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October 14, 2008
In Cold Blood (1967)
Should I see it?
No.


Short Review: A good movie and a great performance that dances on the graves of the dead.

In Cold Blood

This film is based on Truman Capote’s controversial and morally questionable classic non-fiction book. It follows the crooked path of killers Perry Smith and Richard Hickock as they chose to murder Kansas farmer William Clutter and his family. We then track the killers through to their deaths in a hangman’s noose. Robert Blake offers a career establishing performance as the broken-souled Smith. Blake lays out a complex performance that does an expert job of showing the seemingly tormented man who performed the horrible deed of murder. Smith was a lost man whose mind apparently was capable of far more than his abused personality would allow. Hickock, Smith’s partner in crime, portrayed by Scott Wilson, comes across as more of an amoral thug. With Blake’s gentle performance aligned with Capote’s advocating characterization, Perry Smith comes across as a hero gone wrong. He is made to appear to be more of a mistake of social circumstances than a cruel-hearted murderer that chooses to slaughter an innocent family.

This film, due to time constraints, concentrates on Smith and Hickock and acknowledges the Clutter family when it suits the narrative. The victims William Clutter, Bonnie Clutter, their son Kenyon and their daughter Nancy are reduced to curiosities to the overall plot. They are meaty, bleeding props used to forward the story of Smith. Their moments of humanity are reduced to a secondary role to expand the tragic heroic posture of the man who killed them. Given that the weight of the piece is so tilted to the killer, the moral issues of the film are striking. To allow the killer to gain in stature through his act diminishes the stature of the Clutter family. In effect, this film rapes the dead of their identities to celebrate their murderers.

The case that the execution of the killers is equal to the killing of the Clutter family is toyed with in this piece. Anyone with a moment of clarity can discern the difference between the killing parents in front of their children and the state executing the men guilty of the crime. This moral wavering lingers throughout the film. Are the lives of the killers tragic? Absolutely, and to come to understand what created these monsters is a good thing. The problem we have with understanding them is that many lose their focus and begin to excuse their actions. Forgiveness is required of us, dismissal of their brutal acts is not. This film fails to retain a strict line between wanting to show who these men are and wanting to sympathize with them. No one put them on that farm and even after they showed up, no one made them pull the trigger. These men, regardless of their bad lives, never had the right to murder and we do not have the right to excuse their deeds.

This is a very well done film and is, to be honest, fascinating to watch. Again, Blake’s performance is incredible. He nails his role, which is even more haunting following his own real life trial for murder. Regardless of the technical feats of this picture, I cannot recommend it. I am constantly bothered by the dismissal of the victims. Yes, through this piece we come to understand the heart of a killer but at what cost? The successes of this film are built upon the memories of the dead and I cannot happily suggest anyone join in the dancing on their graves.


Related Reviews:
Capote (2005)
Infamous (2006)


Other Critic's Reviews:
Roger Ebert
DVD Verdict


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posted by Michelle Obama's Left Nut at 5:00 PM




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