Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" By Eric

Just finished reading "In Cold Blood", by Truman Capote, "A True Account of Multiple Murder and its Consequences."

My interest was piqued by the current movie, "Capote." "Capote" is an account of the author's experience in covering the 11/15/59 murder of four members of the Clutter family in rural Holcombe, Kansas, and his subseqent production of a novel covering the events. The role of Capote was played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman; I cannot think of a better choice in casting.

It was Capote's idea to produce a "non-fiction" novel, which was a rather grounbreaking idea at the time. Capote was an effete, gay New York author working for the New York Times. His placement in rural Kansas was an interesting juxtaposition; flouting his scarf, "From Bergdorfs," for example. Interestingly, he was accompanied by Harper Lee, childhood friend and neighbor, and author of "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Capote spent a considerable amount of time interviewing family members, friends, neighbors, locals, as well as investigators and others involved in the case. The primary relationship explored in the movie was between Capote and Perry Smith, one of the two accused murderers. (The other was Dick Hickock). Caopote negotiated nearly unrestricted access to Perry Smith, and the movie explores this relationship; was Capote pretending to be Smith's friend to gather information, or was it some of both? Was he simply using him? Since the executions were ultimately delayed until 1965, was Capote wishing for their executions so he could finish his book? Do perpetrators of crimes of this magnitude deserve as much honesty or sincerity as others?

Several factors led me to the book. The book and the author have a large reputation in American culture and literature. In one scene of the movie, Capote reads some excerpts from his yet un-finished book to a New York literary crowd. I was simply intrigued by the writing style and quality, with vivid description, smooth writing style, and a penchant for drawing the reader into the characters.

The book explores in vivid detail the lives and histories of the Clutter family, surrounding friends, neighbors, and family neighbors. On the flip side, it also explores the lives of the accused murderers, Hickock and Smith.

While Hickock and Smith could be dismissed as monsters, the book forces the reader to get to know them as well - their individual personalities, their sense of humor, their sporadic sense of morality as well as compassion.

It also explores the criminal mind; how do you explain a murder such as this where there is no over-arching rational motive? They did not have high motive, neither were they insane. This does not necessarily mean that they were not criminally insane, however.

The book explores in some detail issues such as the death penalty, the attempt to analyze the characteristics or psychological underpinnings of the criminal mind, and the volatile combination of Hickock and Smith working together.

Ultimately, the book does not moralize, but tends to report, leaving the idea that there is no ultimate satisfaction in a tragedy such as this. As quoted in the book; "At the time not a soul in sleeping Holcomb heard them - four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives."

I am also interested in seeing the 1966 movie "In Cold Blood," starring Robert Blake (Perry Smith) and Scott Wilson ( Dick Hickock). As it is hard to imagine anyone other than Phillip Seymour Hoffman playing the role of Truman Caopote, it is hard to imagine anyone more suited to the role of Perry Smith than Robert Blake. Smith was short, half Indian/half Irish, with a powerful upper body, and a paranoid personality prone to anger and offense out of proportion to the situation at hand.