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

Produced 1998 by MPI Teleproductions and the Zapruder family, with digital restoration of the 26-second 483-frame Zapruder 8mm film stored in National Archives, 1.37:1 screen ratio, color, stereo sound, 88 mins., DVD released 1998.

poster from IMDb

Production:

Written by H.D. Motyl
Produced by by H.D. Motyl
Film Editing by Scott Rathbun
Narrated by Peter Dean

Cast:

Joseph Barabe as Himself (McCrone Associates)
David W. Belin as Himself (points out Book Depository to Commission members) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Hale Boggs as Himself (Warren Commission, tours Dealey Plaza) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Phil Chamberlain as Himself (Kodak, Dallas)
John Connally as Himself (arrives at Love Field) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Nellie Connally as Herself (arrives at Love Field) (uncredited) (archive footage)
John Sherman Cooper as Himself (Warren Commission) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Walter Cronkite as Himself (announces death of JFK) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Allen Dulles as Himself (Warren Commission) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Gerald Ford as Himself (Warren Commission) (uncredited) (archive footage)
William Greer (II) as Himself (in presidential motorcade) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Dick Gregory as Himself (with Rivera and Groden) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Robert J. Groden as Himself (narrates Zapruder film for Rivera) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Bobby Hargis as Himself (in presidential motorcade) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Jack Harrison (II) as Himself (Kodak, Dallas)
Jerry Haynes (II) as Himself (interviews Zapruder) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Clint Hill as Himself (in presidential motorcade) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Roy Kellerman as Himself (in presidential motorcade) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Jacqueline Kennedy (I) as Herself (arrives at Love Field) (uncredited) (archive footage)
John F. Kennedy as Himself (arrives at Love Field) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Malcolm Kilduff as Himself (on radio at Parkland Hospital) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Adam King (II) as Himself (King Visual Technology)
Alan Lewis (II) as Himself (National Archives)
B.J. Martin as Himself (in presidential motorcade) (uncredited) (archive footage)
John J. McCloy as Himself (Warren Commission) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Godfrey McHugh as Himself (unloads casket at Andrews AFB, behind Powers) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Tim McIntyre as Himself (in presidential motorcade) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Todd Murphy as Himself (There TV)
Larry O'Brien as Himself (unloads casket at Andrews AFB) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Kenneth P. O'Donnell as Himself (unloads casket at Andrews AFB, behind O'Brien) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Lee Harvey Oswald as Himself (under arrest) (uncredited) (archive footage)
David F. Powers as Himself (unloads casket at Andrews AFB) (uncredited) (archive footage)
J. Lee Rankin as Himself (sits with Warren Commission, beside Dulles) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Geraldo Rivera as Himself (broadcasts Zapruder film) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Richard Russell (II) as Himself (Warren Commission, tours Dealey Plaza) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Irwin Schwarz as Himself (Zapruder's partner)
James Silverberg as Himself (attorney, LMH Co.)
Marilyn Sitzman as Herself (Zapruder's assistant)
Richard Stolley as Himself (LIFE Magazine editor)
Les Waffen as Himself (National Archives)
Earl Warren as Himself (Warren Commission) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Abraham Zapruder as Himself (describes assassination to Haynes) (uncredited) (archive footage)

Notes:

The film shows 3 shots fired in 8 second, the first shot deflected by a tree branch but causing Gov. John Connally to look over his right shoulder, the second shot hitting Kennedy in the neck and Connally's right side, and the third shot hitting Kennedy's head. Frame 313 shows brain matter spraying forward from the third shot. Abraham Zapruder sold the rights to his film to Life magazine for $50,000, including the original negative and 2 of the 3 prints Zapruder had made Nov. 22, 1963, at the Kodak Laboratory in Dallas. Time Inc. purchased the film rights for an additional $100,000 and published still frames of the film in the Nov. 29 issue. Life provided slides of some of the frames to the Warren Commission. Garrison subpoened the film to be shown in the 1969 trial of Clay Shaw and had copies made. After death of Abraham Aug. 30, 1970, an unauthorized copy of the film was shown for the first time on TV during the Good Night America show hosted by Geraldo Rivera in 1975. Time Inc. returned the film to the family April 9, 1975 for $1, with rights assigned to the family company LMH. The family donated the original film to the National Archives in 1978. LMH in 1997 decided to make a digital copy with restoration by McCrone Associates. At the National Archives, McCrone made 483 photographs using special 4x5 equipment. The restoration process was filmed by MPI.