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ZAPRUDER FILM - EXTREME SLOW-MOTION (STOCK) The first bullet strikes President Kennedy in the back, causing him to lurch forward and both of his arms to raise up at the elbows. Gov. Connally looks back over his shoulder to see what's going on. Jackie looks confused and doesn't know what's happening. Marcel instantly cocks the rifle, the empty shell ejects, he sights back in and fires again . . . We also see this bullet leave the barrel in extreme slow-motion . . . The bullet travels through the air and across the plaza . . . ZAPRUDER FILM - EXTREME SLOW-MOTION (STOCK) The second bullet strikes Governor Connally in the back. Jackie sees that her husband is shot and begins to scream. Connally slumps over. INT. BOOK DEPOSITORY/ SIXTH-FLOOR - DAY Marcel instantly cocks the rifle again, ejects the shell, sights back in and fires again . . . EXT. ELM STREET - DAY (EXTREME SLOW-MOTION) The third bullet misses the president's limo entirely, hits the curb ahead of the limo directly in front of a male pedestrian on the side of the street, then ricochets up past his face. The man is pelted in the face with cement particles and drives to the ground. EXT. RAILROAD YARD PARKING LOT - DAY The presidential limo comes into view from the top of the Grassy Knoll. Andre sees it first. ANDRE Lucien pans the sights of his scope to the left and gets the presidential limo in his sights. He focuses in on Kennedy, who is still leaning forward with arms in the air. Lucien gets JFK into his cross-hairs, doesn't hesitate and pulls the trigger. The bullet leaves the end of the barrel in a puff of smoke and travels through the air in extreme slow-motion . . . EXT. GRASSY KNOLL - DAY Many people standing on the Grassy Knoll dive to the ground as a bullet whizzes over their heads. ZAPRUDER FILM - EXTREME SLOW-MOTION (STOCK) The mercury-filled bullet from Lucien's rifle strikes President John F. Kennedy in the right side of his head, between his right eye and his right ear. His body is thrown backward against the seat and into Jackie. The mercury-filled bullet explodes and blows out the right rear of his head, spattering his wife with blood and brains. John's body slumps over. Jackie screams and tries to crawl out of the car over the trunk. A secret service man jumps on the rear bumper of the limo. JACKIE The motorcade speeds up Elm St. and under the overpass. EXT. GRASSY KNOLL - DAY The people all over the Grassy Knoll react to what they have just seen. They rise back to their feet, shaken and horrified, all turning and looking over their shoulders to the picket fence where the shot was fired. Blue smoke still hangs in the air in front of the fence. INT. BOOK DEPOSITORY/ SIXTH-FLOOR - DAY Marcel in the book depository quickly picks up his own empty shell casings from the floor and puts them in his pocket -- except that he can only find two out of three of them. Marcel gets slightly panicked, crawling around on his hands and knees frantically searching. Marcel leans down to look between the floorboards and the shell drops out of his shirt pocket onto the floor in front of him. Marcel takes a deep breath, shakes his head, picks up the shell and puts it into his pants' pocket. He then dumps the three shell casings in the plastic bag on the windowsill, then puts the plastic bag in his pocket. Marcel puts his rifle back in the box, closes the box, then quickly heads across the sixth floor of the book depository. He reaches the stairwell and starts down. EXT. RAILROAD YARD PARKING LOT - DAY Lucien lowers the rifle, puts it flat against
the side of his body between he and Andre, and they both walk deliberately
back to the open door of the van. Andre steps into the door, Lucien
hands him the rifle, then immediately turns around and puts on his police
hat. Lucien sees some pedestrians stepping forward and waves his
hand at them authoritatively. The people turn around and step back. Lucien turns in the other direction, gets into the van and slams the door closed. Andre lights a cigarette, starts the engine, backs out of the parking space and drives across the parking lot. As he arrives at the driveway to the street he finds several people standing there blocking the van's path, and among the people is a SECRET SERVICE MAN with a walkie-talkie, who steps over to the van and speaks to Andre. SECRET
