In Cold Blood (film)

Told through flashback, ex-convicts Perry Smith and Richard "Dick" Hickock meet in rural Kansas in late 1959. Together, they concoct a plan to invade the farm home of the wealthy Clutter family, as patriarch Herbert Clutter supposedly keeps a large supply of cash in a wall safe. The two criminals break into the family home in the middle of the night but are unable to find any safe, as Herbert uses checks for both personal and farm transactions. In order to leave no witnesses to their failed robbery, Smith and Hickock murder the entire Clutter family, cutting Herbert's throat and shot gunning his wife Bonnie and children Nancy (16) and Kenyon (14). Their bodies are discovered the next day, and investigations by the Finney County Sheriff and Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) are immediately launched. Based on a tip by Floyd Allen, a former cellmate of Hickock, the two men become the primary suspects for the crime. The pair elude law enforcement by heading to Florida, traveling southwest across the country, and eventually crossing into Mexico. After two weeks there they return to the United States broke, and head for Las Vegas, hoping to win money gambling. Shortly after their arrival, Smith and Hickock are arrested for driving a stolen car, violating parole and passing bad checks. The Las Vegas Police Department and the KBI later separately interrogate the two men about the Clutter case. Both Smith and Hickock admit to passing bad checks, but deny knowing anything about the murders. The KBI attempts to scare the men into confessing, claiming that they left a witness behind who can testify against them, but this attempt fails. Next, the KBI confront the two with evidence, such as photos of bloody footprints matching each of their footwear. Finally, Hickock relents, confessing that he was present, but that Smith carried out the murders. He begs for immunity from the death penalty. After Smith learns that Hickock has cracked, he confesses that he committed all four frenzied killings, but maintains that Hickock was present as an active accomplice. Both Smith and Hickock are charged with first-degree murder, found guilty on all counts, and sentenced to hang. After losing multiple appeals stretching over five years, with two reaching the United States Supreme Court, both men are put to death in front of witnesses as prescribed by law. ==Cast==

Development Richard Brooks, an acquaintance of Truman Capote, was given early drafts of Capote's book In Cold Blood before it was completed, as Capote was considering optioning a film version. Otto Preminger had initially expressed interest in directing an adaptation, but Brooks agreed to the project and purchased the rights from Capote for an estimated $400,000. Brooks' screenplay followed the structure of the book closely, shifting between Perry Smith and Dick Hickock and the Clutter family, though slight details were included that were not present in the source material. In his adaptation, Brooks intended to demonstrate the "indignity" of capital punishment through an exchange between Smith and a jail guard that occurs at the end of the film, in which Smith asks to use the bathroom before his execution, fearing he will "mess himself" in front of onlookers. Brooks held personal beliefs against the death penalty, and on the crimes, commented: "I think the crime without motive is really what this is about. The crime itself was senseless, the boys' lives before that were senseless, and the end is senseless because it solves nothing." Brooks also included Jensen, a reporter character in the film who functions as a "Greek chorus" in the proceedings, which was not present in Capote's book. Capote would later admit he felt that the character's inclusion "didn't make sense". Brooks also eliminated discussion of two Clutter daughters, Eveanna and Beverly, who had not been present during the real attacks and had survived; they were reported to be "distraught" by the book and upset at the prospect of a film, so Brooks chose to eliminate them as characters. Casting Aspiring to recreate a documentary aesthetic for the film, Capote and Brooks insisted that they only wanted to cast actors who were relative unknowns. Wilson was personally recommended for the part by Sidney Poitier and Quincy Jones (the former of whom he co-starred with in In the Heat of the Night, scored by Jones). In accordance with Capote and Brooks' desire to achieve as much realism as possible, some scenes were filmed in Garden City and Holcomb, Kansas at the locations of the original events, including the Clutter family's farm where the murders took place. The family who owned the Clutter house was paid $15,000 in compensation for the crew's four weeks of filming. The bus station scene was shot at the Union Bus Terminal at 917 McGee in Kansas City, Missouri. Scenes were also shot in downtown Kansas City, Kansas on Minnesota Ave. The shoot in Kansas was covered extensively by journalists from both Los Angeles and New York who visited the sets. Permission was denied to film in Kansas State Penitentiary, so interiors of the execution chambers were replicated on Hollywood sets. Musical score The score for the film was composed by Quincy Jones, who at the time had little experience with film scores. During the period, few black musicians were hired to compose scores for feature films, and Columbia Pictures initially pressed for Leonard Bernstein to compose the score, but Brooks insisted on Jones. In preparing the score, Jones accompanied Brooks on a visit to the penitentiary in which Smith and Hickock were confined, and was inspired to use two acoustic basses throughout the score to represent the two killers' "demented minds". The score was completed throughout the shoot, with Jones writing new music to accompany dailies. ==Reception==

