating in several normal speed and slow-motion versions of the new and improved Zapruder film. The detail and color is amazing, but is this ultimate version of the 26-second film worth the money to you? If you are a casual JFK assassination nut, perhaps not. If you are serious about your armchair JFK assassination sleuthing, however, Image of an Assassination is a bargain at any price. Hordes of researchers over the years would have given their right arms for a version of the film half as clear as this one. The Zapruder film is the most crucial piece of evidence we have from November 22, 1963; Image of an Assassination gives you access to the Holy Grail of JFK assassination evidence.

Rating:
Summary: truth
Review: It is nice to finally see the real truth in the JFK case. The truth that there was a conspiracy. Any one on earth can see that JFK's head snaps VIOLENTLY backwards - he couldn't have been shot from behind. Buy it - Watch it - and then watch it again.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, but does nothing to dispel the controversy...
Review: It is very educational and rewarding to gain insights into modern film restoration and preservation techniques. This item is a treasure for the keeping, but even with the great care and masterful rendering of the Z-film as presented it remains, sadly, incomplete. There are many frames still missing from what was the pristine original film negative, which will only serve to buttress arguments of tampering and cover-up; other than this, the DVD is a superb addition to any home collection!

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Summary: IMAGE OF AN ASSASSINATION - END OF INNOCENCE
Review: Most people remember what they were doing the moment news broke of the murder of JFK. It changed the lives of our nation, and is the biggest mystery of our time. This DVD is an in-depth look at the famous film done frame by frame. It follows the history of the event, the film and it's content. This is an emotional piece of history, and of course, very graphic. I hope I live long enough to know the truth about what happened November 22, 1963. This DVD is very informative and objective. I suspect it will eventually go out of print, however.

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Summary: A Sharp Copy of the Zapruder Film
Review: One reviewer said this film made a believer out of him that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman, because, as the film clearly shows there is no damage to back of Kennedy's head, next to his right ear. And he is right. No matter how times we see Kennedy, and we always see him from the right profile, this area is always darkened, even in the bright sunlight. Even when the President is propelled backwards, this area of his head always remains darkened. One visual expert has said that this is not a NATURAL black. And since one of he motorcycle policemen BEHIND Kennedy had his windshield hit with such a force of the President's brain matter, he thought he had been shot himself, and the fact that ALL the doctors and nurses who tried to save Kennedy's life at Parkland hospital tell of the massive wound to this area, help make this case get more convoluted, instead of clearer-the way things usually happen.....On the plus side, its good to have the Zapruder film in such good shape, mysteriously missing fames and all. (Watch the little girl across the street before the car disappears briefly behind the Stemmons freeway sign. When she stops running, you can bet your life she heard gunfire. Did the missing frames reveal a bullet hitting the Stemmons sign? It was removed quickly after the events of that Nov. day. Why?) Just remember when watching, that in the "original" version, before the film is blown up and repositiond, that when the camera jiggles and the film blurs, it is probably Zapruder reacting to the sound of gunfire. And how curious is it that Zapruder stood up on top of that marble ledge that jettisoned all the way out to the sidewalk, yet positioned himself and his secretary all the way to the rear with their backs against the columns and with no one else in front of them? And on and on it goes.

Rating:
Summary: Riveting revelation
Review: See the digital rendition of the historical Zapruder film from November of 1963. There's NO WAY it could have been only ONE gunman!