Other film footage?

There are actually four amateur/home movie films of the assassination filmed from various places in Dealy Plaza that show the President at the critical moments, but only Zapruder's film captured the event with telephoto lens clarity and from an angle that speaks for the unspeakable violence of the situation. Orville Nix, Mary Muchmore and Charles Bronson (not the actor) all managed to capture the moment as well though none of them had chosen a spot as advantageous as Mr. Zapruder, and none of them were using a camera equipped with telephoto/zoom lenses.

To quantify the difference, the camera he was using would be the present day equivalent of a higher end digital video camera in the $900 - $1600 price range where the others were using cameras who's image resolution would be about the same as your basic Razor type phone or budget range digital camera with video capability. As such Zapruder's film is the most famous and most useful of the four -- all of which are available online in varying quality file formats with a quick Google search -- with the dramatic head shot that serves as the event's iconic image.

I have seen what would be called "research quality" digitized videos of all four and each one does have little nuances that help to tell the story of what happened, since no single angle could have possibly provide a total view of the event from more than one angle. The Orville Nix and Mary Muchmoore films are particularly interesting because they were standing more or less opposite of where Zapruder was perched and give the viewer a greater feel for the pandemonium that followed the event. They help give a feel for how QUICKLY it all happened: Zapruder's film only runs 26 seconds (which are not continuous: He stopped filming for a couple seconds when he realized the President's car was still not in sight) and he was more focused on the limousine itself.

If you find one of the high resolution digital copies of Zapruder's available you'll notice that even after the President had been shot for the first time people are still waving & smiling. He followed the car with a pan and managed to capture the head shot and then the car accelerated and was gone. In the Nix and Muchmoore films you can see the crowds actually react to that final shot in reference to the events documented on Zapruder's film because they were further away and filming from a larger relative angle. The often seen footage from documentaries of people running up the knoll right after the events were from those other films, specifically the Orville Nix film. Mary Muchmore was close enough to get frames of the President's head jerking back and forth, and she also made the well known sequence that shows SS Agent Hill running up to and leaping onto the limousine as it accelerated after the head shot -- one of the bravest feats ever performed by a civil servant, if I might say.

Rest assured that if you have seen any JFK documentary worth it's salt or even Oliver Stone's feature film you have seen clips from all four of the movies used at some time or another. And there is no way to deny that after encountering the madness and power of Zapruder's telephoto lens enhanced document there is a certain disappointment when seeing the other witness films, who's usefulness in understanding the events is only really appreciated when viewed in conjunction with Zapruder's definitive take.

Hi, Indiepoo.