Flick Pick

Richard Brooks's brilliant adaptation of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood (1967) remains one of the most chilling true-crime films ever made. The tale of two drifters whose disturbed personalities collide to produce their brutal mass murder of an ordinary farming family in Kansas and, in time, their double execution by...

By Bill Gallo

October 23, 2003

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Richard Brooks's brilliant adaptation of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood (1967) remains one of the most chilling true-crime films ever made. The tale of two drifters whose disturbed personalities collide to produce their brutal mass murder of an ordinary farming family in Kansas and, in time, their double execution by hanging, is a masterpiece in stark black and white that does honor to Capote's revolutionary "non-fiction novel." The stars of the film, as creepy as they are compelling, are Scott Wilson as the tall, laconic killer Dick, and Robert Blake (who now, ironically, faces a real-life murder charge) as the deeply wounded, ghost-haunted killer Perry Smith, doomed by choice and fate to spill blood. Brooks's moody direction is among his best work ever, and the film's ominous tone -- as if to imply that the Devil had invaded corn country -- stays with viewers long after they leave the theater. Denver playwright Terry Dodd introduces In Cold Blood at 4 p.m. this Saturday, June 25, as part of the Starz FilmCenter's Americana Series. After the screening, Dodd will oversee a discussion with the audience. Starz is located in the Tivoli building on the Auraria campus. For more information, call 303-820-3456.

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