Greatest Movie Footage In History

Most Historic Film Footage Ever !

Zapruder

 


The most significant and important movie footage ever - without doubt, the Zapruder footage of the JFK assassination.  Now, at the 50th anniversary of that unforgettable event, we see this 26 second, silent, color, 8mm micro-documentary, cum historic record, over and over again. Some have even termed the Zapruder film, 'the launch of citizen journalism - an omen of the coming age of  YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter'.
But what about Zapruder? What happened to the man who went on lunch-break to record the drive-past of the President and instead produced a film of epic importance?

Giamatti as Zapruder

Within hours of the assassination, Zapruder, an amateur photographer, had given copies of his film to two men.  The first, to Forrest Sorrels, of the Secret Service, the second to Richard Stolley, editor of Life Magazine. Zapruder sold the publishing rights to Life for $150,000 with the promise that they never publish frame 313: the fatal shot itself.  The copy that went to the Secret Service found its way to the investigators at the Warren Commission; however, the reproductions that the Commission printed omitted some frames and switched around others, planting even more conspiracy seeds, which exist to this day (just do a internet search and you'll be faced with a myriad of analyses of the film).

'The camera never lies' and the Zapruder film is the undisputed classic example - the motherlode of a first-hand visual account of an event.  The cinema has tried to address this very theme in films like, Antonioni's remarkable 'Blow-Up', and Coppola's, great film, 'The Conversation', but the Zapruder film is the standard because it is real!

In 1999, the Zapruder family sold the 26 second film to the U.S. government for $16 million, though they still retain the copyright. The going rate for use of it is currently $80,000. 

A new film on the assassination, 'Parkland', will be released shortly. It centers around the hospital that treated both Kennedy and Oswald after they were shot, and includes  all of the usual suspects, but in it is Zapruder, played by Paul Giamatti.  The film zeros in on Zapruder, and rather than reviewing the assassination yet again, it shows a closeup of Zapruder's face during those moments, registering his shock as he films, and the only time you see the famous footage is as a reflection in Zapruder's glasses.

Abraham Zapruder was the poster child for the American dream. A Russian Jewish immigrant who worked hard and made a life for himself and family, he was aware that his 26 second film would change his life as he knew it.  He was haunted by the assassination.  He testified before both the Warren Commission and the Clay Shaw trail - he wept during both testimonies.  He died of cancer in 1970, and according to his family, after November 22, 1963, he never looked through a camera lens again.

Although I don't recommend, nor find any of the conspiracy stuff relevant as I don't believe the mystery, if there is one, will ever be outed. I do find the human stories surrounding the assassination very compelling, i.e. the Zapruder story. So, I will go to the cinema to view 'Parkland'.

Best
Jim