The Zapruder Film: Reframing Jfk's Assassination [Hardcover]

David R. Wrone (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2003

It is the most famous home movie of all time, the most closely analyzed 26 seconds of film ever shot, the most disturbing visual record of what many have called "the crime of the century."

In 486 frames--a mere six feet of celluloid--Abraham Zapruder's iconic film captures from beginning to end the murder of President John F. Kennedy in broad daylight. The film has become nearly synonymous with the assassination itself and has generated decades of debate among conspiracy theorists and defenders of the Warren Commission's official report. Until now, however, no scholar has produced a comprehensive book-length study of the film and its relation to the tragic events of November 22, 1963.

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.

Without fanfare, he concludes that more than three gunshots were fired from more than one direction and that most likely none were fired by alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. If true, then JFK's death was the result of a conspiracy, for the Commission's nonconspiracy conclusion requires a maximum of three shots and one gunman.

Wrone, however, does not speculate as to who actually shot JFK or why--or even if Oswald was involved. In fact, he is just as critical of the legion of conspiracy theorists as he is of the Warren Commission (which, he reveals, crushed dissent within its own ranks).

Doggedly pursuing the evidence wherever it leads, Wrone has produced a meticulous, clear-eyed, and provocative new reading of this remarkable cinematic Rosetta Stone.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The famous Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination lasts a grand total of 26 seconds. In this 400-page book, Wrone (professor emeritus of history at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point) dissects Zapruder's footage frame by frame, only to end up restating at length the well-worn argument, expressed much more succinctly in scores of other publications, that the film shows shots fired from three different angles, none of them correlating with Lee Harvey Oswald's perch at the Texas Book Depository. While Wrone's exhaustive consideration of the film itself quickly becomes tedious, he provides a few chapters that tell some intriguing stories, such as Zapruder's early actions in the initial hours after the assassination (when he first realized he possessed a valuable "property"), the several subsequent court fights over ownership in various sections of the film and the tangled history of the U.S. government's acquisition, decades after the event, of the film. Wrone also chronicles the various ways in which the film has been used and abused by both adherents and critics of the Warren Commission and summarizes the theory, advanced by the commission's more crackpot critics, that Zapruder's footage has been altered in order to eliminate the most damning evidence of conspiracy. Aside from these anecdotes, however, there is nothing new here, just reiteration of the scathing criticisms of the Warren Commission's conclusions. Wrone's book will appeal to only the most die-hard and detail-driven assassination buffs, though these findings by a sober historian may draw attention as we mark the 40th anniversary of the assassination. 40 photos, 22 in color.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Back Cover

"An important, valuable, and compelling addition to the literature on the assassination that argues convincingly that the film is both authentic and contains evidence of a conspiracy."--Michael L. Kurtz, author of Crime of the Century: The Kennedy Assassination from a Historian's Perspective

"The vivid images captured by the Zapruder film are eminently recognizable, perhaps more so than any other film footage ever captured, so much so that anyone who reflects on JFK's assassination quite likely does so from Abraham Zapruder's vantage point."--Walter E. Dellinger III, Maggs Professor of Law at Duke University and former Solicitor General of the United States

"Wrone's knowledge of the assassination's evidentiary base is unparalleled."--James H. Lesar, founder and president of the Assassination Archives and Research Center

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Kansas (November 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0700612912
• ISBN-13: 978-0700612918
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,162,919 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good book but lacking in areas, January 10, 2004

By 

Andrew Kruczek (Dearborn, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Zapruder Film: Reframing Jfk's Assassination (Hardcover)

This book is a very good addition to the library of JFK Assassination literature. For the first time that I know of, the custody of the Zapruder film has been carefully documented and researched as well as other topics like CE-399 (The Magic Bullet.) David Wrone uses the Zapruder film and good old common sense to quickly dismiss of Gerald Posner and the Single Bullet Theory. He also satisfactorially addresses the two topics keeping conspiracy believers from progressing with the case. One being the Zapruder alteration Fetzer people and the other being the Greer-did-it scenario. Both of which are pretty rediculous when viewing good quality copies of the film. Also, I'm glad somebody finally put the Umbrella-was-a-dart-gun theory into the trash bin where it belongs.

But this isn't to say the book is perfect. The author picks on many authors from Jim Marrs, Jim Garrison, David Lifton, and Mark Lane. He calls pretty much every book on the assassination as being sloppy and not honestly researched. He mentions how authors would make accusations without going into further detail but he himself does this on several occasions.

On page 119, he writes: "Many historians, myself among them, were especially disturbed by (Oliver) Stone's reliance on such error-ridden sources as Jim Marr's 'Crossfire' and Jim Garrison's 'On The Trail of the Assassins.'" It ends there, with no examples of the errors. I'm sure no book is perfect, but one example would help.

