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In this riveting true story about the notorious 1924 Leopold-loeb murder case, Orson Wells stars as the brillant Clarence Darrow whose history-making defense against capitol punishment saved two wealthy Chicago teenagers from a death sentence.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good movie, but might want to wait for the DVD?,
By Roger Zeus (Richmond, VA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Compulsion (VHS Tape)
A movie in two-parts, really, and Welles' entrance marks an end to the first and begins the second. I found the first half (surprisingly brutal for the 50's) better than the second. The names are changed but this is clearly Leopold and Loeb with Clarence Darrow (Welles) on defense.One thing that annoyed me... the end when Welles invokes the name of God... Darrow would never speak those words! My copy of this isn't the best quality. Tops of heads sometimes disappear off the top of the screen. They needed to do this letterbox. Surprising this isn't available on DVD. You can get Ernest Goes to Camp on DVD but you can't get Compulsion? What the hell is wrong with this world?
5.0 out of 5 stars
Chilling.,
This review is from: Compulsion (DVD)
Brilliant performances in this one. Fans of Hitchcock's 'Rope' should give this a try. Bradford Dillman and Dean Stockwell are fascinating as the two leads. Stockwell in particular makes the shift from insecure young man to calculating child murderer, back and forth, with impeccable acting precision.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Falls apart at the end, but still pretty compelling,
By
This review is from: Compulsion (VHS Tape)
Dean Stockwell stars in this icky thriller, based on the infamous Leopold-Loeb murder case which shook Chicago in the 1920s. Most of the film features Stockwell and cohort Bradford Dillman, as two wealthy, sadistic criminal dilletantes bound together in a twisted dominant-submissive homoerotic pact, which leads them to kidnap and murder a young boy in their neighborhood -- all just for kicks. Dillman is compellingly grotesque as the ringleader who pushes Stockwell in violence and psychosis, and then delights in taunting the police behind their backs. This prelude is tense and gut-gripping, horrifying, in fact, but the film loses impact after they are caught and brought to trial. Orson Wells does a fine turn as the liberal lawyer who is brought in to defend them, and delivers a dazzling anti-death penalty speech, but the emotional drama of the ending is strangely muffled... Somehow, Wells's character is brought in a little too late, and there's no real interaction between him and his loathesome clients. The relevant points are made, but they don't resonate as effectively as the nauseating buildup -- Stockwell and Dillman remain unlikeable, yet their sickness and its philospohical rationalizations aren't dug into as deeply as they could have been. The confrontation of the character's gayness (and their need to disguise it before the jurors) is fascinating, though -- even though the movie was made thirty-five years after the killing took place, the filmmakers make no judgement about the homophobia involved. Anyway, as psychological thrillers go, this one's a doozy.
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