True Crime (1999)

Director:

Clint Eastwood

Writers (WGA):

Andrew Klavan (novel)
Larry Gross (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

19 March 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Can an over-the-hill journalist uncover the evidence that can prove a death row inmate's innocence just hours before his execution?

Plot Keywords:

Reporter | Execution | Death Row | Car Accident | Editor

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Clint Eastwood	...	Steve Everett
Isaiah Washington	...	Frank Louis Beechum
Lisa Gay Hamilton	...	Bonnie Beechum
James Woods	...	Alan Mann
Denis Leary	...	Bob Findley
Bernard Hill	...	Warden Luther Plunkitt
Diane Venora	...	Barbara Everett
Michael McKean	...	Reverend Shillerman
Michael Jeter	...	Dale Porterhouse
Mary McCormack	...	Michelle Ziegler
Hattie Winston	...	Angela Russel
Penny Bae Bridges	...	Gail Beechum
Francesca Fisher-Eastwood	...	Kate Everett
John Finn	...	Reedy
Laila Robins	...	Patricia Findley

Also Known As:

True Crimes (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some violence.

Runtime:

127 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

UK:15 | Spain:13 | South Korea:12 | Philippines:PG-13 | Brazil:14 | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:12 (bw) | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Cotati, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Camera reflected in window during the execution scene.

Quotes:

Steve Everett: I'll have a Virgin Mary... heavy on the Virgin.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Comedy Central Roast of Denis Leary (2003) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Little Drummer Boy

one of the surprisingly good suspense films of 99

Clint Eastwood's True Crime shows how even at the ripe old age of 69 (or 70) he can still make a film that has an equal level of skill and practical entertainment value to his older ones. It's nothing great as art, however, and I doubt that it'll be put along the ranks of his great westerns of really chilling cop thrillers. But I remember seeing it twice in the theater (the second time as it was the only movie I could see as being worth seeing among the lot of movies that were out in the theater that time of the year), and thinking well enough of it both times. It's a perfunctory, suspenseful look at a flawed-man though hard-edged journalist (Eastwood) who is trying to find the truth of a death years earlier to save a man's life on deat5h row (Isaiah Washingon is convincing as this man). Denis Leary and James Woods give their all for Eastwood here as co-stars, and there's always a sense of other good character actors in the mix as well (Michael Jeter anyone?). With moments of sorrow mixed with touches of dark comedy, and a finale we all know is coming but keeps us biting the nails all the way, it's not bad at all. If I wouldn't rank it right up there with the best of Eastwood's it might be because of its pat predictability and somewhat lack of interest in the core case in the story. B+