Dirtylogy
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
Loui Blair
It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.
Scarlet
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
seymourblack-1
When the unexplained brutal murders of a family of four came to the attention of Truman Capote in 1959, he immediately decided that he would write a book on the subject and the result was "In Cold Blood" which became an international bestseller and won him a considerable amount of acclaim from the literary critics of the time, who referred to it as a "non-fiction novel" and a masterpiece. The murders were committed in the small community of Holcomb, Kansas at 2.00 am on 15 November 1959 and after years of detailed research; Capote's book was published in 1966. Almost inevitably, a movie adaptation followed in 1967 with Richard Brooks directing, producing and writing the screenplay.When a couple of prisoners, who'd been released on parole, meet up in Kansas City, Dick Hickock (Scott Wilson) tells Perry Smith (Robert Blake) about a robbery that they could carry out which would be a "cinch". Using some information that he'd gained from a prison inmate who'd been employed some years earlier by a farmer called Herb Clutter (John McLiam), he tells Perry that they could easily steal the contents of the man's safe which should contain about $10,000 in cash. Scott had intentionally picked Perry to be his accomplice because his short fuse and propensity for violence would be perfect in a situation where they needed to ensure that they'd leave no witnesses behind after committing their crime.After making the long road journey to Holcomb, the two men enter the Clutter family's home and on discovering that there's no safe or large sum of money present, ruthlessly slaughter the innocent family and leave with only $43, a portable radio and a pair of binoculars, before fleeing to Mexico where Perry wants to go hunting for Cortes' buried treasure. When this endeavour proves to be a waste of time, Dick decides that they should head back to the States and make their way to Las Vegas. This proves to be a serious mistake because, by this time, Dick's prison buddy had turned informant and then later, Kansas Bureau of Investigation's lead investigator Alvin Dewey (John Forsythe) easily traces their progress by following the trail of bad cheques that they leave in their wake.The two fugitives are then soon arrested, interrogated and tried for the four murders that they'd committed.Wherever possible, Richard Brooks filmed the action in the actual locations where the original events had taken place and featured some of the Clutter family's neighbours, jury members from the murder trial and the hangman who'd executed Smith and Hickock, in some of the movie's minor roles. This type of realism and the documentary-style presentation serve the material really well and ensure that the right tone is maintained perfectly throughout the whole movie. It's also commendable that Brooks avoids any form of sensationalism, any glamorisation of the two murderers or any attempts to rationalise their senseless actions. Conrad Hall's cinematography also complements Brooks' work magnificently and strongly emphasises the chilling, bleak and highly disturbing nature of the story as it unfolds.Predictably, the movie's most notable performances come from Robert Blake and Scott Wilson who both make a huge impression. Blake looks troubled as the asprin-addicted son of a violent father and an adulterous mother and lives with constant pain as a consequence of a motorcycle accident. Wilson is also excellent as the swaggering, manipulative Hickock who exploits Perry Smith's gullibility for his own ends and displays some talent as a con-man."In Cold Blood" is an immensely powerful and gripping tale that is particularly thought-provoking and unsettling because of the fact that it's based on a real-life case.
SlyGuy21
There's something about older movies like this and "A Streetcar Named Desire" that feels real. I don't know if it's the way the films are shot, if it's the acting, or if it's the black-and-white color-scheme. Whatever it is, I like it, and I want more of it. Covering a truly disturbing crime like the Clutter murders, and going so far as to film in the house where they were murdered is an insane attention to detail. That's something I'd expect Kubrick to do, it just adds another layer of terror. The acting is incredible, these don't feel like actors playing people, it feels like they are the people, if that makes sense. Even though their crime is deplorable, the movie does a great job of making them relatable. You feel like this whole thing could've been avoided had things gone differently.
