781 In Cold Blood

[swo17]

In Cold Blood



Truman Capote's best seller, a breakthrough narrative account of real-life crime and punishment, became an equally chilling film in the hands of writer-director Richard Brooks. Cast for their unsettling resemblances to the killers they play, Robert Blake and Scott Wilson give authentic, unshowy performances as Perry Smith and Richard Hickock, who in 1959 murdered a family of four in Kansas during a botched robbery. Brooks brings a detached, documentary-like starkness to this uncompromising view of an American tragedy and its aftermath; at the same time, stylistically In Cold Blood is a filmmaking master class, with clinically precise editing, chiaroscuro black-and-white cinematography by the great Conrad L. Hall, and a menacing jazz score by Quincy Jones.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• New 4K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• New interview with cinematographer John Bailey on the film's cinematography
• New interview with film historian Bobbie O'Steen on the film's editing
• New interview with film critic and jazz historian Gary Giddins on the film's music by Quincy Jones
• New interview with writer Douglass Daniel on director Richard Brooks
• Interview with Brooks from 1988 from the French television series Cinéma cinemas
• Interview with actor Robert Blake from 1968 from the British television series Good Evening with Jonathan King
• With Love from Truman, a short 1966 documentary featuring novelist Truman Capote, directed by Albert and David Maysles
• Two archival NBC interviews with Capote: one following the author on a 1966 visit to Holcomb, Kansas, and the other conducted by Barbara Walters in 1967
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by critic Chris Fujiwara

[domino harvey]

Nice to see some Brooks-focused extras here and not just Capote and the real-life case

[Ribs]

It seems pretty unlike Criterion to put a 5.1 soundtrack on something that didn't have one when it came out - wonder why this gets special treatment?

[CSM126]

Sony probably had a remix done and insisted it be included as part of the licensing arrangement. I can't imagine Criterion would have bothered to do it themselves.

[The Narrator Returns]

The same thing happened with Anatomy of a Murder.

[Izo]

It may have something to do with the crossover appeal of the films' respective composers, Duke Ellington and Quincy Jones.

[FrauBlucher]

Beaver.

[Orlac]

No original mono?

[beamish13]

Scott Wilson shared a tape of his original audition when this film was screened at the American Cinematheque, and I wish Criterion had included that

[RossyG]

No original mono?

No. The film was originally released with a Westrex three channel stereo soundtrack.

[Orlac]

thanks!

[Rayon Vert]

Anyone know why this isn't showing up on amazon.ca?

[HerrSchreck]

A few fast words...

This is a fantastic movie and I should get off my ass and buy this set. Murder murder murder... every frigging movie features a murder. But this film captures a certain kind of murder: some murder explodes out of nowhere as a spontaneous action that the protagonist wakes from like a dream and is now stuck with his new inheritance and is basically lifetime-screwed. Some murder is planned and mountebanks of men go out and do it on purpose.

And then there's the idiocy in between--committing a crime with the potential for violence with a deadly weapon on you that's "only there for threat." I've know several men who've gotten themselves completely fucked via this stupidity and paid for it with massive prison sentences that robbed them of their youth (and of course robbed the victim of forever).

Nightmarish murders like this happen by degrees it seems... as the night wears on--bad nerves, a risky plan, one guy too stupid to know where he's headed with his plan for the evening, and another guy typically a little smarter but weaker sitting there with a voice yelling at him to leave now before it gets out of hand. But weak compass and dumbass criminal bravado keeps one-upping the night until drinking, fringe camaraderie etc make reversing direction impossible.

In Cold Blood eerily really brings out the frighteningly normal brainlessness that makes that kind of spontaneous orgy of violence possible. And also the usually overblown but rarely felt bond combined with resentment and hatred between two criminals who drag each other into such disasters. All along the line watching this film you see little signposts in these guy's lives that feel vaguely familiar.. bad turns you the viewer could have taken in life but thankfully didn't. Asshole friends who pulled you in asshole directions before you got away from them... how one night can unfold and trap you forever in a ten minute stretch of bullshit that ruins everything for all involved.

This is a really sad film--I watch it every year at least. It's basically every tragically awful decision that overwrought misguided young dudes, unable to think their way out of a mire they got themselves into with their lives, have made for thousands of years. Rusty old Charles McGraw, dazed Jeff Corey as the pops in denial (almost like Brute Force redux w Brooks), the location shooting... this film's a wallop every time I watch it.

[Minkin]

Blu-ray.com review

[swo17]

Has anyone seen the 1996 2-part miniseries of this? I wanted to check it out because I've been exploring a little more of Jonathan Kaplan's filmography, and I thought it was pretty good! It spends a lot more time establishing the characters before the crime occurs, and there is excellent casting all the way down the line, even a cameo by a very young Ryan Reynolds in one of his first screen roles

[beamish14]

Has anyone seen the 1996 2-part miniseries of this? I wanted to check it out because I've been exploring a little more of Jonathan Kaplan's filmography, and I thought it was pretty good! It spends a lot more time establishing the characters before the crime occurs, and there is excellent casting all the way down the line, even a cameo by a very young Ryan Reynolds in one of his first screen roles

Yes, I have, and I recall enjoying it quite a bit as well. Kaplan is really an extraordinary filmmaker who has never quite gotten his due. I can't think of many male directors who operated within the Hollywood system who so consistently employed feminist themes in their works.

[swo17]

I can certainly see that based on Death Ride to Osaka and what I remember of Brokedown Palace and The Accused. Women aren't really the focal point here, and yet Margot Finley as the teenage daughter is one of the most beautifully fleshed out characters