Chilling, Disturbing, And True

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 forty-three dollars and a radio, and unfortunately, they killed Mr. Clutter, his wife, and two children in the process. This is the true story told in Richard Brooks' chilling 1967 docudrama IN COLD BLOOD.

Based on the Truman Capote book, IN COLD BLOOD stars Robert Blake and Scott Wilson as the two ex-cons who, after their horrible crime, eluded a nationwide dragnet for two months before being caught in Vegas driving a hot auto and passing bum checks. When grilled by police detectives from Kansas, the truth came out that these were the two men who had committed that horrible crime. After five years of a trial, conviction, and dozens of appeal, Hickock and Smith were finally put to death by hanging on April 14, 1965.

Even today, nearly thirty-five years since it was first released, IN COLD BLOOD is still a deeply disturbing film. On a purely cinematic level, Brooks took many chances that would have put him at odds with the Hollywood establishment of the time. Against the advice of studio execs who insisted that Steve McQueen and Paul Newman be cast, Brooks went with the relatively unknown Blake and Wilson. And instead of caving into demands that he shoot in color, Brooks and legendary cinematographer Conrad Hall filmed in a documentary-like black-and-white. Better yet, Brooks decided not to show the murders in graphic detail or even right off the top. Instead, he shows Blake and Wilson pulling up to the Clutter house at midnight as the last light goes out, then cuts to the next morning and the discovery of the killings. Only in flashback, when Blake relates the crime to Kansas state detective Alvin Dewey (John Forsythe) do we see the actual crime in progress--and we don't see that much blood being spilled. But the impact of those shotgun blasts and the horrified look on the victims' faces, as they know they are about to die, is far more disturbing than the actual spilled blood and brain matter.

Both Brooks and Capote are vulnerable to the charge that they care more about the killers than the victims and that they are strongly opposed to enforcement of the death penalty. I am not sure that either one is entirely true. The film does suggest that both Hickock and Smith had their own individual dark pasts. Smith had many of them--a motorcycle accident that caused internal brain damage, and a father who was a violent drunk. These are very good explanations, but not excuses, for what set off their rampage in the Clutter house. Admittedly, the Clutters themselves are not depicted in any particular fashion as being anything other than a decent Kansas farm family--but it is precisely that depiction which makes their deaths particularly cruel. As for Brooks' and Capote's opinions on the death penalty--certainly they don't see it as being too terribly effective in cutting down crime in America, and perhaps this is true. But they NEVER say it is cruel or unusual punishment. The final scene of Blake being hung, shown in chillingly detached but direct detail, says a lot, but what is REALLY being said is left up to the viewer.

Brooks is aided by a very good cast that includes Forsythe in perhaps his best big-screen role, Gerald S. O'Laughlin as his assistant detective, and Paul Stewart as a newspaper reporter (loosely based on Capote himself). The finishing touch is provided by the chilling but jazzy score provided by Quincy Jones, especially that bluesy bass line that suggests a sinister atmosphere.

Because of its language, sex, and violence, all of which were very unsettling to watch in 1967 and still are today, IN COLD BLOOD is not recommended for younger viewers without parental discretion. But anyone interested in true crime stories will certainly want to get a hold of this film which, in spite of its 134-minute length, remains perhaps the very best of its type.