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in cold blood 1967 I love movies that are based on true stories. I found myself researching the actual case right when I got home and comparing the real-life facts to the movie. One of the interesting things as noted in the AV/FILM article below is that the house used in the film was that actual house where the murders took place.
https://film.avclub.com/in-cold-blood-remains-an-inspired-hybrid-of-documentary-1798185707 While watching the movie I was drawn to four specific elements. These four elements are the lighting, camera shots, character development, and the music. The overall lighting throughout this movie was very dark and mysterious. This helps set the stage for a creepy black and white crime movie. The lighting stood out to me the most at the beginning of the movie when we first see Perry on the bus. The little girl walks to the back of the bus only to see a boot and a shadow of a man. Cautiously, Richard Brooks hides Perry's face until he lights up a cigarette revealing his identity. Later, the movie shows Dick at his house and the lighting was generally brighter than Perry's. I believe that Brooks used different lighting between Perry and Dick to foreshadow the different backgrounds of these characters that's eventually revealed throughout the move. The scene where the men break into the house has a very unique use of lighting. The whole house in dark with the exception of the flashlights and the moonlight which help to keep a very narrow focus on each specific character and intensifies the action in the scene. It also helps that this movie was filmed in black and white. I believe that helps the mysterious dark lighting used throughout as well.
Something I had repeatedly noticed while watching, was the interesting way the camera would shoot certain scenes. An example is in the opening sequence of the movie when they show what appear to be unrelated scenes which are actually introducing some of the main elements of the movie such as the house where the murders took place and the two main characters. Another example is the way the camera zooms in on a character's face to shown their emotions, such as the scene where Perry has a flashback of his mother and the camera closes in on Perry's face to show his confusion and discomfort with the situation. Since you don't know whether Perry, Dick or both of them committed the murders until the end of the movie, part of the character development gives you insight into their lives and causes you to think about who committed the crimes. I believe that Perry's character was portrayed to be more emotionally unstable than Dick. In the beginning of the movie you see that Dick has a simple lifestyle, living at home, as compared to Perry who is washing himself in the sink of a bus stop. This is the first hint that there in a big difference between these character's living situations. Although Dick's character might appear to be more stable, Perry also shows that he has some good judgement. In the scene where they are about to break into the house, Perry questions whether they should go through with trying to rob the house. Dick, surprised, tries to reason with him. With the help of flashbacks throughout the movie, we learn that Perry has had a very troublesome past. But, Perry also shows that he has a lot of positive emotions toward people as well. He seemed more humble than Dick. This had me believe for a while that Dick might have killed everyone. Dick came off almost as a wise guy to me. At the end of the movie when they show that ultimately it was Perry that killed everyone, I was actually surprised. I think the fact that he was unstable lead to the killings and that Dick was too scared to do something like that. Dick just wanted money to help his father. Also, since only Perry committed the murders, is it fair that both of them received the same punishment. What do you think? *Refer back to first clip to a flashback of Perry's father aiming a gun at him when he was a young boy* I want to conclude the analysis of this movie by talking about the music in it. There is one main jazz music theme in the movie. This type of theme is typical for older crime movies. These theme songs typically all have the same mysterious and suspicious feel. They many times use a walking bass line at the start of the theme only to have the trumpets join in and wail above it. This type of jazz ties together the whole crime/murder theme of the movie and pulls it off. I agree with The Guardian article that says that along with the music, black and white camera works, and performance of Robert Blake, the beginning of the movie gives you a wonderful feel for the movie. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/07/in-cold-blood-a-near-masterpiece |