SERVICE MAN ANDRE SECRET
SERVICE MAN ANDRE The Secret Service Man looks at the parking lot. SECRET
SERVICE MAN ANDRE SECRET
SERVICE MAN ANDRE SECRET
SERVICE MAN The Secret Service Man clears the people out of the driveway so the van can pass. Andre looks both ways, then makes a right turn onto the street and drives out of sight. Marcel comes out of the stairwell, turns the corner and nearly runs into Lee Oswald, who has just stepped up to the back of the crowd filling the doorway out to Elm St. Marcel gives Lee a little nod that says "Excuse me," turns and heads out the back door with his box. Lee watches him go. LEE EXT. ALLEY BEHIND THE BOOK DEPOSITORY - DAY Marcel steps out of the back door of the book depository and stands there all alone looking rather nervous. He hears a car coming up the alley. When the car turns the corner he sees that it's a police car. Marcel quickly steps back into the book depository doorway. The police car cruises by. Marcel steps out into the alley again just as Andre pulls up in the van. Lucien opens the side door, Marcel jumps in, the door is slammed shut and the van drives away. EXT. FRONT OF BOOK DEPOSITORY - DAY (STOCK SHOTS) People are crowded around the front door of the book depository and are pointing up at the windows. Plain-clothes policemen, with some uniformed cops, too, enter the building. Lee is standing in front of the building calmly watching all of the commotion, his hands in his pockets. EXT. GRASSY KNOLL - DAY The people standing all over the Grassy Knoll are speaking to several uniformed policemen. All of the people keep pointing back toward the picket fence. The policemen write their statements down in little notebooks. INT. VAN - DAY Lucien and Marcel both light cigarettes as they bounce along. Andre turns a corner and heads away from Dealy Plaza. EXT. PARKLAND HOSPITAL - DAY (STOCK SHOTS) The presidential limo and six motorcycle cops come screaming up in front of Parkland Hospital. Orderlies come running out pushing gurnies.
Jack Ruby is sitting in the waiting room along with many other people. As soon as the people hear the commotion they all rise to their feet and move toward the door, as does Jack. He is wearing gloves and holds the lead bullet between his fingers. As Kennedy's body is rushed in on the wheeled gurney, Jack steps up beside it and walks along. JACK ORDERLY Jack drops the bullet on the gurney and backs off. The orderlies quickly push the body up the hall. A moment later another gurney is wheeled past with Governor Connally's bloody body lying on it. EXT. TRAFFIC-LINED STREET - DAY Andre driving the white van is caught in a traffic jam. Police keep screaming past in the opposite direction. In back, Lucien is hastily getting out of the policeman uniform and changing into his regular clothes. EXT. PARKLAND HOSPITAL - DAY Jack removes his gloves, puts them in his pocket and steps out of the hospital. There is commotion in front of the hospital, with cops, reporters, cameramen, secret service and FBI agents. The secret service men have surrounded Lyndon Johnson. The HEAD SECRET SERVICE MAN says to LBJ. HEAD
SECRET SERVICE MAN Lyndon Johnson and his wife get in their limo and are rushed away. Jack cuts behind several uniformed cops that are stopping people from entering the hospital and exits the hospital. Jack glances over at the presidential limousine. Jackie Kennedy is sitting there all by herself
in the back seat, completely covered with blood. Jackie opens
her gloved hand and finds she's still holding a squiggly hunk of her
husband's brain. Secret Service men finally come and escort her
into the hospital. REPORTER JACK REPORTER JACK Jack nods and walks away from the hospital and the crowd. EXT. SUBURBAN HOUSE - DAY Andre pulls the van head first into the garage. He quickly gets out and shuts the garage door. INT. GARAGE - DAY Andre opens the side door of the van and Lucien and Marcel both get out. They suddenly all burst in to laughter, hugging and slapping each other on the backs. EXT. PHONE BOOTH IN DOORWAY - DAY Jack steps into a phone booth across the street from the hospital while he puffs away on a cigarette. He puts a dime in the phone and dials. A female DISPATCHER answer the phone. DISPATCHER Jack adopts a throaty thick Bronx accent that's not very good.
