In Cold Blood: Amazon.ca: DVD

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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

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Customer Reviews

38 Reviews

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(9)
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Average Customer Review

4.7 out of 5 stars (38 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars In Cold Blood, Feb 9 2007

By

Finn McCool (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Cold Blood (DVD)

This is quite simply one of the most entertaining movies I have ever watched. The characters are well developed and the acting is first rate. Other movies have attempted to imitate "In Cold Blood" but pale in comparison.

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5.0 out of 5 stars 2 thumbs up, 2 killers down :-), Jun 24 2004

By

K. Gittins (CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: In Cold Blood (DVD)

"In Cold Blood" is the 1967 movie based on Truman Capote's non-fiction book about the murder of a family of four by Perry Smith (Robert Blake) and Dick Hickock (Scott Wilson). Although the killers were expecting to get about $10,000 from the safe, it turns out there was no safe and they only got $40.

Filmed in black-and-white, the movie has very good cinematography, and includes several interesting cuts from scene to scene. In one shot, as Perry is in jail telling a rather sad story about his life, the shadows of the rain running down the window falls on his face and gives the impression of cascading tears. There are also several intercut flash-backs, mostly having to do with Smith's early family-life and abusive father, including the finale on the gallows.

The blues/jazzed-based score was composed by Quincy Jones, and was very good.

It was almost shear luck that the pair got nailed for the murders. Although they had passed bad checks and stolen some cars after the murders, the police had no evidence to connect them to the killings - except for some personal effects that Smith had mailed back to himself from Mexico and picked up just shortly before being arrested. After being found guilty in only 40 minutes of jury deliberation, the pair sat in jail a few years awaiting execution.

As it turns out, although Hickock actually came up with the plan, Smith did all the killings, mostly out of anger. So, as some have asked, was the killing "In Cold Blood" really theirs, or ours? Near the end, when a couple of journalists see the hangman go up the steps, they have this bit of dialog:
"Is he the, uh...?"
"Uh-huh..."
"How much does he get to hang them?"
"Three hundred dollars a man."
"Has he got a name?"
"We the people."

Well-acted by Blake and Wilson, and supporting roles for John Forsythe, Gerald S. O'Loughlin and Jeff Corey. Some of the jurors and other small parts are played by the actual people. Much of the locations are the actual locations, including the house where the killing took place.

The very last scene is not one you find in many movies.

DVD has nice anamorphic wide-screen movie, English or French spoken language, subtitles in 7 languages, chapter selection, and for once, a trailer worth watching. R-Rated, 134 minutes. The no-frills DVD is a bit pricey, but I'm giving the movie five stars on its own.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Dark, desolate film is poignant and powerful, Jun 5 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: In Cold Blood (DVD)

Truman Capote's best-selling "non-fiction novel" was brought to the big screen by Richard Brooks and is a suspenseful, entertaining yet dark, spare film that details the slaughter of an innocent farm family by two ex-convicts. The moody black and white cinematography emphasizes the lonely, dreary, bleak Kansas prairies where the murders were committed and underscores the single-minded purpose and detached optimism with which the killers planned their deed. The events of that fateful night are told in a flashback, near the end of the film, a brilliant touch by Brooks to illustrate the horror and senselessness of the act by Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. The Clutter family's last day on earth shows them going about their tasks on their farm as the normal, content family they seem to have been, never realizing that evil forces were moving their way to destroy them. The authorities spare no effort in trying to bring the killers to justice and finally do so because of a reluctant prison informer and good fortune. Alvin Dewey [John Forsythe] and his three crack investigators pursue the two killers, and Paul Stewart's Jenson, who narrates the film as a reporter and criminal psychologist, may or may not represent Capote as he reconstructed the crime for his book. Quincy Jones' throbbing score is the perfect accompaniment to the film's somber narrative, suggesting Delta-type blues themes for some cues, and then switching to jazz rifts highlighted by a heavy base line for other scenes. The offbeat casting is perfect, with star-quality names left out of the film so the viewer's attention will focus on this tragic, true life story.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Chilling Adaptation of Capote's Controversial Novel
When Truman Capote published his 1966 novel IN COLD BLOOD--a story based on the actual 1959 murder of wealthy Kansas farmer Herbert Clutter and his family--he single-handedly... Read more

Published on May 3 2004 by Michael R Gates

4.0 out of 5 stars Good adaptation of a great book
Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" was hailed as a "non-fiction novel"; Richard Brooks' film adaptation is a semi-documentary film. Read more

Published on April 28 2004 by JLind555