Who, if anyone, owns the rights to the image known as "General Nguyen Ngoc Loan Executing a Viet Cong Prisoner in Saigon"? Who owns the rights to the execution footage attributed to "NBC News" (taken by a South Vietnamese cameraman Vo Suu, who worked with NBC correspondent Howard Tuckner? Would such images ever be shown on television or in mainstream print or Internet outlets today? Do (or did) either of the men who were photographed have any rights (moral or legal) over how their likenesses were used? Are the images legally considered to be in the public domain - and, if so, when did that happen? The pictures were taken by credentialed, professional news photographers. Reviewing " Head," Nick Burton wrote: "Indeed, there is much newsreel footage here of the Vietnam war, and the frightening image of a man being shot point blank in the head, execution-style, reoccurs in this G-rated film enough to remind the audience just what was at stake when people's attentions were distracted by escapism." Images of the execution were also used in " Head " (1968), directed by Bob Rafelson, written by Rafelson and Jack Nicholson, and starring the Monkees, Victor Mature and Annette Funicello. No identification with actual persons is intended or should be inferred." The film does contain a standard disclaimer, reading: "The story, all names, characters and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. "Although a number of "galleries and artists" are acknowledged in the end credits of "Stardust Memories" for the use of photos and artworks in the film, the source for this picture is not cited. What the photograph didn't say was, 'What would you do if you were the general at that time and place on that hot day, and you caught the so-called bad guy after he blew away one, two or three American soldiers?' People believe them, but photographs do lie, even without manipulation. Still photographs are the most powerful weapon in the world. The general killed the Viet Cong I killed the general with my camera. It was widely reprinted and was used as a symbolic image by the anti-war movement. The title of the photo, which became instantly famous around the world, is "General Nguyen Ngoc Loan Executing a Viet Cong Prisoner in Saigon" and it won a Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography in 1969. His face was disfigured because he had been beaten. The man in the plaid shirt, who is or is about to be shot in the head (his death is shown in NBC News footage taken at the same time), is thought to be Nguyễn Văn Lém (or possibly Le Cong Na), and was either a Viet Cong officer or a political operative. The man with the gun is South Vietnamese National Police Chief General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan.
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