Film & Media: 92-present

wake of controversy generated by JFK movie, handful of veteran reporters are assigned to particular aspects of case and allowed to probe intensely. Highlights include contemporary interviews with 5th floor witnesses, and with David Belin and Robert Tanneburg behind the fence on the knoll. The Single-Bullet Theory is examined using Connally’s statements and the 1967 CBS firing tests. “Manhunt” segment features Howard Brennan, Lt. Carl Day and Jim Leavelle. Oswald’s biography and activities reviewed. Critics heard in “Suspects” include Mark Lane and Michael Kurtz. Clip from a 1969 LBJ interview hints at “international connections.” “Scenario” segment focuses on Clay Shaw trial and JFK movie depiction; Connally terms latter propaganda. Oliver Stone tells Dan Rather his movie is “counter-myth” and charges mass media with compliance. Hosted by Dan Rather. Released as Twentieth Century Fox video titled Who Killed JFK? Facts, Not Fiction.

ost important documentary ever on assassination controversy. Oswald’s background and possible motivations are presented in detail. New interviews with Robert Oswald, Ruth Paine, Duran, Odio sisters, Harold Norman, Gerald Hill, Hudkins, Leavelle, McMillan, Posner, Blakey, and researchers Summers, Myers and Savage (Malone and Russo served as co-producers). Revelations: 1955 photo of Ferrie and Oswald at Civil Air Patrol picnic, Slawson says he heard Mexico City recordings of Oswald, Scalice’s analysis confirms Oswald’s fingerprints on trigger-housing, and Gonsalves’ analysis of Bronson film reveals no one at Sniper’s Nest. Most chilling moment: final frames of Hughes film shows a figure at the sixth floor window starting to move into firing position. Gary Oldman (JFK) was voice of Lee Harvey Oswald. Limited video release ( see show’s PBS website and film download page).

ast-shifting and concise, this documentary touches on nearly all the conspiracy theories with archival and contemporary interviews of many principals, such as Nellie Connally, Dave Powers, and Evelyn Lincoln. Priscilla MacMillan (1978 Marina and Lee), Richard Synder and Yuri Nosenko on Lee’s defection; Minsk period recalled by Marina’s aunt and Pavel Golovachev, who watched Lee. Abuse towards Marina begins. Ruth Paine shown in 1964 interview; new interview with Michael Paine discloses he saw the backyard photos in spring of 1963. Ruth in 1964 describes how she gave Oswald the lead that resulted in being hired at the Depository. Zapruder film and footage of aftermath in Dealey Plaza shown. Clint Hill, in 1975 interview, describes his efforts to save JFK. Parkland Dr. Kenneth E. Sayler describes “right side of his head blown off.” Footage of Lt. Carl Day with Oswald rifle leaving Depository; then 1964 interviews with Tippit witnesses Markham and Benevides. Nick MacDonald and Johnny Brewer comment on Oswald arrest. Malcolm Kilduff recalls death announcement to press. Jim Leavelle comments on Oswald’s death and Bill Alexander dismisses Ruby as unlikely conspiracy participant due to being “blabbermouth.” Katzenbach explains the memo sent to Bill Moyers. James Hosty describes flushed Oswald note as nonviolent. Arthur Schlesinger says cover-up was bureaucratic to hide agency mistakes. Michael Beschloss discusses initial suspicion of Soviet plot, noting Khrushchev was not immediately located. Mark Lane comments on CIA plot, countered by Richard Helms. On Mafia plot, it’s observed that RFK angered Marcello; William E. Roemer details FBI wiretaps. Sam Halpern describes CIA plots against Castro; Helms says Warren Commission not notified because there was no connection. CBS shooting computer-animation shown, and assassination industry exposed. Farris Rookstool details Jean Hill’s mistakes; Gerald Posner casts doubt on Beverly Oliver’s camera claim and her contact with FBI agent Regis Johnson. Portions of the 1967 CBS firing tests are shown, including a blur test using a handheld camera as shots were fired, which suggested a first shot occurred at about Z190. Posner presents Lattimer’s Thorburn Position model, and David Belin is interviewed on the Grassy Knoll. NOVA’s Single-Bullet graphic is shown and lapel flap Zapruder enlargements are screened. Wecht describes the fatal shot and head snap; but Baden discloses the head initially went forward, and Posner isolates the debris, most of which went forward. Posner claims driver Will Greer hesitates and “inadvertently gives Oswald the easiest of three shots.” No video release.

eleased to some controversy in July 1998, this documentary represents the Zapruder family’s last-ditch attempt to wring some money out of the film before they were compelled to assign copyright to a nonprofit organization (Sixth Floor Museum later chosen). Beyond that, the film is fascinating in several regards. You can hear Richard Stolley’s recounting of how Life obtained the film, Groden’s presentation of his supposed “superior” version on Geraldo Rivera’s TV show Goodnight America, and Abraham Zapruder himself, on a Dallas TV-station barely 90-minutes after witnessing the assassination. The digitizing of the original film is fully documented, from exposing it frame-by-frame on 4x5 film which in turn was scanned it into a computer to remove scratches and optimize resolution. The results: sequences as clear as the original, along with all the sprocket-hole information. Unfortunately, the VHS-format has its limitations for serious analysis of the film, although reasonably-acceptable for running the film in motion. The DVD package (shown) has additional features and footage. MPI Home Video / DVD.

