Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

How the Wiegman film is like Cuckoo's Nest

It's pretty freaky to see Doorman toggling back and forth between two disparate men in just a split-second, but, the truth is: it's just as freaky when it happens over 3 seconds in the film. That's because the camera leaves and comes back, so you're seeing the change just as abruptly.  

Do you remember the ending of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?
The Chief, played brilliantly by the late Native American actor Will Sampson, finds McMurphy lobotimized, and he mercifully smothers him to death. Then, he does what Mac had tried to do, which was to tear out of the floor this rectangular shower room fixture, plumbing and all, and hurl it through the window to escape from the mental hospital.    

Another patient, Taber, played by Christopher Lloyd, hears the racket, and he thinks it's McMurphy breaking out- at last. And he reacts ecstatically. 

That goes on for several seconds, full-bore; then suddenly, it stops; and he reverts to his usual frozen, trance-like state. 

  
Well, that's basically what happens with the Wiegman Doorman, according to the story they're telling. At first, he is reacting to the situation with Kennedy down the hill. 

He's facing that way, and he's looking that way, as you would expect.

But then, suddenly, he snaps the way Christopher Lloyd did.

I went to the trouble of making those from Robin Unger's gif. Look at them side by side.

So, he's looking at Kennedy, and shots are going off. Some people think they are firecrackers or motorcycles backfiring, while others, such as Roy Lewis, recognize them as gunfire immediately. So, why would he suddenly stop, turn 45 degrees, and start looking straight ahead- stiff as a Cigar Store Indian, as he's doing on the right? And observe: it's not just the turning of his head; it's the turning of his whole body. If something had distracted him, he'd have just turned his head, not his whole body. Why would he do that? Remember, at that point in time, the people know that something is terribly wrong. 

That is one of the most poignant images of the assassination. So, what Doorman is doing makes no sense. And, it's just as freaky as what Christopher Lloyd's character did in Cuckoo's Nest.

In fact, it's freakier. Much freakier. That's because we know that Christopher Lloyd's character was a mental case. Was Doorman?

Here's the clip from Cuckoo's Nest. You should watch it if you haven't seen it- or even if you have. It has a brilliant score by Jack Nitzsche, complete with Indian drum beat to honor the Chief. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3Dz6FOE_Gk