jmillerdp Whenever this comes on, I find myself watching it. A fascinating, riveting account of the grisly murders of a farm family for money that never existed.The book was by Truman Capote. The writer/director here is Richard Brooks. He is masterful in his crafting of this story.The highlight is Conrad Hall's superlative cinematography! This is the all-time greatest widescreen black and white work ever.Robert Blake's performance has always been considered masterful. It's so tragic how he himself has fallen so hard.Recommended to anyone who loves true crime dramas, or classic cinema.********** (10 Out of 10 Stars)

Bill Slocum Death comes calling twice over in this grim, gripping depiction of the real-life murder of a Kansas farm family and the subsequent arrest and prosecution of their murderers.At its core, "In Cold Blood" is a powerful argument against capital punishment, suggesting that society is no less depraved than killers Perry Smith (Robert Blake) and Dick Hickock (Scott Wilson). At least the killers can't be accused of possessing reason in snuffing out human life."How can a perfectly sane man commit an absolutely crazy act?" asks a reporter, played by Paul Stewart. The answer, as presented here, is that neither man was sane, nor was the system that ordered them killed.In one of many chilling moments, Hickock explains how he favors capital punishment: "What's wrong with revenge? I've been revenging myself my whole life."But "In Cold Blood" is no celluloid treatise about a social issue. It makes no attempt to soft-soap the nature of Smith and Hickock's crime, with writer-director Richard Brooks shooting the Clutter massacre in a harrowing if not graphic fashion. There are many ghastly moments on screen, but what you don't see is worse for what it leaves to your imagination.Where Brooks does hedge is in the presentation of Smith as a troubled, sensitive soul pushed into killing by cruel circumstance. There's an annoying tendency to go to psychiatry as if everything that the criminals did could be explained away as psychosis rather than meanness. Much time is spent by Stewart's reporter character discussing how Smith and Hickock formed a "third personality" who was the real guilty party in the case. Given how seriously and factually the story is otherwise presented, the Freudian focus comes off as cheap and simplistic.The nature of Smith's role here versus what it was that night in Holcomb, Kansas has been much debated. What can't be debated is the effectiveness of the "you-are-there" format the film takes, or the lived-in performances of Blake and Wilson. Brooks, following the example of Truman Capote's source book, takes a journalistic approach to the material that is sometimes dry but establishes a mood of overwhelming dread.Speaking of "dry," John Forsythe is quite a bit of that in a positive way, playing Alvin Dewey, one of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation detectives assigned to the case. As a counterpoint to the psychopathic Smith and Hickock working the investigation, he shines especially in an interrogation scene where Smith is told he made a key mistake by leaving what another detective calls a "living witness."Who was this living witness? Some argue it's an inmate at a prison with whom Hickock discussed the Clutter crime. Others say it's whichever of the perpetrators watched while the other killed. But the visceral work of Brooks, and cinematographer Conrad Hall suggest another possibility: You the viewer.Whether or not you think the crime is also in the punishment, "In Cold Blood" has lost none of its power to make you care.

calvinnme ... at least for me, because by the end of the movie, I really, really wanted Dick and Perry to die. It wasn't a feeling of revenge. I didn't care if they suffered, in fact it is too bad lethal injection wasn't around before it was, because I'm sure a botched hanging could be an awful way to go. I just had a feeling that the earth was a safer place without these two guys in it. The movie did a great job of humanizing two cold blooded killers in a way that few films had done before. It showed their backgrounds, it showed that Dick was the leader and definitely the more dangerous of the two. He didn't really care that he killed four total strangers, and he was even somewhat apathetic about his own death. Perry probably would have had none of this killing business and just gone on to re-offend and be re-incarcerated for less violent offenses the rest of his life, AS LONG AS he didn't meet up with a stronger more forceful personality such as Dick Hickock, who called Perry on his fantastic tales of untrue crime. Before DNA and the many advances in forensics since 1959, Alvin Dewey has a huge task on his hands. Who would kill four likable people like the Clutters with seemingly no motive? Today the answer is - almost anybody. In 1959 this killing made national news because of its random senseless nature and its rural locale where crime was very low. John Forsythe was mainly an actor on television his entire career, but he was outstanding as the lead investigator in this crime. He keeps the police procedural part of this film quite interesting with his methodical sensible approach.The last part of the film shows Dick and Perry on death row for five years. If you didn't see the first part of this film you'd think these guys were artists, poets, philosophers. That's just because they are being told when to get up, when to go to bed, when to eat, etc. Even the most hardened of criminals will seem OK if you take all of their decisions away from them, and that's how parole boards get fooled, which is something society has learned the hard way over the last 50 years. Or have we? I watch this film and I can't help but think about the Carr brothers. Next to them Dick and Perry look like Rotarians. There are so many similarities. Both killed in Kansas, both picked houses occupied with complete strangers where they thought there was lots of cash, both killed the household dog - the Carrs as a parting shot after executing four people after hours of ritualistic sexual torture and robbery - Dick and Perry killed the Clutter's German Shepherd because they weren't going to be able to get near the Clutters without doing so. Yet the Carr brothers remain alive 15 years after the crime with their death sentence being overturned by the gutless Kansas Supreme Court. Google "Wichita Massacre" to see what I'm talking about.Finally this film teaches how not to react to a home invasion, a term that would not exist for another 35 years after the Clutters were killed. If somebody breaks into your house BECAUSE you are there, you can assume they are after much more than your stuff. Your first duty is ESCAPE because then the criminals realize the clock is ticking, especially in the age of cell phones and 911. Resist with lethal force if you can, escape when you can. If the Clutters had all scattered in four different directions rather than allowing themselves to be tied up to protect the other family members it is likely that at least Perry would have panicked and that would have been the end of it.Most chilling scene to me - Nancy Clutter winding her alarm clock before she goes to bed as a train whistles - the same whistle is heard by Dick and Perry as they slowly drive up to the Clutter home. Her killers and her own death were that close and she didn't have a clue. Highly recommended.

cheyenne-bunner Probably one of the best aspects of this film was the beautiful use of light and shadows to help portray a solemn/desolate mood, especially towards the end when Dick and Perry are waiting on death row. There is one scene where Perry tells the reverend about how his father once attempted to shoot him and Perry is shown standing beside the barred window of his jail cell while it rains outside. Water is rolling down the glass of the window with a ray of light behind it, causing a bunch of watery shadows to be cast onto Perry's face. This makes him seem as if fat tears are rolling down his face. This is a very powerful image since this seems to be the breaking point for Perry, where he is finally realizing how sorry he is for all of the mistakes he's witnessed and made in his life. The clever, shadowy cinematography along with the ominous/creepy soundtrack contribute to a very eerie tone throughout the movie, accurately portraying the gruesome murder of the Clutter family along with Dick and Perry's experiences before and after committing the crime.