In Cold Blood

Pros: Scott Wilson, Robert Blake, script, direction, black-and-white film.

Cons: controversial viewpoint, dark and grim throughout.

The Bottom Line: A great but very intense and troubling film.

Review: In Cold Blood is a great film about a very shocking and disturbing event. It’s a true story about two criminals (Scott Wilson and Robert Blake), who, one night, proceed to rob, and then kill, an entire Kansas family. The two killers are eventually ...

Pros: Excellent character study and great cinematography and direction

Cons: Could have easily shed 20 of its 134 minutes

The Bottom Line:

Essential Viewing: Richard Brooks adaptation of Capote's classic retells story of the 1959 Cutter murders in a thoughtful, insightful and creative fashion. Among the greatest true crime dramas ever made.

Review: Two ex-cons break into a Kansas farm in 1959 and murder the family living there. Why? That’s what Truman Capote was asking when he decided to commit six years to following the case and published In Cold Blood. Capote’s work is considered the ...

Pros: Dynamically made, directed and acted.

Cons: The last half hour is among the most unsettling in cinema.

The Bottom Line: ...

Review: Being that I am an uncreative reviewer, I shall begin by placing the movie into it's proper historical context and then continue from there. In 1959, Mr. Herb Cuttler, a respected god-fearing Kansas farm hand, and his wife and two children were ...

Pros: Excellent black-and-white photography; Quincy Jones score; Brooks' script and direction

Cons: Even now, the story itself is chilling and disturbing

The Bottom Line: Few films based on true crimes can match the disturbing atmosphere of this 1967 movie

Review: Shortly after midnight on November 15, 1959 in Holcomb, Kansas, two hoods named Perry Smith and Dick Hickock broke into the home of local farmer Herb Clutter, looking for a wall safe that allegedly had $10,000 in it. Instead, all they got was ...

Pros: Black and white, acting, script, directing

Cons: Disturbing

The Bottom Line: Not an enjoyable movie, but one that should be seen.

Review: Robert Blake, who played TV detective Tony Baretta in the popular 1970’s show, and Scott Wilson star as Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, two-laid back, recently-paroled ex-convicts with grand ambitions. Unfortunately for them and an unsuspecting Kansas ...

Pros: liked the black and white

Cons: the way they underplayed the murders and glorified the murderers

The Bottom Line: Here we find true monsters

Review: The date is November 15, 1959. The location is Holcomb, Kansas. The victims - Herbert and Bonnie Clutter and their children Nancy and Kenyon. The reason $10,000. Not a lot for four lives is it? Of course these were different times, but still,...

Pros: Tons better than the book

Cons: didn't seem to run long enough

The Bottom Line: Just skip the book and look for the movie.

Review: I know that a lot of people are going to hate me for saying this, but Truman Capote's book "In Cold Blood" sucked. There was too much useless detail (which had nothing to do with the story) and was too dry to stand. But, the film version is excellent...

Pros: Wonderfully written and performed

Cons: Sad or difficult subject matter

Review: "In Cold Blood" is based on a true story and Truman Capote's book. This was a fabulous movie about a midwestern murder and the aftermath. This black and white film was absolutely entrancing.

Capote writes life into this moving and...

Pros: cinematography, authenticity

Cons: characters, script

The Bottom Line: This highly influential but somewhat suspect film will be of special interest to followers of the true-crime genre.

Review: In 1959, the Clutter family was murdered by two paroled convicts. Perry Smith (Robert Blake) and Dick Hicock (Scott Wilson) were former cellmates, reunited by Dick to rob the Clutters, who were wealthy ranchers living in Kansas. Afterwards, Dick and...