In the early scenes of “In Cold Blood,” Richard Brooks’ disturbing 1967 black-and-white adaptation of Truman Capote’s nonfiction novel, clashes of cultures abound.
They also subtly introduce the saddest collision of all.
A quick series of edits jumps from teenager Nancy Clutter to killers Perry Smith and then Richard Hickock, each on the phone. The effort is startling even now as a powerhouse use of editing to get at the very collision that attracted Capote to the story of the murders of four members of the Clutter family. Composer Quincy Jones used hepcat riffs to introduce Smith (Robert Blake) and Hickock (Scott Wilson). Sentimental strings accompany early scenes of the Clutters at home.
Deftly seizing a cinematic opportunity to ponder pop-culture history, the Denver Film Society begins a one-week run of “In Cold Blood.” The restored 35mm print (nominated for four Academy Awards, including best director) reveals a bold film, and it holds up beautifully as art grappling with facts and fictions. There were plenty of both in Capote’s controversial work.
It also makes a crosstown double-feature required viewing. See “In Cold Blood,” then head off to catch Philip Seymour Hoffman in his Oscar-favored portrayal of the writer in “Capote.”
Smith and Hickock’s late-night visit to the Clutter farm in Holcomb, Kan., on Nov. 15, 1959, was hardly the “sure thing” Hickock had promised. But it was as cruel as he predicted, when he told Smith “we’ll blast hair over them walls.”
“Kansas Wheat Farmer, Wife, 2 Children Found Murdered,” was The Denver Post headline on the next day’s wire story out of Garden City, Kan. “Police don’t know who murdered the Clutters. They haven’t determined a motive.”
Holcomb is only 300 miles from Denver, and while The Post relied on wire copy for its initial stories, Capote’s 1965 best seller changed things. By the time the movie was being shot in 1967, the paper was attuned to the cultural shift.
Here are some samples of the later coverage:
From an article about Capote’s claims of creating a new genre:
“At a public lecture at (Colorado College), (James) Yaffe said, ‘The closer we examine Capote’s whole concept of the nonfiction novel as a new art form, the more it seems to fade away into nothingness. … Truman Capote is like a man who, having split his ticket, announces he has created a new political party.” (June 23, 1966)
On Capote’s visit to the set and the casting:
“(John) Forsythe has an absolutely uncanny resemblance to (Kansas Bureau of Investigation’s Alvin) Dewey. And the two killers too. They are so much like the real figures that it is positively frightening. Especially the dark one. He is the absolute image of Perry Smith.” (Capote to Bob Thomas, April 16, 1967)
Brooks on shooting in the house where the Clutters were killed:
“We have a quality on film we could get in no other way. … But more than that, the important thing is what this house does to the actors. They feel what has happened here, there is a certain eeriness to being within these walls, especially down in the basement (where the father and son were killed).” (To Bob Thomas, April 28, 1967)
Robert Blake on playing Smith:
“We spent days in the Clutter house. … Do you think that was a picnic? It wasn’t real, I grant you, but it sure as hell wasn’t make-believe. … I had the Perry Smith syndrome. And I couldn’t get out from underneath it. I know it’s corny, but I lived Perry’s life all over. … You know, I honestly feel I could write a book on what it’s like to kill someone as well as anybody on Death Row. I did everything that Perry did in the Clutter house, the only difference was that the shotgun we used had blank shells.” (Blake on a publicity tour in Denver to Post drama editor Del Carnes, Jan. 28, 1968)
Film critic Lisa Kennedy can be reached at 303-820-1567 or lkennedy@denverpost.com.
“In Cold Blood”
R for sexual dialogue|2 hours, 14 minutes|TRUE-CRIME DRAMA|Directed by Richard Brooks; written by Brooks based on Truman Capote’s non-fiction work; photography by Conrad Hall; starring Robert Blake, Scott Wilson, John Forsythe |Opens today for one-week exclusive at the Starz FilmCenter
