www.mattkprovideo.com/2025/03/31/dog-day-afternoon-and-the-problem-with-eyewitness-memory/
I just watched a documentary about the true story that inspired the 1975 crime drama “Dog Day Afternoon.”
The famous scene where Pacino furiously but nervously takes the rifle out of a box got me thinking about the contradictory memories of Dealey Plaza witnesses and the Tenth and Patton witnesses.
According to many people who were really there, “Dog Day Afternoon” was a relatively accurate depiction of a true event.
In the movie Pacino takes his rifle out of a gift box. The real robber said that is what he did. They found this box later. Many of the witnesses remember him taking the rifle out of a box.
BUT!
Some other equally reliable witnesses said they remember him taking the rifle out of a paper bag!
Does that mean that the “box witnesses” are lying?!?!? That they are a part of some big cover up?
No. It just means that many honest people can remember the same thing differently.
Yes, there are honest reliable Dealey Plaza witnesses who are sure the shots came from somewhere other than the where the Warren Commission said they came from. They are NOT lying. They really believe that. But eyewitness testimony must be combined with whatever physical evidence is found later to get at the real truth.
With the bank robbery, the robber himself said he used a box, and they found the box itself later ( no, all you Mark Lane wannabees, I don’t think the Brooklyn cops tested the box for gun oil or nitrates).
With Dealey Plaza, eyewitnesses/ earwitness have the bullets coming from all over the place.
BUT! the rifle was found on the Sixth Floor and spent bullets were found right near the snipers nest window.
“But the conspirators planted all that to frame patsy Oswald”
Then why did the cops let a civilian news camera operator with come along with them? Wouldn’t he not only see but film them planting the evidence?
And if it was all a set up, why did they only find partial prints and only a little gunsmoke residue on Oswalds face?
I would think a set up plot to frame Oswald would include conclusive evidence such as FULL finger prints and LOTS of gunsmoke residue on Oswald to “prove” his guilt.
Almost all the Tenth and Patton witnesses disagree as to the time the shooting occurred. They disagree on the direction Oswald was walking in. They disagree on whether or not Oswald had his hands is his pockets or if he had his hands on the roof of Tippits car. They disagree on the color of Oswalds jacket. One witness even disagrees on the color of Oswald himself!!!
This means that:
many honest people can remember the same thing differently..
They all agree that the shooter at Tenth and Patton ran away in the direction that the real Oswald was arrested at a bit later
In a similar vein, the book and HBO miniseries “BAND OF BROTHERS” ( Episode 3 “Carentan”) show that Private Albert Blythe died in the battle of Carentan.
Everyone in his unit “remembered” it happening.
BUT!
His descendants provided documents that he survived Carentan.
He survived WW2, and even served in Korea.
He died years later as a civilian.
How could so many intelligent people be SO wrong about such an important thing such as a soldiers death?
I don’t know, but it happens!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-48NdeOk3Q
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