Jack hangs up the phone. He takes a big drag of his cigarette, puts another dime in the phone and dials again. A female OPERATOR answers. OPERATOR Jack does the same fake voice. JACK Jack hangs up quickly. He takes one more big puff, then drops the cigarette and smashes it out. He leaves the phone booth, gets in his car that's parked at the curb and drives away. EXT. C.I.A. HEADQUARTERS, LANGLEY, VIRGINIA - DAY This is a large building with a sign in front stating, "CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY." INT. C.I.A. HEADQUARTERS/ COMMUNICATIONS ROOM - DAY A crowd of CIA employees are grouped around a portable black and white TV set watching the unfolding story of the President Kennedy's shooting. The Assistant steps up to a middle-aged man who is his SUPERVISOR and hands him the teletype. ASSISTANT The Supervisor looks at his watch. SUPERVISOR ASSISTANT SUPERVISOR ASSISTANT The Supervisor reads the teletype, then quickly exits the communications room. INT. C.I.A. RECORDS ROOM - DAY A file drawer marked "O" is slid open. A file inscribed, "Oswald, Lee H." is taken out of the drawer. The Supervisor takes the file, then quickly leaves the records room INT. HALLWAY/ C.I.A. HEADQUARTERS - DAY INT. RICHARD HELMS OFFICE - DAY RICHARD HELMS, a handsome, 45-year old man with black hair, reads the file. He turns a few pages and looks increasingly more agitated as he goes. He stands and hastily leaves his office with the file in hand. INT. HALLWAY/ C.I.A. HEADQUARTERS - DAY Richard Helms steps up in front of a frosted glass door that says, "John A. McCone, Director," opens the door and goes in. INT. JOHN McCONE'S OFFICE - DAY John McCone, a graying, middle-aged man with a paunch, reads the file and grows more and more wide-eyed. McCONE HELMS John McCone picks up the telephone and dials. HELMS McCONE Helms nods in agreement. INT. BOOK DEPOSITORY - DAY (STOCK SHOTS) The plain-clothes policemen searching the book depository first find the empty shell casings on the window sill, then another cop finds the rifle behind some boxes and holds it up for everyone to see. They take it out of the building, holding it up like a prize. The policemen bring the rifle out of the book depository. Lee is standing there and gets a good look at it -- and recognizes that it's his rifle, with the "Fair Play for Cuba" button on the strap! LEE Lee's eyes go wide, what the hell is going on? His hand immediately goes to his jacket's inside pocket where he keeps is .38 pistol, which is still there. Lee rubs his face, then walks slowly away from the book depository. Lee spots a taxi cab and gets in. LEE The taxi drives away from the book depository. INT. TRAUMA ROOM #1, PARKLAND HOSPITAL - DAY President Kennedy's inert naked blue body is on an operating table and two doctors -- DR. PETERS and DR. McCLELLAND -- are doing everything they can to resuscitate him. Chest message is performed, as well as mouth-to-mouth, and a Tracheotomy, but nothing's working, undoubtedly due to the fact that JFK is missing the back of his head and most of his brains are hanging out. The doctors lift the president's lifeless body, see the wound in his upper back, then Dr. Peters spots the bullet on the gurney. He picks it up with his gloved hand and he and Dr. McClelland inspect it. A SECRET SERVICE AGENT steps up and asks . . . SECRET
SERVICE AGENT DR.
PETERS SECRET
SERVICE AGENT Dr. McClelland holds the bullet up to the light and turns it around -- it's in perfect condition. The Secret Service Agent puts on a rubber glove and takes the bullet. It's put into an envelope, another agent takes it and quickly leaves the room. Meanwhile, another masked doctor tries to step up and is stopped by a SECRET SERVICE AGENT. SECRET
SERVICE AGENT DR.
CLARK SECRET
SERVICE The agent lets DR. CLARK through. The doctor steps up to Kennedy's body and the two other doctors working, Dr. McClelland and Dr. Peters, both step back and allow Dr. Clark to examine the patient. Dr. Clark inspects the wound, touches Kennedy's Carotid Artery, looks up at the other two doctors and shakes his head with finality. DR.
CLARK A Secret Service Agent steps up to four other Secret Service and CIA agents. SECRET
SERVICE AGENT CIA
AGENT The CIA man turns to the snaggle-toothed AMBULANCE DRIVER.
AMBULANCE
DRIVER The ambulance driver turns and leaves. Yet another masked doctor steps up and is stopped by the Secret Service Agent. SECRET
SERVICE AGENT DR. EARL ROSE pulls down his mask and says . . . DR.
ROSE CIA
AGENT DR.
ROSE Several Secret Service and CIA men step up to face the doctor, their hands on their pistols. SECRET
SERVICE AGENT Doctors Rose, Clark, Peters, and McClelland and
three nurses all realize that they are outnumbered by armed men with
their hands on their guns. The doctors and nurses back off. Lee gets out of the taxi, gives the driver his last two dollars, then quickly goes into his rooming house. Lee comes into his room, crosses directly to the closet and looks inside. Yep, his rifle's gone. He looks around in a panic, his hand instinctively going to the .38 in his pocket. LEE Lee turns and walks right out of the place. INT. TRAUMA ROOM #1 - DAY The ambulance drivers arrive with a bronze casket. The Secret Service, CIA, and FBI push their way past the doctors and nurses, wrap Kennedy's head in a sheet, grab the sheet he's on and hoist his body into the casket. Dr. Rose is still protesting and steps up to block the path of the casket. DR.
