the truman show

On November 14, 1959, a family of four in Holcomb, Kansas, was slaughtered by two men who came into their house to rob them. The murders, the capture of the killers and their ensuing trial and execution were the subject of Truman Capote’s non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood. The movie, Capote, was based on those events. Jimbo and his girlfriend saw the movie last night and I’m adding it to the recommended list.

First, I noticed a bit of a boner. At the very first of the movie they display the date and then fade to a field of ripe Kansas wheat. In Kansas we grow hard red winter wheat that is planted in September or October and looks like a field of green grass until about March of the following year. Sometimes farmers plant spring wheat, but it is harvested by September. Sure, wheat is a great symbol for Kansas, but we don’t have ripe wheat fields in November. Right now many of you are probably saying, “Picky, picky, picky.” All right, I’ll drop it.

The movie begins with Capote reading about the killings in southwestern Kansas and he and longtime friend Harper Lee travel to Holcomb so Capote can do research for a book. The following year, Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird was published, making she and Capote two of the literary notables of the twentieth century.

Anyway, Capote, with Lee’s help and using his own fame and notoriety, is able to put himself into a position to get the details of the story from witnesses and law enforcement. When the agent in charge of the case is not forthcoming, Capote discovers the agent’s wife has read his work and uses his fame to get a dinner invitation, and therefore access to the agent in charge. When the suspects are arrested and jailed, he is able to gain access to one of them by leveraging his celebrity and a signed copy of a book. He is able to cultivate a relationship with that suspect, Perry Smith that lasts for several years and allows Capote access to information necessary to complete his book.

The movie shows Capote using his money and fame to “buy” the data he needs. When the murderers are convicted and go to death row at the state penitentiary at Lansing, Capote gives the warden an envelope of money so the “people of Leavenworth County” won’t have to absorb the expense of the author’s unimpeded access to the prisoners. Capote has frequent visits with Perry Smith over the next few years, while helping him obtain a lawyer for an appeal and doing other favors for the murderers. Capote is able to gain the confidence of Smith and able to probe the psyche of the convicted murderer by intimating to Smith that Capote is his friend. Perhaps Capote, himself, is convinced that the two are friends, but we are able to determine that it is a manipulative relationship. We see Capote tell Smith the things he thinks Smith wants to hear, and not hesitate to tell any lie he thinks will cement their relationship.

The one thing Capote wants to hear from Smith, however, is a detailed recounting of the night of November 14, 1959, which Smith will not tell. Finally, like the gold-digger that wants unfettered access to your bank account, Capote uses the “you’re not really my friend if you can’t tell me” tactic. Smith finally comes across with the details of the grizzly murders and Capote has his book.

Capote visits Smith on the night of his execution and is overcome with grief. He stands at the back of the room and watches with a tear in his eye like every Mata Hari or most any femme fatale, as Smith dangles from the gallows and eventually all movement stops. He speaks to Harper Lee on the phone and says he did everything he could to stop the execution, but was unable to do it. Lee tells him that is not true, that the execution was necessary for him to finish his book. Capote acted as if he may not have known it, but Lee did, and we knew it, too.

This movie was not funny; it was not lighthearted. It was, however, damned good. Philip Seymour Hoffman was spectacular in the featured role. Overall, the quality of acting was excellent.

For those of us old enough to remember Truman Capote as a raconteur, and a talk-show regular in his later years, who jabbered on about other celebrities, acted flamboyently gay, and accomplished little after writing In Cold Blood, this movie provides us an insight into his character. In a society where we don’t much care how something gets done, but what the results are, then Capote, as a writer, may have foreshadowed our times.

If the opportunity arises to see the movie, Capote, I say you should probably do it. Plus that, you won’t have to wade through an ocean of kids like at the Harry Potter movie in the next theater.

At least, that’s our view in Jimbo’s world.