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The JFK 100


The fifth shot
("Back and to the left")


Oliver Stone uses the backwards motion of the President's head in the Zapruder film (beginning in frame 314) to argue for an assassin on the grassy knoll. As discussed in the previous section, this argument ignores the forward motion of the head that occurs between frames 312 and 313.
But putting aside the initial forward motion, is the backwards motion in the Zapruder film evidence of a shot from the knoll?

The trajectory from the knoll


"Back and to the left, back and to the left," intones New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) in JFK.

But look more closely. The President was not thrust "back and to the left"; JFK states it more accurately a few seconds earlier: "This is the key shot. Watch it again. The President going back to his left."(1)

Back to his left. This is what the Zapruder film shows (see below).

A comparison of Z frames 315-318

Does this make a difference? It does. Had the President been thrust to the left, that is, the left side of the limousine, directly into his wife, Jacqueline, this would not be inconsistent with the trajectory of a shot from the grassy knoll.

But that's not what happened. JFK lurched forcefully to his left, almost directly backwards in his seat.


In 1992, author Harrison E. Livingstone became the first conspiracy-oriented author to debunk the myth of the grassy knoll gunman. Livingstone writes:


If [the President] had been hit from the Grassy Knoll or stockade fence, it would have taken off the left side of his head and thrown him violently sideways, and not backward as in the film. The left side of his head was not damaged at all.(2)


Author and JFK consultant Gus Russo concurs. He stood behind the camera as Oliver Stone filmed the motorcade scene, and has this to say:


Standing behind the picket fence, it is . . . apparent that if the shot were from the front, then it couldn't have originated behind the fence: the fence is at a 90 degree angle to Kennedy's head -- tilted 34 degrees left of center when hit -- at the time the President was struck. A virtual broadside hit. Such a shot would not have forced JFK's head forward or backward, but side to side, with the bullet exiting near Kennedy's left ear, hitting Jackie. Of course, none of this happened.(3)


Note also that in the frames of the Zapruder film following the head shot, the wound is towards the front right of the President's head, not in the back, as Oliver Stone claims elsewhere in JFK.
Compare the following images, depicting the approximate trajectory(4) a bullet would take in order to hypothetically cause the rearward movement of the President, and the approximate trajectory a bullet would take from where Oliver Stone places a gunman on the grassy knoll.


Harrison Livingstone is not the only conspiracy theorist to acknowledge the disconnect between grassy knoll gunman theories and the "back and to the left" motion apparent in the Zapruder film.

Sherry Gutierrez is the former head of the Forensic Investigative Unit for St. Charles Parish of the Louisiana Sheriff's Department. She is a member of the Association for Crime Scene Reconstruction and "has testified as an expert in crime scene reconstruction and bloodstain pattern analysis in over 30 judicial districts in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida." She believes that a shot struck the President from the front, but acknowledges that the President's wounds rule out the possibility that a shot could have come from his right side.



Gutierrez observes, "Since the grassy knoll is not positioned within the possible locations of the shooter for the headshot, the fatal headshot could not have originated from behind the picket fence."(5)
The fifth shot ("Back and to the left") (Page 2): Oliver Stone's JFK: The JFK 100: JFK assassination investigation: Jim Garrison New Orleans investigation of the John F. Kennedy assassination