Contents: Introduction chapter I american writer of Truman Capote

Chapter II Criminal aspects in Truman Capote’s documentary work “In Cold Blood.
2.1. Investigation and trial of In Cold Blood.
“Cold-blooded” is a horrible situation. Not a movie. It's happening. The film itself, despite its shortcomings, is incredibly strong, the latest episode of the chain that began eight years ago when Herbert Klutter’s family was killed near Holcomb, Kansas. Without this assassination , Richard Brooks would have struggled to make this film, and Truman Capote would not have been able to find a job as a country correspondent for the New Yorker.
When I was writing actor credits, I came across a line called “Based on Truman Capot’s book”. Some black jokes suggested I keep writing: "... and the murders of Perry Smith and Dick Hickock ." Essentially, this film was created by Smith and Hickok . They spent most of their lives collecting biographies that prepared them for crime.
Perry was born in a violent childhood. His mother drank, his father got angry, and children were beaten in their homes. Dick came out of extreme poverty, a rootless creature with no values. Thus, both were “victims of society” because advocates use the term. As their victims, they chose the Clutter family, a wealthy, middle-class family that feared God and lived in a world that was in every way opposite.
If it were fiction, the themes could not have been clearer. The clash of two opposing cultures. Outsiders kill insiders in the first round and lose to the executioner in the second. But the film is not based on fiction; Clutter murders occurred. If you look at the list of characters, you will find names like Herb Clutter and Perry Smith. Real names. The cast also includes Sadi Truitt and Myrtle Claire. They were citizens of Holcomb on the night of the murder, and still are.
Such considerations make it difficult to consider Cold Blood as a film. This is not a work of fiction, but a masterpiece of copying. Richard Brooks and Truman Capot brought technical skill to the task of re-establishing the murders, but no imagination was required. All events have already taken place. Every detail of the film, from the appearance of the actors to the use of real places like Clutter Farm, was chosen to turn the film into a literal copy of those events.
I'm not against it. People have always learned about themselves by learning what their colleagues are doing. If such a mass murder is possible in American society (and there have been many), then it may be helpful to watch a film that is thought of as one of them.
And to the extent that Cold Blood has a clear and subtle account of real events, it is an irreversible achievement. Actors Robert Blake (Smith) and Scott Wilson ( Hickok ) are so good that they almost come to life outside of performances. The flat, everyday , absolutely real truth is echoed in many other performances. Sometimes it’s not a movie, it’s a documentary, the events seem to be happening right now.
What worries me is the self-aware “art” that Brooks allowed in his film. It does not interfere with real events. For example, the music on the soundtrack was almost typical music for Hollywood ghosts, as if these murders had to be made convincing. Landscape sounds - wind and weather - will suffice for music. Still, some of the photos are staged and distracting. We see a Herb Clutter beard and we move on to shaving one of the killers. We see Perry’s bus turning into a Santa Fe train passing through Golomb . Such tricks should be in TV advertising.
I think another mistake Brooks made was his decision to write a liberal reporter for the script. This number undoubtedly represents the Hood. He sticks to the second half of the film, talking about death, talking about hanging, and instantly talking about the death penalty. It is useless and distracting. Brooks had to either use the hood himself, or no one at all.
However, we still have a film that didn’t do much harm to this Hollywood artistry. The amazing power of real-life events and locations amazes and humbles music and photography. The story itself looks as dark and tragic as the day the first murders took place. It is still impossible to answer questions about Smith and Hickok's senseless crime and the deaths of their unclean victims.
Cold Blood ”was first published as a four-part series in The New Yorker in 1965 and as a book in 1966. About the capture, trial, and execution of the Clutter family and murderers in Kansas by a pair of drifters.
The book first tells the story of Herb Clutter, a successful and well-loved wheat farmer who lives with his wife Bonnie and their teenage children Nancy and Kenyon in Holcomb, Kansas. It was November 14, 1959, and the narrator emphasizes that this day was the last day of their lives and described how they were spending their days. This legend is intertwined with the actions of their killers, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. The two met at a Kansas jail and are waiting for Perry to meet Dick in Olate, Kansas, 400 miles (644 km) east of Holcomb to "count". Once Dick arrives, they buy materials for their planned crime and take him to the farm at night.
The next morning, Nancy's friend comes to take the family to church. If no one opens the door, he looks for Nancy's close friend Sue Kidwell, and together they enter Clutters' house to find out that Nancy was shot. They call the police and find other bodies. When the town of Holcomb encounters this horrific discovery, Perry and Dick return to Alath.
Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) officer Alvin Dewey is investigating and several potential suspects have been identified but eventually eliminated. Meanwhile, Dick goes through bad checks in Kansas City and then the two make their way to Mexico City. When they run out of money, they sell the car and return to the U.S. by bus.
In a Kansas jail, Floyd Wells hears the news of the Clutter murders. Wells is a former employee of Clutter and he described Klutter’s wealth to Dick, who was convinced that there was wealth in the safe in Klutter’s house. Dick, with the help of Perry, who had previously falsely claimed to be the killer, devised a plan to rob and kill Klutter. (Actually, there was no safe in the house, and very little money.) Floyd informs the deputy supervisor, giving Dewey his first shot at work. The KBI begins investigating new suspects, starting with a conversation with Dick’s parents. As the investigation progresses, Dick and Perry steal the car and head back to Kansas City so Dick can write more bad checks. The couple then travels to Miami for Christmas. They then travel to Las Vegas, where on December 30, their stolen car is confessed and arrested. When KBI investigators say Dick is a living witness to the murders, he denies that they left anyone alive and then claims he killed Perry Clutters. Perry sticks to their cover first. However, when he learns that he committed a previous murder, he realizes that Dick has confessed, and he, too, confesses to his crimes. They are returned to Kansas and taken to court.
Dick and Perry are deemed fit enough for the trial, and a dramatic trial ensues. The psychiatrist is not allowed to conclude that Perry may suffer from paranoid schizophrenia and Dick may suffer from personality disorder, and both were convicted and sentenced to death. For the next five years, they failed to appeal the verdict. They were executed on April 14, 1965. In the last scene of the book, Dewey meets Sue Kidwell in the cemetery and they talk.
Cold Blood is a non-fiction novel and a pioneering example of a modern crime story. The world of victims has been rebuilt with hardship and compassion, but Capote’s real interest is in Perry’s emotional life and, to a lesser extent, Dick and what could have led them to such murders. He also uses the polarity of this work as a starting point for a broader study of American values in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Capote began gathering information for the book while the investigation was ongoing and took his girlfriend, Harper Lee, with him to help gain the trust of the locals. After all, he had been researching and interviewing for six years. The publication of the book made Kapot a literary hit. In 1967, a sensational film version of director Richard Brooks appeared.