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Viewed 11/27/03 (DVD) (First Viewing)

Much like Capote's book that the movie is based on, In Cold Blood has gaping flaws that the film just can't overcome. When the focus is on the intentional execution of the Clutter family by two very different individuals who come together to perform the heinous act, it's just masterful. But once the murderers are caught and the trial and execution process begins, both the film and the movie trails off into an anticlimactic resolution (basically, it becomes boring because it's not nearly as compelling as the murder mystery itself).

Robert Blake and Scott Wilson are excellent as the killers, but the real star of the show is the recently deceased Conrad L. Hall's expressive and moody black and white cinematography. As always when Hall is involved- the film looks magnificent.

A worthy effort, but just never really succeeds.

Comments pending.

****/****

Pro: The acting. THE CINEMATOGRAPHY!!! The father monologue. The ending. The editing.

Con: A bit too long. The narration wasn't needed.

I'm really tired right now, but I wanted to get this down while the film was relatively fresh in my mind. It's rare that a film has this much affect on me, but I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since it ended.

What a frightening experience. I don't mean frightening in the conventional sense, but on a much deeper level. What I find most frightening about this film is not only that something like this could happen to anyone at any time, but also that I could end up sympathizing with the two men who commited such a vile act. I sat the night after watching it staring at my ceiling, thinking hard about death and how terrifying it is to me solely because of this film. It truly haunted me long after my viewing. That's pretty special.

If this film doesn't make you think twice about capital punishment, you have no heart. Robert Blake and Scott Wilson do an immaculate job as the two drifters looking for a quick buck no matter who they hurt in the way.
They are very human and very convincing, and their emotional responses are never questionable. There are so many films out there, especially in older films, where I end up scratching my head at a character's decision, and it's refreshing to find a film that's grounded in realism.

Not only did the film connect on an emotional level, but the construction of the film is brilliant. We don't see the crime until it's confessed by the killers. Until then we've been with them on their journey afterwards, and seeing them as people as opposed to monsters. We see two misguided and generally unloved individuals who are completely lost. It's almost heartbreaking at times.

During this entire journey, the camera plays with shadows, casting suspicions and doubt over every situation save a select few, one of which is a scene where the two men are joined by a young boy and his grandfather. It's shows the men in all their innocence and childishness.

On top of the great cinematography is the editing. Director Richard Brooks is very inventive with the editing machine. One cut in particular stick out in my mind. It's a scene in which Robert Blake's character Perry flicks a cigarette out the window of the car over a bridge. The next shot is of the water, but instead of a butt falling gently, a giant magnet held by a crane slams into the river jolting the viewer. This type of creativity is present throughout the entire film.

It should be said that, while researching for his novel, author Truman Capote fell in love with Perry. There is an obvious slant of sympathy towards his character, and at times it's a tad manipulative in his favor. However even after taking that into consideration, I still felt sympathetic for his cohort Dick. That lets me know that overall the film was emotionally honest.

I started to read In Cold Blood years ago and never finished it, not because it wasn't interesting, but because I didn't feel like reading anything at the time. I desperately want to pick up the book again. I can't emphasize enough how much of an impact this film had on me. I gave it a 9 only because a small segment of the film dragged a bit and I wished that Perry hadn't been made to look so saintly. That said, I can't wait to see this film again. I'm almost positive it will move up to a perfect score.

.....

I'm gonna load 'haps 20 so bucks on my print card, enter the university computer lab and start printing out all the jobs queued up on the print terminal. Then I'm thinking...blackmail? Al Pacino voice: I got your Intercultural Communications paper...if you EVER want to see it again.......(enter sum of money to be paid in small untraceable bills)

A masterful film, that really gets under your skin -- with the creepy portrayal of Perry Smith by Robert Blake (or maybe I'm just creeped out by Blake) and the acts depicted (the murder of a family, death by hanging).

It's all very stylish as well, with quick cuts -- Perry is shaving, cut to Mr Clutter shaving, Perry is riding a bus, the bus becomes a speeding Santa Fe passenger train, Perry throws a cigarette out of the car as the car crosses the bridge, it cuts to water and suddenly a giant magnet from a crane splashes into the water.

More style is applied by the smooth jazz-blues score by Quincy Jones.

All the acting is top notch with Blake, Scott Wilson and John "Charlie's Angels" Forsythe as the lead detective on the case. Will Geer is memorable in a small role as the prosecutor, reciting passages out of the Bible as he makes the case for the death sentence.

Truman Capote's book In Cold Blood supposedly looks into the tragic pasts and twisted relationships that drove the largely pointless murder of a family of four on a Kansas farm in 1959 by two unwitting criminals (having not read it, I can only defer from what has been said about it--hey, with as much reading as I have to do for classes, it's a wonder I watch any movies at all). Looking only at the film adapted from his famous work, one only sees faint traces of these psychological underpinnings, as writer/director Richard Brooks has unwisely taken a story obviously driven by these elements of personal torment and fitted them into a by-the-numbers thriller of criminals on the run and the dogged police investigation that follows, complete with overly optimistic foreshadowing of the innocent Clutter family at the center of it all ("Daddy, I promised to teach Jolene how to bake a cherry pie!"). It's all engrossing and involving, but one can't help but get the sense that it's largely self-defeating in the end, as the mournful empathy that follows the two killers, presented largely via flashbacks to memories of childhood abuse and longed-for better days, acts less as an examination of the passive evil that grows out of a flawed society than as an obvious ploy to make the straightforward drama all the more profound. When the killers are finally caught, tried, sentenced, and ultimately hanged, what should be a deeply emotive swell of conflicting injustice amounts to little more than a resilient echo of whimpering pity. The movie benefits the most from the simplicity: static shots of individuals acknowledging their misdeeds, the stylistically barren black and white cinematography, and silent settings where the sound of a gunshot reverberates even more horrifyingly. Yet these are only moments scattered throughout, as the film is bogged down with a standard crime thriller score and goofy editing devices that only detract from the horror deeply rooted in reality. Robert Blake is especially good as Perry Edward Smith, the most tragically disturbed of the two perpetrators. The films crowning moment comes just before his execution, as he monologues about his relationship with his father before a window during a rainstorm; the external lighting and the water flowing down the plane reflects onto his face, suggesting and internal stream of tears in a transcendent moment of cinema. His performance is strongest in evoking someone more aware of his own flaws than he is able to control them (just moments before he guns down the entire Clutter family, he stops his partner from raping the daughter, roaring "I hate people who can't control themselves."), even if his ability to do so is undercut by the shortsightedness of the screenplay.

What an incredible film! The cinematography, writing and editing are all outstanding. The direction by Richard Brooks is brilliant, and the performances of the two leads, Robert Blake and Scott Wilson are brilliant as well. Robert Blake's performance by far got more attention, but I think Scott Wilson is equally good. A simple and engrossing film.

Truman Capote was a lifelong friend of Monroeville neighbor Harper Lee and was the inspiration for the character of Dill in her best-seller To Kill A Mockingbird. Capote frequently implied that he himself had written a considerable portion of her novel; some even say he ghosted the entire novel. At least one person - Pearl Kazin Bell, an editor at Harper's - has gone on record as believing his assertions were true.




Clifton Collins Jr. and Philip Seymour Hoffman

actual rating - 8.2