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DVD In Cold Blood
Truman Capote's extraordinary nonfiction book about the course of two killers in this world--their lives, their senseless slaughter of an entire family, their executions--was faithfully adapted for the screen in this 1967 film by Richard Brooks (Deadline USA, The Blackboard Jungle). Robert Blake and Scott Wilson are remarkable as the murderers, but what has kept this film special over the decades is Brooks's blunt, clearheaded, and nonsensational approach to the story. (The term "semidocumentary" has been applied to Brooks's style on this film, and it's an entirely fair description.) The experience of watching In Cold Blood is naturally unsettling, but the director--as with Capote--leaves final judgments about justice to the beholder. --Tom Keogh
It Shines As Bright Today As When It Was First Released
When my DVD arrived yesterday I could not wait to take it home and watch it. I saw it when it originally came out in the 60s and I remember being shocked by the gritty black and white photography and the content. This was heady stuff for Atlanta. Robert Blake's performance haunts me to this day, so many years later. As I watched it last night I marveled at the photography, lighting, acting, writing. While only Mr. Forsyth and Mr. Blake are household names today, the other actors and actresses were perfectly cast. The performances are outstanding. I wish someone would bring this glorious masterpiece to the big screen again so the younger generation can enjoy it as we did so long ago. Perhaps they will order the DVD from Amazon.com and see for themselves what I am talking about. Truman Capote at his most brilliant. Robert Blake at his peak. Fascinating piece of film work.
A great adaptation of a timeless story
I love the book this movie's based on, and am relieved to report that the movie is great as well--though in different ways.
"In Cold Blood" tells the true story of two young guys who senselessly murder an entire family in rural Kansas, mistakenly believing the family to have a hidden safe. While the book focuses almost equally on the people who were murdered, the killers, and the lawmen pursuing the killers, the movie focuses mainly on just the killers, and makes them that much more human in the process.
The film is shot in bright grim black-and-white, and its style makes the movie feel somewhat like old news footage, or like a cinema verite documentary. The movie's sudden bop-style music (by Quincy Jones) is great and helps boost the weird and creepy vibes surrounding the killers and their actions, and the director's use of MOS (silence when there could be sound) makes the scenes of the family's deaths all the more chilling, and all the more tragic.
The first half of the movie unfurls itself slowly, lazily, but serves well to introduce and even attach the viewer to the main characters, despite the characters' murderous ways...especially to Perry, the more childlike and (arguably) emotionally imbalanced of the two. Well-incorporated flashbacks serve to show the killers' sad childhoods, and makes their crime that much sadder, and that much harder to judge fairly.
The movie also ends in a very different spot than the book does, and much more abruptly, but it ends well, and the movie stands strongly as a work of art all its own.
I highly recommend it, and I'm looking forward to tracking down a copy of the 1990s-made-for-TV remake, and to seeing "Capote," the new film about Truman Capote writing the original book.
Masterful adaptation of Truman Capote's 1966 novel.
As Philip Seymour Hoffman earns rave reviews for Bennett Miller's newly released film "Capote", film enthusiasts may be interested in viewing the original film. They will not be disappointed. "In Cold Blood" is a masterful adaptation of Truman Capote's 1966 "non-fiction novel" directed and produced by Richard Brooks in haunting black and white cinematography.
The story captures the actual 1959 murder of the Clutter family, an All-American family living in the Kansas heartland as well as the subsequent investigation and prosecution of the killers. Capote created a new literary style by combining verified facts of the murders with fictional dialogue and characters to enhance the story. The film's style holds well by today's standards; in fact, one could argue that time has improved its documentary feel. The Clutters, as well as the supporting actors, don't feel like actors - their flat performances make them feel like real people. The sparse, barren Kansas prairie adds to the film's cold and empty sense.
Robert Blake and Scott Wilson deliver exemplary performances as the impassive killers, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. The film cuts to flashbacks to show how both killers were raised without values, living in poverty, and beaten senselessly. While Capote strove to use this as a vehicle against capital punishment, the film conveys a sense of justice well served. These killers are shown as cold, heartless, and cruel - it is difficult, if not impossible, to feel empathy for their executions. Smith and Hickock do little to repent their crimes or repent ("I'd like to apologize. But who to?").
This is a brutal film to watch. While the killings occur off-camera, the murder sequence is bone-chilling and heart-breaking. We learn about the details through a Hickock flashback; it is a highly disturbing scene. Director Richard Brooks remains loyal to the facts of the case through to its ultimate conclusion. For lovers of crime drama, this film is a must-see. For others, be prepared for a painfully gripping story.
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This silky smooth film noir pits gruff police detective Dana Andrews, stiff and blunt in his street-bred manners, against a cultured columnist and acidic wit (Clifton Webb at his prissiest) in a battle of wits during a murder investigation. The cop is a romantic hiding under a hard-boiled exterior who falls in love with the beautiful victim through the portrait that hangs in her apartment. Gene Tierney, whose heart-shaped face mixes the exotic with the girl next door, brings the poise and calm of a model to her role as the object of every man's gaze and the target of a killer. Laura, handsomely shot in dreamy black and white, is the first and best of Otto Preminger's cool, controlled murder mysteries. In the gritty world of film noir it remains the most refined and elegant example... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gene Tierney - Dana Andrews Director(s): Rouben Mamoulian - Otto Preminger DVD Release Date: Released the 15 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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