On pages 130-131: "(Oswald's) New Orleans Fair Play for Castro chapter did not exist, although he pretended it did; it was simply Oswald's invention." ... "He was never, in any meaning of the word or even in the faintest degree, a traitor. ... If Oswald had been a traitor, upon his return to America he would have been arrested and charged with that offense."

He never goes into all the evidence that actually points to Oswalds FBI and CIA connections. We don't know exactly what he did in Russia and if it was top secret Soviet or US stuff, I doubt the truth ever will come out. We shouldn't assume we know. He merely dismisses them and goes onto another topic.

My only problem with his attacks on Zapruder film alteration is that he states Fetzer and Co. didn't get the best witnesses or most qualified people to contribute. Yet in regards to how the Zapruder film doesn't clearly show a blow out in the back of JFK's head like all the Parkland and Bethesda witnesses said existed, he merely says all the doctors were wrong. This is a very Posner thing to do. Page 129: "In fact, there was no rear-side blowout... Medical authorities mistook for a gunshot hole a flap of skin with bone and bloody matter attached that was thrown back over the head on a hinge of skin." Where did any doctors say this? The new Robert Groden DVD "Case for Conspiracy" has interviews with Parkland and Bethesa doctors. They see the "official" autopsy photos and all discuss what they had seen. They all mention the hole in the back of the head being about the size of a baseball. They say there is no way the back of the head was intact. Now the doctors are all mistaken? I'm sure the doctors would know a blow out in the back of the head from "a flap of skin with bone and bloody matter attached that was thrown back over the head on a hinge of skin."

Page 182: "There is no blowout in the back of the head. No hair is out of place on the back of his head; there is no blood on the back of the head, nor on his collar, neck, or jacket." [What about the pictures of JFK's bloody shirt?]

Page 187: "Over the last decades a large number of theorists have claimed the photographs of the assassination and the autopsy materials were faked by federal authorities to hide the patent, clear, and solid evidence that contain of a conspiracy. ... These charges, however, are without logical or factual foundation."

Yet on page 3 of the insert in "High Treason" after page 306 is a picture that is sure to be in other books. It is clearly a fake picture of the back of the head because the top of his hair is much darker and it is 2-dimensional and the rest of the photo is 3-dimensional. It is the most obviously faked picture in this case. This is very confusing. He pretty much has the opinion that if people forged photos, they shouldn't have left in evidence of a conspiracy like which clearly exists in the autopsy photos and Zapruder film. And since evidence of a conspiracy is obvious, they couldn't possibly have been messed with. But the picture I just talked about does both. It hides the hole in the back of the head and adds a little hole in the back of JFK's head to show an entrance wound. Wrone says there was a conspiracy, but he takes the governments word on a lot of stuff.

So for these reasons, I have to give the book three stars instead of five. I could be wrong, but some of this seems sloppy to me. On page 199 he calls Jim Garrison "brilliant" and then on page 203 (4 pages later) he agrees with another author who called him "incompetent."

19 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Middle ground JFK assassination book, highly controversial, December 29, 2003

By 

2many2read (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Zapruder Film: Reframing Jfk's Assassination (Hardcover)

This book provides both solid historical information and what many may regard as speculation. If the book convinces you, you'll view all of it as solid fact.
There are now 3 camps on the events of November 22, 1963: the Warren Commission believers who view Oswald as the lone gunman, followers of various conspiracy theories who say there was a second shooter but who regard the Z film as key evidence, and now the Z film hoax group -- see the new Fetzer book by one of the other reviewers here -- who say there are several shooters but further postulate that the Zapruder film was faked.
This book traces the chain of custody of the original Zapruder film and all its earliest copies. To me, it is convincing that the Zapruder film, while several frames were damaged in processing, is not a fake. The film is never unaccounted for long enough to be substantially edited using advanced methods that leave no evidence of editing. (If it were faked, why release it with so convincing a portrayal of more than one shooter? A film so convincing that the Warren Commission has to explain away what appears to be a shot fired from the front.)
The speculative part of the book uses the Z film as evidence of a second shooter. The Warren Commission Report and its single bullet theory are disputed. (According to the book, the Z film supports the idea that Governor Connoly was hit by a bullet that never hit JFK. The entry wound in the president's back is too low to result in a throat exit wound and the injuries to Governor Connolly -- all caused by one bullet on a downward path. This "single bullet" is moved by political forces, not ballistic ones.) As many will be chanting "Oswald did it!" it is good that the book does not explore who the other shooter might be. Certainly, nothing in the photographic record can provide the identity of the mystery shooter.
This new book is a worthwhile addition to the assassination literature. It will have you looking at the Zapruder film with new insight.

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful, balanced account., December 29, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Zapruder Film: Reframing Jfk's Assassination (Hardcover)

Excellent account of issues related to the contents and implications of the Zapruder film to the assassination investigation. Dr. Wrone does an admirable job of building on existing research without being derivative or cumulative. Researchers must take the findings of the book seriously. Agree or disagree, the evidence must be considered by future researchers and historians.