"IN COLD BLOOD" REVIEWED
Some thoughts on "In Cold Blood" (1967), which I just caught for the first time:
This is definitely Robert Blake's finest hour -- better than "The Little Rascals" and "Baretta" put together.
It's so wild when Blake says, "Remember Bogie in 'Treasure of Sierra Madre'?" -- because you KNOW Blake played the little Mexican boy who sold Humphrey Bogart a lottery ticket in that classic 1949 John Huston film. Blake again mentions "Treasure of Sierra Madre" during the bottle-collecting-in-the-desert scene, and a photo of Bogie hangs in Blake's prison cell.
I truly appreciate the movie's authenticity, but there's something sick about the fact that they filmed the murder scenes in the same house where the murders occurred.
It's totally weird to compare Blake's interrogation scenes to his real-life prison interview with Barbara Walters. Both were riveting performances. Blake's character fantasized about singing in "In Cold Blood," and Blake sang during the Walters interview.
How lucky are we that Paul Newman and Steve McQueen turned down "In Cold Blood"? It just works better with "non-movie star" types. And besides -- a decade later, we got to sample Paul and Steve's chemistry in "The Towering Inferno."
I am now on a mission to find Truman Capote's book, but I think I'll pass on the movie "Capote." (TANGENT ALERT) Not to denegrate anyone's accomplishments, but it seems to me there's a trend lately where you can increase your chances of winning an Oscar by playing a famous person with problems (Truman Capote, June Carter Cash, Ray Charles). If Ben Affleck gets nominated for playing George Reeves, so help me God, I'll . . . I'll . . .
This is definitely Robert Blake's finest hour -- better than "The Little Rascals" and "Baretta" put together.
It's so wild when Blake says, "Remember Bogie in 'Treasure of Sierra Madre'?" -- because you KNOW Blake played the little Mexican boy who sold Humphrey Bogart a lottery ticket in that classic 1949 John Huston film. Blake again mentions "Treasure of Sierra Madre" during the bottle-collecting-in-the-desert scene, and a photo of Bogie hangs in Blake's prison cell.
I truly appreciate the movie's authenticity, but there's something sick about the fact that they filmed the murder scenes in the same house where the murders occurred.
It's totally weird to compare Blake's interrogation scenes to his real-life prison interview with Barbara Walters. Both were riveting performances. Blake's character fantasized about singing in "In Cold Blood," and Blake sang during the Walters interview.
How lucky are we that Paul Newman and Steve McQueen turned down "In Cold Blood"? It just works better with "non-movie star" types. And besides -- a decade later, we got to sample Paul and Steve's chemistry in "The Towering Inferno."
I am now on a mission to find Truman Capote's book, but I think I'll pass on the movie "Capote." (TANGENT ALERT) Not to denegrate anyone's accomplishments, but it seems to me there's a trend lately where you can increase your chances of winning an Oscar by playing a famous person with problems (Truman Capote, June Carter Cash, Ray Charles). If Ben Affleck gets nominated for playing George Reeves, so help me God, I'll . . . I'll . . .
posted by Mark Voger at 10:14 PM
1 Comments:
Vog
You ought to be able to find 'In Cold Blood' at any chain bookstore. It's one of those things that pops up on school reading lists,and can be located next to the 400 copies of 'Catcher In the Rye' and 'Slaughterhouse Five'.
BTW, check out 'Capote'. Excellent film.
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