inspectors71
To entertain or to inform? Aristotle's Six Parts of Drama would answer with, to make one think. Ask me, and you'll get, to wrap the audience up tightly with a good story, well told. My wife would be the entertainment voter. I think we're all right.Richard Brooks' film version of the Truman Capote book isn't by any stretch of the word, entertaining. That leaves us with wrapping up the viewer with a thought-provoking story. I remember seeing bits and pieces of In Cold Blood as a teen when it was shown on CBS. I couldn't get the idea through my head why two stupid criminals would slaughter a family for any reason that made sense. I knew I wasn't getting the point, even though I had made it past the concrete- operational period in my intellectual development. My life experiences hadn't told me about the random barbarism humans could inflict on each other. I was blessedly innocent, even though I understood why a bunch of soldiers had decimated a couple of villages in Vietnam in 1968 (venting their frustration on less-than-humans) and why four kids got gunned down at Kent State (weekend warriors who panicked). But butchering four innocents in a farm house, just for a couple bucks, simply didn't add up. To be honest, it still doesn't.Jump forward to seeing Brooks' The Professionals in a theatre during the winter of 1975 (with the premiere of his Bite the Bullet), and the scene, where Jack Palance's banditos systematically execute dozens of Mexican soldiers, left me wondering why, why do such a monstrous thing?I remember sitting there in that theatre and figuring it out, getting the answer to my question. Why My Lai? Why the Clutters? Why this or that massacre?Convenience. Lives are expendable for expedience' sake. And that is why Aristotle would understand In Cold Blood. I understand the story. My wife would too, but she would be so sickened by the subject and so perturbed by the idea of not being entertained by a medium that is supposed to entertain, that I envy her. She shields herself from Aristotle.When I saw ICB again, something like ten years ago, I was more knowledgeable about movie-making, more aware of the psychological screwiness of Dick and Perry, but I felt that same nausea I felt when I first saw the film.It still didn't make sense. Maybe it never will.
avik-basu1889
'In Cold Blood' is a film written and directed by Richard Brooks whose story is based on the non-fiction novel of the same name written by Truman Capote. The story involves two ex-convicts Perry Smith and Richard 'Dick' Hickock played by Robert Blake and Scott Wilson respectively. They hatch up a plan to rob the Clutters, a wealthy family in Kansas. But during the robbery they find that there is no safe filled with cash and in the heat of the moment they end up gruesomely murdering the entire family. The film follows them on the run as the police try their best to get to the bottom of the crime. Now I don't have much idea about the actual crime and the actual people involved with it. So this review will be solely based on my impression of these people from the film which in turn is based on Truman Capote's impression of the events.I loved how the film starts. The director intermixes the scenes involving Perry and Dick along with the scenes showing the Clutters in their home. This works and acts like a foreshadow for the inevitable brutality that is going to follow. I couldn't help but feel a bit heartbroken to see the scenes involving the Clutters already knowing at the back of my mind, their eventual fate. The director hints at the existing financial inequality in society. He underlines the fact that as long as the imbalance in society exists, crimes like this will go on forever and ever and no one can do anything about it. Families and people will continue to remain vulnerable to evil forces borne out of dissatisfaction. Another very important and interesting aspect of the film is the unpredictability of human nature. Richard Brooks does give you hints and indications as to what triggered the two convicts (Perry in particular) to do what they did by giving you some details of their past lives and their childhood, but in the end Brooks wants you to know that some crimes just take place out of nowhere without much explanation to support it. Human beings with unstable minds and unstable psyches can be capable of the ultimate form of evil. Interestingly, this aspect of the unpredictability of crime is also covered in Bennett Miller's 'Foxcatcher'. It's interesting because Bennett Miller is also the director of 'Capote', the film which follows Truman Capote in his quest to acquire more and more information on this murder of the Clutters while he was working on his book 'In Cold Blood' which serves as the source material for the script of this film.I thought the middle act of the film was a bit uninteresting. It had nothing to do with the pace, it just involved scenes that didn't match the quality of the rest of the film. The procedural element of the film is the only thing of the narrative that I wasn't a big fan of and this is what fills up the middle act. The acting is solid from everyone involved, with bits of over acting in some scenes which is expected as we were still in the 60s and over the top acting had still not completely left Hollywood. The direction and screenplay is brilliant. The recreation of the crime scenes was absolutely brilliant. There are some jump-cuts from one scene to another and the transition was seamless. The last 30 minutes of the film is directed meticulously. The music by Quincy Jones basically revolves around elements of jazz and blues. The music in the film is beautiful to listen to on its own, but at times I found it to be a bit jarring and inappropriate in certain scenes and at times a bit too loud. 'In Cold Blood' isn't a perfect film, but it is certainly a good account of a gruesome crime. It is well directed, it has elements of both procedural films as well as road films. It just shows that no matter who you are or what you do, you are always vulnerable. The American Dream is ideal, but it is not beyond the grasps of evil forces.
