In Cold Blood (1996) (TV)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Jonathan Kaplan

Writers (WGA):

Truman Capote (book)
Benedict Fitzgerald (teleplay)

Release Date:

24 November 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

At the end of the 1950s, in a more innocent America, the brutal, meaningless slaying of a Midwestern family horrified the nation...

Plot Keywords:

Kansas | Murder | Family Relationships | Execution | Mother Daughter Relationship

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Anthony Edwards	...	Dick Hickock
Eric Roberts	...	Perry Smith
Sam Neill	...	Agent Alvin Dewey
Kevin Tighe	...	Herbert Clutter
Gillian Barber	...	Bonnie Clutter
Margot Finley	...	Nancy Clutter
Robbie Bowen	...	Kenyon Clutter
Bethel Leslie	...	Bess Hartmann
Gwen Verdon	...	Sadie Truitt
Leo Rossi	...	Agent Harold Nye
Troy Evans	...	Carl Duntz
Don S. Davis	...	Roy Church (as Don Davis)
L.Q. Jones	...	Tex Smith
Louise Latham	...	Eunice Hickock
Campbell Lane	...	Walter Hickock

Runtime:

240 min (including commercials) | Canada:178 min (2 parts)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Finland:K-15 | Germany:16

Filming Locations:

CL Ranch - 45001 Township Road, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Company:

Pacific Motion Pictures Corporation

Movie Connections:

Version of In Cold Blood (1967)

Soundtrack:

Parrots

Yet another remake

It boggles the mind. If they think another nickel can be squeezed out of a piece of material, they'll squeeze. The only reason I can think of that this story was retold was that the producers figured the audience was so stupid that they either never had seen the original or didn't know that there WAS an original. Well, maybe the assumption isn't that far off base. As a collective we seem to have dropped a good couple of IQ points somewhere along the way. Back in the 1960s Stanley Kaufman wrote an essay on "the film generation." In one of his classes he brought up Preminger's Joan of Arc, and his students did an impromptu comparison with Dreyer. His students don't do that anymore. They can't. They never heard of Dreyer. In the original "In Cold Blood," there is a lot of artsiness and pop psychology. It isn't a timeless classic, but it's a well-made movie. I don't know why anyone felt a remake was a good idea except, as I suggested, there might be another nickel left in it. The shot-by-shot remake of Psycho was a disgrace. It wasn't that long ago, by geological standards, that when a movie became a classic it was left alone. Can anyone imagine making "Gone With the Wind" now, without its being followed up by "Gone With the Wind, Part 2: Scarlett's Revenge"? What an insult this movie is. It's not badly done, but the motives behind its creation are scurrilous.