Review of Capote, directed by Bennett Miller

The first time I read Truman Capote, I was in the eleventh grade. Back then I was in Advanced Placement English and we had been assigned to read the novel In Cold Blood, and had just been warned that the novel was based on very real events and the people in it were also real.

That was my crash course into the nonfiction novel that would appear throughout my graduate school education later on, but it was also the beginning of learning about who Truman Capote was as a person and writer.

So, almost a decade later, it seems fitting to return to Capote through the film version dramatizing the making of this book.

I didn’t know much about the movie beforehand except for the fact that Philip Seymour Hoffman’s performance was well lauded by the critics and fans alike, so I knew that this was going to be a hell of a transformation going into it, but not much else. And boy was I pleasantly surprised!

Here’s my review.

After the murder of the Clutter family, Truman Capote meets with the killers.

The film opens with the 1959 murders of the Clutter Family, which, if you don’t want to Google, was done because these two ex-criminals were told by a cellmate that Herb Clutter had a ton of money in the house (he did not). When they could not find the money after putting all of the family in a hostage situation, they just killed everyone in the house and fled.

This was reported all over the country because the Clutters were well liked in their community, and that’s how Truman Capote found out about it—through The New York Times. He makes a call to the editor, determined that he will get to document the cause and people behind the tragedy.

So Capote packs his bags and heads to Kansas with Harper Lee, who would go on to write To Kill a Mockingbird. Capote’s original goal is to involve the people around the town and close with the family, but the head investigator of the Kansas Bureau pretty much tells him away.

However, the guy’s wife is a fan of Capote, and she gets him an invite to their house. Capote then charms the wife and husband, which gets him access to a picture of the victims.

One night, when they’re having dinner, the suspects are caught. Despite this being very much not allowed, Capote gets his way into the prison where Dick and Perry, the murderers, are being held.

He begins to converse with them, and grows an attachment to Smith (which is pretty dangerous in itself). He then decides to turn this into a book, and after the trial, after both of the murderers are condemned to die, Capote still continues visiting them after bribing the warden.

His visits span quite a bit of time, and he learns a lot about Perry and his life. Having garnered sympathy for the man, he gets them legal counseling and an appeal, but Perry refuses to recall the murders.

The appeal then goes on for years, and as Capote gets more frustrated with the lack of content, he eventually forces the material out of Perry but feels bad about it afterwards.

He has the information after that, but he waits for the results of the new trial. To Kill a Mockingbird comes out and is a smashing success, but Capote is commiserating in his own misery at this point.

The appeal is rejected, and Perry asks Capote to come back, but he does not do so. He does come back for the execution though, and In Cold Blood would be a smashing success, but Capote never wrote a full book again.

Overall Thoughts

I thought this was such an interesting movie, as many wouldn’t consider to view the events from Capote’s perspective. Sure, he wrote the book and it was a success, but a lot of people would just leave it at that and note care to know about the process of gathering the information.

It’s more interesting took because Capote got an emotional attachment, which is a big no no for this kind of reporting. Hoffman truly became his character in this movie, and may his soul rest easy—what a talented actor he was.

I haven’t been disappointed by his acting for most of what I’ve watched from him.

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