True Crime Movies

[Magpie]

I saw Public Enemies last week.

The first half or so is really, really slow. The second half is much better.
Johnny Depp is great, as always, but Christian Bale is pretty wooden throughout.

[sdreid]

I sort of think gangster movies based on actual cases are in a special branch of true crime films but has anyone seen the new Dillinger release? If so, what did you think?

[John Hacker]

I haben't been able to track down much detail on the actual crimes. 10 dead, with a wide range of ages in the victims. Never caught. Statute of limitations now expired.

That's about it.

[sdreid]

John-I've only seen that movie listed on IMDb and haven't been able to find anything in print on an actual case. There are several Chinese/Hong Kong films in the same boat.

Kensei-I have seen that TV movie as well.

[kensei]

I watched BTK last night. The actor looks like Rader and does a passable job. That's all I can think of to say positive about the production.

Oh God, that straight-to-video piece of dreck? I feel for you that you had to sit through and endure it. There was a much better movie (how could anything be worse?) made for television in America about BTK, but it didn't deal with the period of the murders, only with the months leading up to his capture when he was writing to the police. Sorry I don't remember the title offhand, but it showed a lot of how he was in his private life, milking his job of "compliance officer" for all it was worth, getting off on being able to make people keep their grass to a certain height, etc. One really nasty sequence dealt with a woman whose dog Rader had brought to the pound, and when she was informed that she had until a certain date and time to contact him to avoid having the animal put to sleep he deliberately avoided her calls and kept her from saving its life, a substitute for murder in his advancing age, just for a little power fix.

I remember the scene showing his arrest, done very accurately. As he's face-down in the street with cops massing around him, he's asked if he knows why he's being arrested. With complete calm he says, "Well, I have some idea."

[John Hacker]

One of my personal favorites is Memories of Murder by Bong Joon-ho. (Director of The Host)

It's based on an unsolved series of killings that occurred in South Korea 1988-1991.

It's not a happy film, but it's a well told story about unprepared police trying to captuire a serial killer where their standard approach to solving crimes is completely useless.

[sdreid]

OK Hyde. I haven't seen it. IMDb says 70 minutes. That's all I had to go by.

[Mr.Hyde]

Mr.Hyde

True-crime movies occupy an important position in film history. What is generally considered to be the first feature length film, at 70 minutes, was a true-crime movie of a sort. That release was The Story of the Kelly Gang from Australia in 1906. All the movies before this Ned Kelly rendition were either shorts or serials.

Good day cobber!Fair guess for a septic!Really,only kidding mate.Weighed in at ~60 minutes.Beat"Birth of a Nation" by several years.
Just watch what we do with "JTR".

[sdreid]

I watched BTK last night. The actor looks like Rader and does a passable job. That's all I can think of to say positive about the production.

[sdreid]

Hi Kensei,

I think The Great Train Robbery (1903) was inspired by an actual case but I'm not sure which one. It was only 11 minutes long though (and that was at only 18 fps) so it wouldn't be considered feature length, at least by today's standards.

[kensei]

True-crime movies occupy an important position in film history. What is generally considered to be the first feature length film, at 70 minutes, was a true-crime movie of a sort. That release was The Story of the Kelly Gang from Australia in 1906. All the movies before this Ned Kelly rendition were either shorts or serials.

I'd always heard that the first feature length movie was "The Great Train Robbery"- also a true crime movie?

[sdreid]

The other night, I watched the film Slaughter. On the front of the box, it says something like Based on real events. As best I can tell, those events are the Belle Gunness case even though the movie occurs in current times. Am I wrong? At any rate, the film is OK for a time occupier.

[sdreid]

True-crime movies occupy an important position in film history. What is generally considered to be the first feature length film, at 70 minutes, was a true-crime movie of a sort. That release was The Story of the Kelly Gang from Australia in 1906. All the movies before this Ned Kelly rendition were either shorts or serials.

[Magpie]

I may only be familiar with a few of Stephen Rea's movies but I have trouble picturing Santiago from "Interview with the Vampire" or Detective Finch from "V for Vendetta" being in a weird comedy like that. One never knows.

Actually, the Stephen Rea movie "Still Crazy" is a brilliant comedy.

[Magpie]

I saw the remake of Helter Skelter last week. I'd heard a lot of really bad things about it, but I thought it was quite good (then again I saw the the director's cut, so that may have something to do with it) The guy playing Manson was darned good--more Manson than Manson ever was.