ROSE The Secret Service Agent gets right into the doctor's face. SECRET
SERVICE AGENT The agents lift the casket and come right at Dr. Rose, who finally steps out of the way. The casket is taken out of the room. EXT. SIDE STREET - DAY Parked on the side of the street is a Dallas Police car, and inside is Officer J. D. TIPPET, a pot-bellied, middle-aged, Texas good old boy. The Dispatcher's voice is coming out of the police radio . . . EXT. BECKLEY STREET - DAY Lee walks quickly up Beckley Street in the neighborhood of Oak Cliff. He's got his hands in his jacket pockets and keeps looking back over his shoulder. The police car turns the corner onto North Beckley Street. Officer Tippet drives up a ways, looks up and who does he see walking down the street but Lee Oswald, hands in his jacket pockets. Tippet grabs the radio. TIPPET Tippet speeds up, swerves to the other side of the street and screeches to a halt beside Lee. Lee is startled. He gasps and mutters under his breath. LEE Officer Tippett leans over and speaks out of his out his passenger window with a thick Texas drawl. OFFICER
TIPPET Lee stops, sighs, then slowly turns around. LEE OFFICER
TIPPET Lee is very surprised to be addressed by name. Tippet is horrified and begins fumbling for his holstered pistol. OFFICER
TIPPET Lee sees Officer Tippet fumbling for his pistol under his roll of fat while also fumbling with the door handle. Lee suddenly looks like a caged rat, and without a second thought he pulls his own .38 snub-nose, sticks it into the passenger window of the police car and fires twice right into Officer Tippet's chest, killing him. Tippet slumps over dead in a car full of blue smoke. Lee pulls the pistol out of the car, jams it back in his jacket pocket, turns and keeps walking rapidly up the street. His eyes are nearly bugging out. He just keeps walking faster with his hands in his pockets, throwing crazed glances over his shoulder. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM AT PARKLAND HOSPITAL - DAY (STOCK SHOT) Dr. Clark steps into the conference room which is jammed full of reporters, TV and movie cameras. Dr. Clark steps before a table and announces . . . DR.
CLARK EXT. SAM GIANCANA'S HOUSE - DAY Snow covers the ground and hangs on the trees outside Sam Giancana's large suburban Chicago house. Two men in long dark coats patrol the grounds. Sam is down in his paneled office in his basement watching a small black and white TV playing and smoking a cigar. WALTER CRONKITE is on the TV. He is repeating the news that Kennedy has been shot, when he is handed an update. Cronkite stops his report, removes his thick, black-rimmed glasses, wipes his eye, regains his composure, then announces . . . WALTER
CRONKITE SAM He puts his cigar in his mouth and takes a satisfied puff. EXT. THE KENNEDY ESTATE, HYANNIS PORT - DAY The Kennedy's estate in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts,
is walled-off and gated, so you can't see in. A title reads, "The
Kennedy Estate, Hyannis Port." Joe Kennedy sits in a wheelchair holding his silver-tipped cane, surrounded by many member of the Kennedy family and everyone is watching the color TV. Joe looks much older since we last saw him and the right side of his face now sags due to a stroke. The Kennedy family has just heard that President Kennedy is dead. Many of the women begin to cry. Joe Kennedy's sagging face begins to twitch, as does the rest of his head. He's having another stroke, but no one else notices because they've all moved closer to the TV set. Joe is having trouble breathing and the silver-tipped cane drops out of his hand and falls to the carpeted floor with a muffled thump. INT. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT DINING ROOM - DAY The Justice Department's dining room is large, spacious and well-lit. There are white table cloths on the round tables, and waiters scurrying all around with trays. A MESSENGER enters the dining room. The Messenger speaks with the Maitred', who points out a specific table. Robert Kennedy is just finishing lunch with another man. Robert Kennedy stands up, collects the pile of papers on the table, and picks them up. The Messenger steps up to him and whispers in his ear. Robert Kennedy gasps . . . RFK Sal Marcello and several of his men sit in the club's private dining room watching a black and white TV set and smoking cigarettes. They hear the announcement that the president is dead. Marcello and his men all look at each other and shrug. SAL His guys all chuckle. Sal looks smug and satisfied, nodding his head. SAL INT. CLAY SHAW'S HOUSE - DAY Clay Shaw lives in a beautifully-decorated house in the French Quarter of New Orleans. He sits on the couch with a handsome BLOND BOY of twenty-one, who is crying.