Box office With a running time of 135 minutes, In Cold Blood premiered in the United States on December14, 1967, Roger Ebert gave the film 4 out of 4 stars, writing, "At times one feels this is not a movie but a documentary where the events are taking place now." Charles Champlin of The Los Angeles Times put it on his list of the ten best films of 1967, calling it "an honest, sobering, revealing motion picture, earnest and authentic, with only minor lapses into theatricality. As the killers, Scott Wilson and Robert Blake were compellingly convincing." Variety called it "a probing, sensitive, tasteful, balanced and suspenseful documentary-drama". Brendan Gill of The New Yorker wrote that "the note sounded throughout is not that of Hollywood but of a scrupulous documentary. This documentary effect is greatly enhanced by the two young men who play the murderers—Robert Blake as Perry Smith and Scott Wilson as Dick Hickock. Each in his own way is superbly mindless and menacing." The Monthly Film Bulletin was less positive, writing that "since Brooks places his emphasis so exclusively on the killers, omitting the spectacle of the actual murders while lingering censoriously over the hangings, one fails to appreciate the real irony—the total arbitrariness—of the Clutters' deaths: they are too crudely delineated to inspire much sympathy, and in consequence the sympathy Brooks generates for the killers seems unbalanced and misplaced". On Rotten Tomatoes, In Cold Blood holds a rating of 76% from 46 reviews with an average rating of 8.2/10. The site's consensus reads: "In Cold Blood is a classic docudrama with a fictional thriller's grip -- and a pair of terrific lead performances from Robert Blake and Scott Wilson". In Cold Blood has been noted as an example of Hollywood new realism by critics such as Chris Fujiwara. Capote biographer Tison Pugh characterizes the film as an exercise in a "relentless pursuit of authenticity", and adds: "By putting his characters in the actual settings of their real-life counterparts, Brooks imbued his film with a reality both mundane and unbearable." Scholar Joel Black considers the film and its representation of real-life violent incidents "a form of psychological or social documentary". Capote's response Truman Capote was very satisfied with the film. He entrusted Richard Brooks with the adaptation because Brooks "was the only director who agreed with—and was willing to risk—my own concept of how the book should be transferred to film." When Capote visited the film's set, he met Robert Blake and Scott Wilson, who were playing the killers he had known very well, for the first time. Capote was so shaken by their resemblance to the real men that he "felt extremely uneasy in their presence" and returned to his hotel and drank an entire pint of Scotch whisky. In a January 12, 1968 issue of The Saturday Evening Post, Capote wrote: After seeing a rough cut of the film, Capote recalled initially being upset about details that had been changed or added, but realized that if every detail had been exact to the book, the film would have been nine hours long. After the rough cut ended, Capote was disoriented because he had witnessed many of the events shown, including the executions of the murderers. Brooks was concerned that Capote would not like the film, but Capote thanked him for the work he had done. Awards and nominations American Film Institute Lists: • AFI's 10 Top 10 - #8 Courtroom Drama • AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes & Villains - Perry Smith & Dick Hickock – Nominated Villains ==Miniseries==

A 1996 miniseries was also made based on the book, directed by Jonathan Kaplan and with a 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==