The Plot to Kill Robert Kennedy 1972-1973 - VHS Capture - AVI/XVID - aka The Second Gun

I found a couple copies of these VHS tapes at a thrift store many years ago and capped/created different file types and sizes. I wasn't able to get the folder with files to seed so am doing only one file.

It's a very rare video that I doubt many have seen.

I'll seed for a while but will need others to help out also.

DVD

Format : DVD Video
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 29.970
Standard : NTSC

AVI/XVID

Format : AVI
File size : 697 MiB
Duration : 1 h 39 min
Width : 640 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 23.976

MP4

Format : MPEG-4
File size : 320 MiB
Duration : 1 h 37 min
Width : 640 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Frame rate : 29.970

AVI/XVID

Format : AVI
File size : 200 MiB
Duration : 1 h 39 min
Width : 320 pixels
Height : 240 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 23.976

Synopsis:

This documentary asserts that Sirhan Sirhan was wrongly convicted as the killer of Senator Robert F. Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel, and that the truth about the 1968 assassination has been suppressed. Interviews with eyewitnesses, forensic evidence and models illustrate the producers’ theories. Archival footage of officials discussing the case, of Kennedy with his family and the public are also presented. The film opens with archival footage of contemporary authorities defending the verdict: Los Angeles District Attorney Evelle J. Younger, who prosecuted Sirhan, emphasizes that approximately 4,000 interviews were conducted to assure the public of a correct conviction and dispel future conspiracy theories; Joseph Busch, Los Angeles District Attorney when the film was made, states that the impact of tragedy caused some to seek a more sensible reason for it; Los Angeles Police Chief Edward Davis states that the case was “open and shut” from the beginning, due to the number of eye witnesses and amount of physical evidence, which was correctly handled; and Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty declares that such murder cases are never completely solved, comparing it to the Abraham Lincoln assassination. The narrator introduces Los Angeles coroner and chief medical examiner Dr. Thomas Noguchi as an official and victim, stating that his reputation as a scientist and physician were attacked because of his involvement in the Sirhan trial. The first titled segment of the film, called “Assassination,” includes footage from the evening of the murder and audio of the aftermath of the killing heard over black-and-white snapshots of the event. After this, director Theodore Charach interviews Scott Enyart, whose photographs taken that evening at the hotel were confiscated and only partially returned to him. In the next section, titled “Investigation,” the objectivity of the officials is questioned. The couple who sold Sirhan ammunition and eyewitnesses to the crime claim that the police did not want to hear the truth from them. Next, the producers introduce the subject of “the girl in the polka dot dress,” a woman reportedly seen at the hotel with Sirhan by several witnesses, who state that a different woman was produced in her place at the trial. At the Ambassador, maître d’ Karl Uecker describes to Charach the murder scene as he remembers it: Kennedy was led through the kitchen, shaking hands with hotel staff members, lastly with busboy Juan Romero. Kennedy was still talking to Romero when Uecker took the senator’s right wrist with his left hand, telling him they had to go. At that moment, Sirhan moved between Uecker and the kitchen steam table, leaving about one foot between them. Thinking that Sirhan was a staff member who would further delay them, Uecker pushed him away, against the table, with Sirhan directly in front of him. Uecker immediately heard a shot, then a second shot, and then lost Kennedy’s hand. The narrator then states that Noguchi reported that Kennedy’s fatal wound, behind his right ear, was fired from a distance of one to three inches, and Uecker states that it was not possible that that shot occurred before he grabbed Sirhan. Noguchi found two other wounds in Kennedy’s armpit, which entered from the back, and Uecker says that Sirhan could not have fired them from where he was standing. In an interview done after the trial, Younger dismisses the discrepancies. Following widely reported accusations of Noguchi’s dereliction in the case and his subsequent firing, Noguchi’s attorney, Godfrey Isaac, defends his client’s autopsy on Kennedy as perfect. The narrator then discloses that Noguchi was reinstated and cleared of all charges. Next, Thane Eugene Cesar, a private security guard hired for the event, is interviewed, revealing that he drew his gun, but asserting that it was not cocked and could not have discharged accidentally. However, the narrator discloses that Cesar gave conflicting reports to the police, FBI and the district attorney as to exactly when he pulled his gun. In the next section, “Revelation,” several hypotheses are discussed: The theory that Sirhan might have been brainwashed and programmed to kill Kennedy is explored, and Mary Sirhan states that her son told her he did not remember shooting Kennedy. At the Sirhan trial, Los Angeles police ballistics expert De Wayne Wolfer testified that a fourth shot hit the shoulder pad of Kennedy’s coat, never entering his body, meaning that ten bullets were fired. Because Sirhan’s gun held only eight bullets, the narrator concludes that this proves Sirhan’s was not the only weapon fired. The filmmakers question Wolfer’s veracity: Wolfer testified that the bullets from Kennedy’s neck and those recovered from other shooting victims that night were from same gun; however, an Orange County investigation revealed that the .22 caliber gun recovered from the pantry was destroyed by the Los Angeles Police Department in 1968, before the trial. This issue continues to be discussed in the next segment, titled “Confrontation.” When it was asserted that Wolfer had violated proper ballistics procedures, Younger defended test shooting done with a similar gun as accurate, and Busch put any confusion down to simple clerical errors, declining to recommend more test firings to clear up the controversy. The filmmakers introduce forensic and ballistics expert Judge William Harper who believes that the autopsy report strongly establishes that two .22 caliber guns were involved, and that there were two trajectories. Harper suggests that one gun shot Kennedy and another shot the survivors, stating that the bullets that lodged under Kennedy’s arm were not fired by Sirhan. Using a new camera that he developed that allows one to examine the rifling twists on fired bullets, Harper discloses that the marks indicate no match between the bullets from Kennedy’s neck and one of the survivors. In the final segment, “Accusation,” the second gun theory is defended with the following arguments: Two shooters would account for the rapidity of the shots that witnesses reported hearing; private security guard Cesar owned a .22 caliber gun that held nine bullets that he sold three months after Kennedy died; the man who bought Cesar’s gun said it was later stolen. The film ends with Charach concluding that the people have a right to know the truth and that simple justice demands it.