Clay puts his arm around the boy and hugs him, a knowing expression on his face. CLAY EXT. THE TEXAS THEATER - DAY On The Texas Theater's marquee it announces: "Cry of Battle" with Van Heflin, and "War is Hell" with Audie Murphy. Lee steps up to the front of the theater, looks around desperately, hearing police sirens coming from all directions, then sticks his hand in his pocket and realizes he hasn't got any money on him. He shakes his head in despair.
He looks around in desperation, then suddenly just opens the theater's door and dashes inside. An USHER behind the candy counter sees him do this. USHER The Usher goes and tells the manager, who quickly picks up a telephone and dials. EXT. LOVE FIELD AIRPORT - DAY (STOCK SHOTS) The white Cadillac hearse arrives at Love Field Airport. The bronze coffin is removed from the hearse and with great difficulty is manhandled up the steps into Air Force One. Lyndon Johnson and his wife escort the bereaved Jackie Kennedy onto the plane. INT. MOVIE THEATER - DAY The movie showing is "Cry of Battle," a cheap programmer with Van Heflin and Rita Moreno set during WWII in the Philippines, and Lee Oswald sits nervously watching it. He can hear police sirens in the distance. EXT. THE TEXAS THEATER - DAY Police cars and reporters come screaming up in front of the theater in many cars, with sirens wailing. Eight plain-clothes cops wearing cowboy hats get out of their cars and pull their pistols, heading into the theater. INT. MOVIE THEATER - DAY Cops come charging into the movie theater from both entrances. Lee stands up, turns around and pulls his .38, waving it back and forth. The audience jumps to their feet and flees out the exits. Cops with cowboy hats and drawn pistols approach Oswald from all directions. Lee can see that he's surrounded and trapped and keeps spinning around with his gun. Finally, one cop grabs the pistol while another pistol-whips Lee smack in the left eye with the butt of his gun. Lee's knees wilt and he drops to the floor. Two cops step in and grab his arms, hoisting him up and immediately drag him up the aisle and out of the theater. Lee comes to his senses and says . . . LEE REPORTER
#1 COP The reporters rapidly write in their notebooks. The cops all get in their cars and drive away. One reporter turns to another one. REPORTER
#1 REPORTER
#2 The first Reporter points at the marquee. The second Reporter glances up at it, then shakes his. REPORTER
#2 INT. DALLAS POLICE STATION/ TELETYPE ROOM - DAY (STOCK SHOTS) One policeman holds Oswald's rifle and reads
off the serial number which another policeman A teletype comes back from the FBI that reads, "Rifle's owner one Oswald, Lee H. Purchased mail order for $17.50." INT. DALLAS POLICE STATION/ LOBBY - DAY (STOCK SHOTS) NEWSMAN LEE NEWSMAN LEE The policemen take Lee away. INT. SUBURBAN HOUSE - DAY Lucien, Andre, and Marcel are all sitting on the floor in their underwear watching the TV and guzzling cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer. They are already completely surrounded in empty beer cans. The TV news ANNOUNCER says . . . ANNOUNCER The three drunk Frenchmen burst out laughing, toast each other, then guzzle their beers. They all realize they may be making too much noise and quickly quiet down. INT. AIR FORCE ONE - DAY (STOCK SHOTS) On the plane back to Washington, Lyndon Baines Johnson, with a tear-stained Jackie Kennedy standing right beside him, is sworn-in as the 36th President of the United States by District Judge Sarah T. Hughes. EXT. ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, WASHINGTON, D.C. - DAY (STOCK SHOTS) LBJ LBJ, Lady Bird and Jackie get into a limo and drive off. Five black sedans converge on the ambulance. From the foremost black sedan steps a white-haired man in his seventies with a white mustache, and a title reads, "ALLEN DULLES, former director of the CIA, 1953-1962." Also stepping out of the car are John McCone and Richard Helms. Ten back-up CIA agents get out of the other cars. An FBI AGENT steps up to Dulles, McCone and Helms. FBI
AGENT DULLES AMBULANCE
DRIVER DULLES AMBULANCE
DRIVER The ambulance drives away and the fleet of black sedans follow along after it, including Allen Dulles, John McCone, and Richard Helms. INT. CAROUSEL CLUB - DAY BARTENDER Jack waves his empty glass. JACK BARTENDER Jack quickly stands and heads unsteadily into the backroom. INT. BACKROOM - DAY Jack picks up the phone and it's Sal Marcello on the other end. SAL Jack's eyes widen in horror. JACK SAL JACK SAL Jack is stunned. He shakily lights a cigarette. JACK JACK SAL JACK SAL JACK SAL JACK
JACK SAL Sal hangs up. Jack sits there with the dead receiver in his hand looking pale. JACK |
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