After this week’s gruesome home invasion of the Petit family home in Connecticut, I couldn’t help thinking of Truman Capote’s book, “In Cold Blood,” I also couldn’t help thinking about the movie by the same name. Richard Brooks’ 1967 horrific film with Robert Blake and Scott Wilson in the lead roles will send chills down your spine. The shear horror these two vagrants imposed on the Clutter family back in the fifties in a sleepy town in Kansas is eerily similar to this week’s murders in Connecticut.
It is said that Truman Capote lost himself while writing this story back in the 60’s. He became a heavy drinker, and severely depressed soon after finishing the book. After reading Capote’s book, I felt that he wanted his readers to have more sympathy for the villains than for the victims in the story. Although brilliantly written, I just couldn’t side with that take on the story. He got so wrapped up with the killers and their lives that he lost himself and was a changed man for the rest of his life.
Before I get into the movie, did you know…that Brooks was so obsessive about making his films seem true to life, that nearly all of the filming was done on location in the places where the events depicted occurred–including the same Kansas house in which the Clutter family was murdered. In addition, six of the actual jurors from the trial of the killers appeared in the film’s trial scene, some of the extras in the film were real-life neighbors of the murdered family, and the hangman in the execution scene was THE hangman at the execution of the real-life killers!
In Cold Blood, (1967) is the true story of a notorious crime in Kansas in 1959. At 2:00 a.m. on November 15, 1959, in the farming town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Herbert Clutter family are roused from their sleep, bound and gagged, and then brutally murdered by two assailants.
The killers, Perry Smith, played powerfully by Robert Blake, and Dick Hickok, played grimly by Scott Wilson, met at a state prison where the stuck-up Dick picks the short-tempered Perry as his partner in crime. Perry is aspirin addicted due to lingering and excruciating pain in his legs due to a motorcycle accident. Dick takes notice of Perry’s bad temper, but also takes notice of his weak, child-like, mind. A mind, Dick could mold to his liking.
Dick was thinking robbery, but not just any robbery; this was going to be the “big leagues,” his ticket out. He planned the robbery of the Clutter family, when a former inmate told him that Mr. Clutter kept $10,000 in a safe in his home. There was no safe, and all the killers took that night was $43.00, that adds up to $10.75 a life.
The murders are investigated by police and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The murders astonish the small town of farmers. Everyone buys guns, lock their doors, and even stand guard over their homes. The once luminous, blissful town of Holcomb becomes a murky sea of terror with inhabitants wondering how could this happen? They were staring at evil in the face and couldn’t stand it.
The killers manage to cash a series of bad checks and make their way to Mexico. Perry is a dreamer, he dreams of becoming a gold prospector. The wave of crime left behind is but a distant and forgotten memory to both natural born killers. Perry’s dreams come to a crashing naught when his plans, like most of his plans and dreams, don’t pan out. Dick is sick of Perry’s dreams and plans. He insists they return back to the States. He is arrogant enough to believe that they had committed the perfect crime. They, he felt could never be caught. Why, why, I ask are criminals so stupid? So stupid were these criminals that when they got back to the states, they cash more bad checks. The cops were already on their tail. The killers are caught in Las Vegas and are subjected to intensive questioning. The intensive questioning turns Dick into an informer, turning the two against each other. Finally the police match the soles of their shoes to bloody footprints in the Clutter crime scene.
These two natural born killers are swiftly brought to trial, convicted, and hanged in April 14, 1965, leaving behind a multitude of people in total disbelief. When I first heard of the recent family killings in Connecticut, I immediately thought of this film. I even pondered whether these losers watched this film and others like it and somehow copied. Many people thought the same as I. God be with us, if this is the case.
These crimes are beyond all words horrible. We truly can’t understand them because it’s beyond our understanding, evil that is. Yes, evil. Why is it so hard for us to call evil, evil? Why must we make excuses for evil or call it by another name? As far as I am concerned what happened to the Clutter and Petit family is evil, straight from the pit of Hell. My thoughts and prayers are with the Petit family. There is a higher judge.
