Richard Brooks wrote and directed this stark black-and-white (with brilliantly evocative cinematography by Conrad Hall) study of two drifters who murder a family, based on Truman Capote's non-fiction novel In Cold Blood. The film takes place in Holcomb, Kansas, where four members of the Herbert Clutter family are roused from their sleep and brutally murdered. The killers, Perry Smith (Robert Blake) and Dick Hickock (Scott Wilson), are two ex-cons who plan to rob the Clutters of $10,000 kept in a safe in their home. But Dick ...
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Richard Brooks wrote and directed this stark black-and-white (with brilliantly evocative cinematography by Conrad Hall) study of two drifters who murder a family, based on Truman Capote's non-fiction novel In Cold Blood. The film takes place in Holcomb, Kansas, where four members of the Herbert Clutter family are roused from their sleep and brutally murdered. The killers, Perry Smith (Robert Blake) and Dick Hickock (Scott Wilson), are two ex-cons who plan to rob the Clutters of $10,000 kept in a safe in their home. But Dick and Perry find no safe and no $10,000 and end up leaving the murder scene with only $43. The police, led by Alvin Dewey (John Forsythe) of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, try to track down the killers. Meanwhile, Dick and Perry take off to Mexico, where Perry has fantasies of prospecting for gold. But when his dreams of prospecting come to naught, Dick insists that they return to the United States. Confident that they have left no clues, they cash bad checks, and the police track them down in Las Vegas. During questioning, their alibis are broken when they are separated and tell conflicting stories. Paul Brenner, Rovi
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John Forsythe, Scott Wilson, Robert Blake. New. Run time: 134. Buy with confidence-Satisfaction Guaranteed! Delivery Confirmation included for all orders in the US.
Americans have long been fascinated with crime and violence. In recent years, I have become interested in film noir and of crime film. I took the opportunity to watch this classic 1967 film, "In Cold Blood" based upon the book by Truman Capote. During the time I watched the movie, a suspect in the quadruple murders in Idaho was arrested in Pennsylvania and extradited. I was reminded of the quadruple murder at the center of "In Cold Blood". At almost the same time, a transgender woman was executed by the State of Missouri in the face of substantial controversy and pleas for clemency. Capital punishment is also at issue in "In Cold Blood" and shown gruesomely and in detail.
This 1967 depicts a murder of a family of four, the Clutters, at night at their rural home near Holcomb, Kansas. in the fall of 1959. Two ex-convicts brutally tied up and killed the father, mother, son, and daughter. The killers had no prior dealings with the Clutters. They had heard from a fellow convict that the Clutters had a safe containing a large sum of money in their home, This proved to be untrue.
Most of the movie is told from the standpoint of the two murderers, Perry Smith (performed by Robert Blake) and Dick Hickox (performed by Scott Wilson). The film admirably shows their relationship and characters and differentiates them from each other. Much of the story is told in flashbacks as the film moves from the two killers to the Clutter family to the law enforcement officers investigating the murders. This juxtaposition of differing points of view may be confusing at first but it builds the drama and the tension of the events in the story.
The film shows the killers driving 400 miles to commit the crime on little more than a whim. After the murders, at first described almost in passing, the killers flee the scene and travel briefly to Mexico before returning. So too the lives of the Clutters are described in the days leading up to the killing. The law enforcement officials and newsmen receive a detailed look in their efforts to find the killers and bring them to justice. The film owes a great deal to film noir in its grainy, shadowy, black and white cinematography. The noir features emphasized in the movie include the dark, the heavy rains, the trips on the road, the shabby bus stations and passing trains, the views of the seamier parts of cities such as Las Vegas and more. Most important is the internalized focus on the killers and their deed. The killings themselves are shown late in the film in all their terrifying detail. Toward the end of the film, following the conviction of the killers, the scene shifts to death row where the appeals process took more than five years to run its course. The film shows an extended, graphic scene, to match the portrayal of the murders, of the hanging of the two killers, together with substantial discussion of capital punishment. A newsman following the story observes that executions don't stop crime and that the scenario shown in the film will inevitably be repeated in a month, and in a year.
"In Cold Blood" is listed in the National Film Registry maintained by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". I enjoyed seeing the film as a follow-up to the genre of film noir that I have come to love. The movie is gripping to watch, and it provokes reflection on violence and its continued presence in American life.
Robin Friedman
Jake P
Sep 15, 2011
A masterpiece.
This is a brilliant film. It's dark, superb acting, stunning photography and music?compelling and at the same time hard to watch. A true story. The suspense is gripping.
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