In Cold Blood (1967)

Director:

Richard Brooks

Writers:

Truman Capote (novel)
Richard Brooks (screenplay)

Release Date:

14 December 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | History

Plot:

After a botched robbery results in the brutal murder of a rural family, two drifters elude police, in the end coming to terms with their own mortality and the repercussions of their vile atrocity.

Plot Keywords:

Execution | Police | Murder | Kansas | Robbery

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Robert Blake	...	Perry Smith
Scott Wilson	...	Richard 'Dick' Hickock
John Forsythe	...	Alvin Dewey
Paul Stewart	...	Jensen
Gerald S. O'Loughlin	...	Harold Nye
Jeff Corey	...	Mr. Hickock
John Gallaudet	...	Roy Church
James Flavin	...	Clarence Duntz
Charles McGraw	...	Tex Smith
Will Geer	...	Prosecutor
John McLiam	...	Herbert Clutter
Ruth Storey	...	Bonnie Clutter
Brenda Currin	...	Nancy Clutter (as Brenda C. Currin)
Paul Hough	...	Kenyon Clutter
Vaughn Taylor	...	Good Samaritan

Also Known As:

Truman Capote's In Cold Blood (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

134 min | Poland:129 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (release prints) | 3 Channel Stereo (original mix)

Certification:

Iceland:16 | France:-16 | West Germany:16 (re-rating) | West Germany:18 (original rating) | UK:15 | UK:X (original rating) | South Korea:15 (2006) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (Suggested for Mature Audiences) (original rating) | USA:R (re-rating) (1970)

Filming Locations:

Colorado, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The "Jenson"/"Narrator" characters are based on the author himself, Truman Capote. Capote went to Kansas soon after the murders to cover the manhunt and to interview those who knew the Clutter family. After the apprehension and conviction of killers Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, Capote became a major part of the killers' lives while they were on death row, forming a particularly close bond with Smith. Smith gave most of his belongings - drawings, books - to Capote. Capote was present at the executions and witnessed the carrying-out of Hickock's sentence, but couldn't bear to watch Smith die, and left the room before he was brought in.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: During Perry's daydream fantasy sequence, he is seen playing a Saturn 63 guitar. The number signifies the year of the guitar's production, 1963, yet this scene was supposed to have taken place in 1959.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Little girl on bus: 'Scuse me.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Boys on the Side (1995)

In The Still Of The Night

Imagine turning out the lights in your remote farmhouse on a cold night, and then going to bed. There's no need to lock the doors. The only sound is the wind whistling through the trees. Sometime after midnight a car with lights off inches up the driveway. Moments later an intruder beams a flashlight into your darkened living room.

What makes this image so scary is the setting: a remote farmhouse ... at night. Based on Truman Capote's best-selling book, and with B&W lighting comparable to the best 1940's noir films, "In Cold Blood" presents a terrifying story, especially in that first Act, as the plot takes place largely at night and on rain drenched country roads. It's the stuff of nightmares. But this is no dream. The events really happened, in 1959.

Two con men with heads full of delusions kill an entire Kansas family, looking for a stash of cash that doesn't exist. Director Richard Brooks used the actual locations where the real-life events occurred, even the farmhouse ... and its interior! It makes for a memorable, and haunting, film.

Both of the lead actors closely resemble the two real-life killers. Robert Blake is more than convincing as Perry Smith, short and stocky with a bum leg, who dreams of finding Cortez' buried treasure. Scott Wilson is almost as good as Dick Hickock, the smooth-talking con artist with an all-American smile.

After their killing spree, the duo head to Mexico. Things go awry there, so they come back to the U.S., stealing cars, hitchhiking, and generally being miserable as they roam from place to place. But it's a fool's life, and the two outlaws soon regret their actions. The film's final twenty minutes are mesmerizing, as the rain falls, the rope tightens, and all we hear is the pounding of a beating heart.

Even with its somewhat mundane middle Act, "In Cold Blood" stages in riveting detail a real-life story that still hypnotizes, nearly half a century later. It's that setting that does it. Do you suppose people in rural Kansas still leave their doors unlocked ... at night?