weeping documentary gives insight into Soviet perspective of Oswald’s stay and the assassination in Dallas. Begins with Oswald in USSR, then probes his pro-Castro activities in New Orleans and visit to Russian embassy in Mexico City, where Lee displays a revolver. Assassination explored by Posner, with dissenting remarks from MacClelland, Wecht and Robert Groden. 1964 FBI reconstruction of the Single-Bullet Theory shown, leading into comments on a Russian reconstruction, which demonstrated the shooting was “easy.” Muchmore film shown; backward head movement deemed secondary; Oswald had enough training and practice. Soviets suspected any plots were Cuban-exile or French/Vietnamese. Precision laser-reconstruction done for program on-site in Dealey Plaza, with limo replica and positioning lifesize dummies using as reference the Zapruder film. Ballistic expert Anthony Larry Paul and forensic pathologist Dr. Vincent J.M. DiMaio comment. First two shots “likely” from 6th floor; large roadsign works against early shot from knoll. Panel reviewing laser trajectory results ruled it supported lone-gunman findings, acknowledging the study can’t speak to Oswald’s actual presence at the window. Groden dissents, asserting shots came from the second floor of the Dal-tex building. Show concludes with a KBG investigation that ruled out Oswald as assassin, but decided all shots came from behind. Narrated by Roger Moore. Shown on TLC in 2000. Madacy video / DVD.

mpressive and comprehensive 13-page cover story section on public furor over Oliver Stone’s JFK movie, primarily written by Allen Barra and Ty Burr. Ridicules Stone’s contention “the Establishment” is out to quash the film. Movie exploits America’s “deep cultural craving” to suspect conspiracy behind every crisis. “Camera Obscura” by Steve Daly details the manipulative techniques and styling used in the Stone movie, such as mixing film stocks, “concrete conjectures,” “contradictory cutaways,” and body language where the thugs are “often shown in shifty-eyed close-up.” “Out, Damned Plot” by Terry Catchpole uses four pages to quantify major JFK conspiracy theories, with a sidebox (“Hollywood Conspiracies, Take One”) on Hollywood’s previous attempts to put political intrigue on the big screen. Section wraps with article “Shots Seen Round the World” by Richard Stolley, Life’s representative in negotiations with Abraham Zapruder for his 8mm amateur movie of the assassination. Three-page article justifies magazine’s refusal to sell broadcast rights on reasons of “both taste and competition.” In later years, certain critics would more blatantly hoard assassination-related material for years, though not for concerns of taste.

IVE-PAGE article by author of Inquest and Counterplot attacks the “phoenixlike” rehabilitation of Jim Garrison by filmmaker Oliver Stone. In defending his distorted depiction of a non-blemished, crusading New Orleans DA, Stone “became, for all practical purposes, the new Garrison.” In provoking interest and facilitating the release of classified files, Stone proved more successful than Garrison; but only because Stone exploited more outrageously their shared methodology. Whereas Garrison tried to “coax, intimidate, and hypnotize witnesses,” Stone “fabricated” through cinematic license what Garrison had merely alleged. Stone’s wholesale “substitution technique” (fiction for fact) is creatively applied throughout the JFK movie, such as the slick-but-fictional O’Keefe character subbing for the flawed Perry Raymond Russo, Garrison’s primary conspiracy witness who could only relate his story through hypnosis fueled by hypothetical scenarios from Garrison. O’Keefe is stripped of Russo’s “deficiencies” and, unlike hetero Russo, is portrayed as a male prostitute, a device to gain access to Shaw’s secret life. O’Keefe’s fictional story is given “cross-corroboration” by other fictionalizations, such as Ferrie’s “confession” and subsequent “murder.” To cast the plot as a “coup d’ètat,” Stone employs the anonymous “X,” a military insider, to give authoritative substance to the “why,” which is to prevent a Vietnam withdrawal and end to the Cold War. Epstein finds the real X, Col. L. Fletcher Prouty, had no such insider access, and that his allegations of departure from the Secret Service “manual” had no basis. Epstein describes Prouty’s endorsement of the Report from Iron Mountain, a secret study by “power brokers” that deemed US power was best maintained through a permanent war footing; but, Epstein relates, the report that inspired Prouty was in fact a spoof of think tanks written by political satirist Leonard Lewin in 1967. The essence of Iron Mountain, delivered through X, became the “connective tissue” of Stone’s film. (lead-off page shown)

anadian media-trends magazine publishes a six-page interview with maverick-director Oliver Stone, who since the JFK movie “looms contemplative rather than combative.” Likens criticism of his controversial films to neo-McCarthyism; “I feel like Galileo.” Uncompromised method of film-making limited by economics; see financial flop of Nixon his own doing, but still a barrier to other projects. Alleges “shadow history” behind 1960s assassinations; a tool out-of-favor with today’s corporate totalitarianists, who prefer cultural and media manipulation to control masses and perception of freedom (really “corporate choices”). Fears became fact during reign of King George. One Holiver Theory from a real Shift-Disturber.