History of this film.

Onscreen credits acknowledge the assistance of radio stations Europe No. 1 Radio and KPFK-FM, television stations KHJ-TV and KNBC-TV, Straight Records and United Press International. The credits conclude with the statement: “All persons contributing to this film did so for no other consideration than making this historical record possible. The producers wish to thank them, with special gratitude to William W. Harper.” The film ends with a quote from Napoleon Bonaparte to his minister of police, Foucé: “The art of the police consists of not seeing what there is no use to see.”
United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy was shot in Los Angeles just after midnight on 5 Jun 1968, in the kitchen pantry of the Ambassador Hotel, shortly after addressing supporters celebrating his victory in the California Presidential primary. Because so many reporters were on hand to cover the political event, the shooting was recorded on audio, and the aftermath was documented on film and in still photographs. Kennedy was shot three times and died nearly twenty-six hours later. Five other people were shot, but recovered from their injuries. Twenty-four-year-old, Palestinian-born Sirhan Sirhan, who was firing into the crowd, was captured and arrested at the scene. Sirhan pled guilty at his Los Angeles trial, was convicted on 17 Apr 1969 and sentenced to death; however, his sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1972 after the California Supreme Court invalidated all pending death sentences imposed in California prior to that year.
A voice-over narration is heard intermittently throughout the film, often introducing those being interviewed and highlighting the producers’ theories. The 12 Nov 1973 Box review disclosed that Charach, a Canadian-born investigative reporter, was at the Ambassador Hotel on the night of the assassination and spent five years researching the case before the release of the film. Charach continued to pursue his investigation, and as of 2009, was still actively involved in trying to prove the “second gun theory.”
Reviews of the film concentrated primarily on how the subject matter was presented, and were mixed on its effectiveness. The 9 Oct 1973 NYT review stated that the movie “sowed some seeds of doubt that Sirhan Sirhan was the sole assassin” but that the evidence presented did not offer enough proof that justice had not been served. The 22 Oct 1973 Time review called the second gun theory plausible, but cited inaccuracies and implied that Charach’s “polemnic zeal” made the validity of his film questionable. The 12 Nov 1973 Box review stated that the film “raises a lot of disturbing questions” and the 24 Mar 1975 Box review called it” well-made” and “thought-provoking.” The movie was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Documentary Film in 1974.
A 15 Feb 1974 LAT article reported that Charach and producer/director Alcan filed a $3.75 million dollar libel lawsuit against author Robert E. Kaiser, publishers Huntington Hartford and James Goode and H & R Publications, Inc. for Kaiser’s review of The Second Gun in the Dec 1973 issue of Show Magazine. The review alleged that the film’s producers were unqualified as journalists and had tried to perpetrate a fraud on the public. Charach countered that he had “devoted his life to investigating the assassination” and had discovered physical and scientific evidence that refuted the theory that Sirhan’s gun fired the bullet that killed Kennedy. The disposition of the suit is unknown.
A 23 Jan 1975 DV news item announced that American Films, Ltd. had acquired the rights to The Second Gun. According to the 24 Mar 1975 Box review, the picture was scheduled to be shown in Washington in a national preview of its final version in May 1975.

Although the end credits list the copyright date as 1972, with Theodore Charach and Gérard Alcan as the claimants, the film was not registered for copyright at the time of its release. A videocassette of the film was registered as PA-598-938 on 3 Sep 1992 and included the alternate titles Who Really Killed Bobby Kennedy?—R. F. K.—the Maze and The Plot to Kill Robert Kennedy—R. F. K.—the Exposé.