Intense. Maybe too intense. Very well photographed.

Excellent story based on Truman Capote's book about a real event.Great performances all round make this a must see.

Nice Movie

A quasidoc based on Capote's best-seller report, Brooks' adaptation is not a masterpiece or a Hollywood unforgettable classic -- despite its 1940s noir resemblances and the predictably tense final moments --, but a well-acted, coldly refined and nearly great examination of these two well-known murderers.

A dark, nihilistic character study as well as an atmospheric film noir: "In Cold Blood" is excellent in all fronts. The portrait of the killers is built gradually and with minor dramatic explosions throughout the film's first two thirds (but in an extremely interesting manner), until the final 30' minutes pack an emotional wallop and offer food for thought aplenty. Brooks' direction and screenwriting are subtle but powerful, the acting strong and the cinematography haunting.

In Cold Blood has an eeriness to it that most films fail at trying to accomplish. Robert Blake and Scott Wilson both play their roles perfectly and are simply two of the coolest guys I have ever watched in a movie. Both of them pull off the "not caring" attitude great, and both make it seem like what they were doing was totally logical. This is what gives the film such an intense feeling of passion for money, greed, and hate towards others, and how quickly situations can escalate.

New Hollywood crime film with great jazzy score, stark B&W cinematography, creative editing and some powerful acting. Story itself ain't as interesting and powerful as I have expected.

I don't know why, but for some reason this film never gets a nod for being one of the best films of the 1960's. It's story is based upon Truman Capote's best seller about the Clutter family massacre in Holcomb, Kansas in 1959. Almost everything about this film is first rate, the acting, screenplay, music score by Quincy Jones and most important of all, Conrad Hall atmospheric black & white cinematography.

A well-done thrilling screen adaption of the classic crime novel by Truman Capote. The cinematography with it's fast cuts and the film score gives you the creeps and I highly recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed the book.

The last 40 minutes are just perfect!

"One of the most creditable true-crime films ever made."

A probing, sensitive, tasteful, balanced and suspenseful documentary-drama.

Overwrought, verging on hokum. All the hammy match cuts and so forth. But the last 45 minutes or so is very good, including the re-enactment of the crime (which I didn't even think we were going to see, a la Reservoir Dogs). And all the cussin' and stuff was fun too--and I suppose pushed the envelope back then. And lot of well-known faces in cameos too. The two leads were very good--especially Scott Wilson; and I guess nobody thought of Blake as one of the Little Rascals again after this.

Its hard for me to view In Cold Blood as I once did. I've read In Cold Blood and seen Capote and Infamous, and learned of the reasoning behind one of the most chilling and senseless crimes ever told in paperback. I first saw In Cold Blood before really visitng the backstory of the murder, and the effect it had on me was breathtaking. Roger Ebert describes Richard Brooks' fanatical attention to authentic detail in such a way that it makes viewing this film an even more haunting experiance. Conr

This surprised me in a lot of ways. For one thing, I thought it was made in the 50's (shows how much I knew about the case, huh?). I didn't expect something so modern, so... artsy, for lack of a better word. Very stark images and interesting use of flashback/fantasy sequences, and of course Quincy Jones' jazzy score. The psychology is a bit annoying, but they don't overdo it. Excellent film.

It's not the work of perfection that the "novel" is, but it's still an excellent, moving, and adept adaptation. The narrative plays out nicely, two stories (those of the murderers and the police after them) traveling along parallel paths until they finally meet towards the end. The black-and-white cinematography is perfect for this material, with the characters moving in and out of shadows.