hree-page article on scandal over documents linking Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe and the mob, that were parlayed into a multi-million dollar media package. Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh had signed in 1993 to do a book on the JFK assassination, but his latter acquisition of the documents shifted attention to Kennedy’s character and personal indiscretions. Supposedly, the papers detailed an agreement with Monroe to maintain silence about an affair with the President and her knowledge of his dealings with mobster Sam Giancana. When Hersh signed a TV deal with ABC News, the network submitted the documents to experts who revealed they were forgeries. (lead-off page shown)

residential historian Jules Witcover reviews Seymour Hersh’s muckraking 1997 The Dark Side of Camelot. Finds tabloid and “responsible” press have blurred as politicians have increasingly displayed reckless personal behavior. In this regard, the New York Times’ editorial standard of accuracy may be less suspect, having once governed investigative reporters like Hersh. His reputation thus established, Hersh, with the Camelot book, seems to have done a turnabout and discarded the rigorous demand for substantiation that exists in the mainstream press. Hersh is obligated only to himself. With the Kennedy allegations, Hersh takes full advantage of the absence of restraint, elevating rumor to fact and accepting loose attribution. In turn, Hersh’s lack of caution has drawn sharper-than-usual fire from media colleagues, who maintain stricter standards of proof. Witcover concedes several Washington journalists (Bartlett, Bradlee, Sidey) who befriended JFK kept confidential certain indiscretions they were privy to. But such was the “tolerant attitude” of the general press towards private matters at the White House. In the wake of Vietnam and Watergate, the press grew more cynical and intrusive, when it seemed relevant to expose a President’s character flaws and personal behavior. (lead-off page shown)

omentous events, from an American perspective, of the broadcast age reviewed in print and with broadcast excerpts on CD. Of the 43 events, starting with the Hindenburg explosion in 1937, eleven take place in the 1990s, suggesting a contemporary bias. Ranking second, with nine events, are the extraordinary 1960s—missing, however, are such items as the U2 shootdown, Bay of Pigs, Great Train Robbery, Watts riot, Tet Offensive and My Lai massacre. Interestingly, four of the book’s Sixties events relate to assassinations: JFK with six pages; Oswald, King and RFK with four pages each. Dallas section doesn’t mention Oswald or the Warren Commission, and claims Kennedy “suffered a massive fatal wound in the rear portion of his head” (note: the Zapruder film, autopsy photos show the gaping wound at the top right front). Muchmore still, tearful Cronkite removing glasses (supposedly included to demonstrate journalists have a heart), and LBJ taking oath among images. Oswald section details suspect’s flight, including supposed encounter with NBC’s Robert MacNeil, the Tippit slaying, and arrest at the Texas Theatre. Oswald murder two days later “became America’s first major see-it-as-it-happens national news event” (the Kennedy-Nixon debates and 1960 conventions didn’t qualify). Again, there’s no reference to the Warren conclusions or conspiracy debate—Gardner stays on objective track. The book also covers events somewhat connected: LBJ dropping out of election, Apollo 11, and JFK Jr.’s death; but is mute on Chappaquiddick. The book is a great collections of major events best used as a whole rather than for specific information. Back cover has just three photos: plane approaching WTC, Armstrong on moon, and the Kennedys in Dallas motorcade. Earlier efforts by Gardner focused on sporting events. In 2003, Sourcebooks issued the similarly-formatted The President Has Been Shot. Foreword by Walter Cronkite. Two audio CDs narrated by Bill Kurtis. Large-format hardcover, 178 pages, 196 B/W photos, 7 video stills, 4 illus.

IVID, ENGROSSING account of the trial-by-fire of journalists (used to routine political and civic coverage) nearly overwhelmed by the enormity of four days in November. Over sixty print and broadcast “journalistic witnesses” recall their roles in creating the “first draft of history.” Along with previous accounts, the authors incorporate recollections from 33 firsthand interviews. For the first time, television surpassed print as the public’s primary news source; precedents include the first murder ever broadcast live. Along with breaking news, TV also conveyed the emotion of participants, and occasionally that of journalists themselves. The broadcasters are the stars of the book, which presents samples of TV/radio news (often rushed and ill-presented) and official recordings in raw form, along with reporters’ mistakes and abusive behavior in pursuit of the big story. Book is arranged chronologically, relying on the time table in The Death of a President (the best chronological account remains The Day Kennedy Was Shot). But if you want specifics and detail of the actual reportage on the day of the assassination, Richard Trask’s Pictures of the Pain is far superior to Been Shot, twice the pages, with more interesting photos, and only a few dollars more. Been Shot’s audio CD adds regional flavor and emotion to the printed word, but little in terms of research. Foreword by Newseum’s Joe Urschel. Audio CD narrated by Dan Rather (book incl. track list). Excerpted in US News & World Report. Large-format hardcover, 300 pages, ca. 100 B/W photos, 10 video stills, 13 docs.