In Cold Blood (film)

In Cold Blood
original U.S. poster
Directed by	Richard Brooks
Produced by	Richard D. Brooks
Screenplay by	Richard Brooks
Based on	In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Starring	Robert Blake Scott Wilson John Forsythe Paul Stewart
Music by	Quincy Jones
Cinematography	Conrad Hall
Editing by	Peter Zinner
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	December 14, 1967 (1967-12-14)
Running time	134 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$3.5 million

In Cold Blood is a 1967 film based on Truman Capote's book of the same name. Richard Brooks prepared the adaptation and directed the film. Some scenes were filmed on the locations of the original events, in Garden City and Holcomb, Kansas including the Clutter residence. The film stars Robert Blake as Perry Smith, Scott Wilson as Richard "Dick" Hickock, and John Forsythe as Alvin Dewey. The film follows the trail of Smith and Hickock: they kill the Clutter family in Kansas, go on the run, and get found and caught by the police, followed by their trial and execution. Although the film is in parts faithful to the book, Brooks created a fictional character, "The Reporter" (played by Paul Stewart). This was also the first commercially released film in the US to use the word 'shit'. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards: Director, Original Score, Cinematography and Adapted Screenplay.

In 2008, In Cold Blood was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

Perry Smith (Robert Blake) and "Dick" Hickock (Scott Wilson) concoct a plan to invade the home of the Clutter family, as Mr. Clutter supposedly keeps a large supply of cash on-hand in a safe. While the two criminals felt that their plan for the robbery was sound, it quickly unravels, resulting in the murder of Mr. and Mrs. Clutter, as well as two of their teenage children. The bodies of the Clutter family are discovered the next day, and a police investigation is immediately launched.

As the investigation builds, the two wanted men continue to elude law enforcement but are eventually arrested. The police interrogate the two men and confront them with evidence, such as a bloody footprint matching the boots worn by one of the men ("You boys signed your own work!"), but are slowed by Smith's refusal to provide answers. The police claim that another mistake made by the men is that they left a witness. Finally, Hickock confesses and states that he does not want to be executed for the crime.

Smith and Hickock are found guilty of the crime and sentenced to be hanged. A representation of their final moments and their execution are presented at the conclusion of the film.

The story of the murders are told in flashback, or analepsis, after the arrest of the suspects.

Cast

• Robert Blake as Perry Smith
• Scott Wilson as Dick Hickock
• John Forsythe as Alvin Dewey
• Paul Stewart as Reporter
• Gerald S. O'Loughlin as Harold Nye
• Jeff Corey as Dick's father
• John Gallaudet as Roy Church
• James Flavin as Clarence Duntz
• Charles McGraw as Perry's father
• Jim Lantz as Officer Rohleder
• Will Geer as Prosecuting attorney
• John McLiam as Herbert Clutter
• Paul Hough as Kenyon Clutter

Response

The film opened to a storm of praise. Critics praised Brooks's interpretation of Truman Capote's book, and were especially complimentary of the performances of the cast, including the performances of Scott Wilson and Robert Blake as the killers. Another thing that helped the film was the deliberate use of black-and-white photography to heighten the tension of the film, to give the "you are there" touch. Brooks added to the film's authenticity by filming in the actual locations, including the Kansas State Penitentiary, where the executions of Smith and Hickock took place.

The film went on to receive four Academy Award nominations: Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Original Music Score and Best Adapted Screenplay. At the time of its release, it was given the words "For Mature Audiences", which meant no children under 17 were allowed to see the film without parents or legal guardians of age: now the MPAA has given the film an "R" rating due to the film's violence and mature nature.

American Film Institute Lists

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies - Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains:
  • Perry Smith & Dick Hickock - Nominated Villains
• AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores - Nominated
• AFI's 10 Top 10 - #8 Courtroom Drama

Television remake

A 1996 miniseries directed by Jonathan Kaplan was also made based on the book with screenplay by Benedict Fitzgerald. In that adaptation, Anthony Edwards portrayed Dick Hickock, Eric Roberts played Perry Smith, and Sam Neill played Kansas Bureau of Investigation detective Alvin Dewey.

See also

• In Cold Blood (novel)
• Capote a 2005 film about Capote's researching and writing of In Cold Blood.
• Infamous (film)

External links

• In Cold Blood at the Internet Movie Database
• In Cold Blood at the TCM Movie Database
• In Cold Blood at AllRovi