A good time to revisit ‘In Cold Blood’
I read the book “In Cold Blood” back in junior high school.
I’ve seen the original 1967 film many times, the most recent being last month.
I was surprised three days later to see an Associated Press story noting it has been 50 years since the shooting of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kan.
“In Cold Blood,” by Truman Capote, is the novelization of the story of the well respected, Christian-based farm family.
Herbert Clutter (played by John McLiam) was the family patriarch. His infirmed wife, Bonnie, was played by Ruth Storey. Daughter Nancy is played by Brenda Currin. Paul Hough played Kenyon Clutter. Currin and Hough were University of Kansas theater department students
This was truly the all-American 1950s family. Daughter’s boyfriend comes over to watch the grainy, reception-challenged black and white television on Saturday night. Plans are made for church the next morning.
The son is experimenting with smoking, despite Dad’s objections.
It’s actually the mundane things families do, but it proves pretty compelling because we already know this is their last night alive.
A parallel story involves two ex-convicts, Perry Smith, played by Robert Black, and Richard Hickock, played by Scott Wilson.
Both appear to be man children. Perry talks about pulling a heist to make enough money to go to Mexico and buy a boat and look for buried treasure.
Richard hears stories from a convict still in prison about a rich farmer named Clutter and the fact he keeps $10,000 in a safe in his house. Easy pickings.
So there are the two stories, Perry and Richard hooking up again and the Clutters spending their last night at home.
Director Richard Brooks does an excellent job of building suspense.
But suddenly the plot shifts. It is the next morning and friends arrive to take daughter to church and are knocking on the door. When nobody answers, they walk in and stumble upon the grisly seen.
Detective Alvin Dewey, played by John Forsythe, is the lead detective.
There are two breaks in the case. One involves a bloody shoe print. The other the prisoner who told Hickock about the Clutters who hears about their massacre and realizes who did it.
The movie was made in 1967, a time when most pictures were filmed in color. The chlling horror that was these two misfits works much nicer in black and white.
It’s almost like we are seeing the world through their distorted eyes.
We learn the details of the murders through Perry’s flashbacks. He tells a detective, “I thought Mr. Cutter was a very nice man. He was a real gentleman. I though so up to the moment I cut his throat.”
The film pulls no punches and you aren’t looking forward to the murder scenes, even though there is little blood and it is black and white.
We follow the two murderers right up until their executions by hanging.
The movie, just like the book did, leaves the viewer grieving for this innocent family. Their sin, they didn’t have a safe full of money.
The movie is so real, so authentic. Blake, an actor dating to childhood as a member of Our Gang, had psychological problems after playing the part.
He was accused in 2001 of murdering his wife but was later acquitted.
This is a tremendous crime movie, well acted, well directed. It is almost like a documentary. If you haven’t seen it for awhile, it’s worth another look.
And by the way, my most recent screening of the film comes from Netflix movie streaming. Netflix has been providing Internet streaming of movies for a few years now, but a big breakthrough came last month with Sony’s Play Station 3 in the picture.
If you have a Netflix subscription, even if just the minimum, you can order a special disc you insert in the player. The first time you do this you get a code you type into your Netflix account on your computer. Suddenly, all movies in your que that are available for streaming are listed and you can watch as many as you have time for. You can pause, you can rewind. It is a real plus The only question is: How long before Netflix charges extra?
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