Context

This line is spoken by Jim Garrison, played by Kevin Costner, in the film JFK, directed by Oliver Stone (1991).

What really happened the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated? After spending the entire movie laying out his doubts about the Warren Commission, which found that President Kennedy was killed by a single gunman who shot from the book depository, Jim Garrison finally tells the court exactly what he thinks happened on November 22, 1963. Oh, we can't wait to hear this.

Basically, Garrison's theory is that the president wasn't killed by one man, but by a team of trained sharp-shooters who stationed themselves in various locations around the motorcade route. Garrison claims the snipers fired off six shots, the last of which killed the president, causing his head to jerk "back and to the left."

This is the key piece of evidence for Garrison and he repeats it several times for emphasis (while the audience in the court looks on in shock). It means that the shot couldn't have come from the book depository, which by that time was behind Kennedy. It had to come from somewhere else. The grassy knoll, anyone?

The whole scene is actually spectacularly edited. Oliver Stone lays Kevin Costner's monologue over various images. There are recreations of what happened that day, along with actual footage that was shot by Abraham Zapruder in Dallas. The final moments are especially chilling as Garrison repeats "back and to the left," rewinding the footage of the president getting shot over and over again to make his gruesome point.

Where you've heard it

"Back and to the left" has a bit of a conspiratorial ring to it, so you'll often hear it pop up when there's some doubt about the way events went down. Hey, always question The Man.

Additional Notable References

• An episode of Seinfeld parodies this scene from JFK, when Jerry dismantles Kramer and Newman's account of being spit on by a "magic loogie."
• In an episode of The Critic, Oliver Stone releases an additional two hours of footage for JFK, which consists entirely of Kevin Costner's character repeating "back and to the left" over and over again.
• An episode of Murdoch Mysteries is named for this line—"Back and to the Left."

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

If you're serious about pushing your conspiracy theories at dinner parties, folks might start to see you as a bit of a know-it-all. Sorry.