Feature film adaption of Truman Capote's ground breaking true crime novel of the same name. It is the true story of Perry Smith (Robert Blake) & Richard "Dick" Hickock (Scott Wilson), buddy's and petty criminals who in 1959 massacre a family of four (the Clutter's) during a bungled burglary of there rural Kansas home. Produced in 1967 this a very late release for a mainstream black & white film ,but I think it was defiantly the right choice to make this movie sans color. The richness of the black and white cinematography along with the stark Kansas landscape, dark subject matter, and emotionally muted characters combine to great and powerful effect. This is a movie that makes you feel sick, sick for the Clutter family, sick for the cops, sick for the perpetrators families, and even sick for the perpetrators. Great performances by the two leads by the way, and I'll hold back from making a Robert Blake joke, though wait, Scott Wilson is Herschel!? Wow.
Now all I really knew about this story coming in was something of its reputation and what I learned from the movie Capote. I can only imagine how good the book must be, considering how much of the perpetrators complex characters and back story are communicated in the film. An interesting element of the film is the inclusion of Paul Stewart as Capote's surrogate, certainly quite different from Capote the man, but Truman was such an out sized person that I don't think the film makers wanted "the reporter" to serve as a distraction, besides which Capote's perspective on events of course gets presented in the eponymous film previously mentioned. Anyway this was a much better film viewing experience then I had anticipated it would be, a very sound, rather provocative piece of work. ***1/2
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