Obviously, many people like this movie. Equally obviously - that being the case - I must have missed something. Based on the actual murders of a Kansas family, I nevertheless found the story to be plodding and the acting (aside from Robert Blake and Scott Wilson, who I thought were all right as the killers) to be quite lacking in either emotion or intensity. I admit that I've never read the Truman Capote book on which this is based. I have seen parts of the movie "Capote," which supposedly details the process of Capote's writing of the book, and was bored almost to tears with it. "In Cold Blood" left me with much the same feeling. Essentially, this seems to be a psychological study of the killer Perry Smith (Blake) - with whom Capote is rumoured to have developed a relationship while researching the book - which tries to explain how he became a cold-blooded killer. But why? Are we supposed to feel sympathy for him? I had the feeling that the viewer was being manipulated into feeling sympathy for him, especially in the scenes near the end of the film, when Smith is on death row, but if that was the goal, it failed with me. Is this making a point about capital punishment? If so, I wasn't entirely clear what the point was. Was it pro, anti or neutral? I'd guess anti, but if so, it didn't do a very good job of it. The use of flashbacks to explain Smith's upbringing wasn't well done, either. The most "dramatic" part of the movie to me was a little trick by director Richard Brooks who, as Smith is speaking about the crimes to the prison chaplain on death row, uses the rain falling and dripping down the window Smith is looking out of to cast a reflection on Smith's face, which look like sweat and tears. The effect was well done, but again it seemed an attempt to elicit sympathy for Smith, who in my view (and I'm against capital punishment) was undeserving of sympathy.
For whatever reason, I just reacted against this movie. I found it dull and manipulative. My gut reaction is to give it a 1. That would be a bit unfair, given the reasonably good performances from Blake and Wilson, but I still can't go higher than a 2/10 on this one.
For whatever reason, I just reacted against this movie. I found it dull and manipulative. My gut reaction is to give it a 1. That would be a bit unfair, given the reasonably good performances from Blake and Wilson, but I still can't go higher than a 2/10 on this one.