True Crime Movies

[sdreid]

Oddly, no Ripper movies have been mentioned and there are some that are at least pleasing in my view. My favorite is The Lodger from 1944.

[Magpie]

One of my favourite movies (period) is "The Great Train Robbery" with Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland.

Although it's very close to the original book, the original book wasn't particularly accurate about the actual crime (which I wasn't aware of until I read the history of CID).

Great fun though

[sdreid]

Hi Magpie,

It was fun although it's been a long time since I've seen it.

I wish they'd make a film about the 1963 train heist.

[Mike Covell]

They made a movie about the 1963 Great Train Robbery. It starred Phil Collins and was called "Buster", altogether now, "Going Loco down in Acupulco!"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094819/

[Magpie]

Did anyone mention "Heavenly Creatures" yet?

It manages to be both a fantasy movie and a true crime movie at the same time!

[sdreid]

Yes, Heavenly Creatures is a good one. Crime sort of paid in the long run.

Thanks Mike, I'll have to check that one out.

[sdreid]

Hi Mike,

Is that Buster movie any good? It looks like one of those farce deals.

Referencing your other thread, have you seen The Case of Charles Peace from 1949? It was a pleasant surprise, I thought.

[Mike Covell]

Hi Stan, I have read about the Peace movies but never watched them.

The Buster film is ok, and at the time was very popular, although some say the acting is quite stiff. I enjoyed it, even though I don't like Phil Collins.

[needler]

Wow!!

Cel and all,

I found the Moors murders ITV dvd on Amazon, See No Evil, and just finished watching it. While a few bits have been jammed together due to time restraints, the gist is accurate. This is NOT for the faint of heart. Well played, beautifully photographed and atmospheric as hell. It also seems to be based on Emlyn Williams' masterpiece, Beyond Belief, which I STILL read about once a year. This one could be right at the top of my list for the no BS, tell-it-true films. This and In Cold Blood.

And my main objection to ALL the Ripper films is that they really are crap. Why these folks have to make Abberline a druggie or alcoholic is beyond me, and the girls are usually pretty, clean, well fed and cheerful.......RIGHT! At least Kelly is made so....... I think what bothers me most is that film makers think they must embellish the story........with a dumb solution, an escape of Kelly, or a "reason" the-killer-faded-away-and -was-never-going-to-be-arrested-anyway-'cause-he's-a-royal ending. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE REAL STORY? Murder most foul, sex, a phantom killer?? Now what's wrong with THAT scenario?? Maybe Hollywood doesn't think the public can handle his fade into oblivion with no definitive answer???

Ah, well....we can bet NOT ONE of the Ripper films will make it onto THIS list!!

Cheers.

[Mike Covell]

See No Evil was really well done for a TV production and I loved the exploration of the charectors and what roles they played. It was quite gory and spread over 2 nights when it was first shown.

[Captain Hook]

Swoon about Leopold and Loeb...

There were two other movies based on the Leopold and Loeb case: Hitchcock's Rope, with James Stewart, Cedric Hardwicke and Farley Granger, and Compulsion, with Orson Welles in the Clarence Darrow role.

Cheers
Hook

[Captain Hook]

[QUOTE=sdreid;32825] Gein was supposedly the inspiration for a character in Silence of the Lambs as well.

Hi Stan,

Ed Gein was also the inspiration for Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. That must be some kind of a record.

Other true crime movies include Robert Siodmak's The Suspect, from about 1945, starring Charles Laughton as a fictionalized Dr Crippen, and the German Nachts, Wenn der Teufel Kam, also directed by Siodmak.

The recent Truman Capote with Philip Seymour Hoffmann retells the In Cold Blood story.

Cheers
Hook

[sdreid]

There have been films like The Town That Dreaded Sundown that ended with an unsolved case unresolved and it's a cult classic of a sort.

Maybe I'll get to view See No Evil someday.

[sdreid]

Hi Hook,

The film Murder By Numbers is also inspired by Leopold and Loeb although it's moved to modern times.

There were two Capote films as well as two In Cold Blood movies and all are good.

I submitted that German film about Ludke for inclusion on the list over on The Crime Web a couple of years ago. The English title is The Devil Strikes at Midnight.

[needler]

Stan,

You MUST see SEE NO EVIL; Maxine Peake as Myra and Sean Harris as Brady are absolutely chilling. It's available on DVD, and most probably is out there somewhere at a rental shop on the High Street. While Brady has always been put forward as the "leader" of the two, I find Hindley far more interesting, and with an agenda of her own. The dynamic between these two resembles the Starkweather/Fugate spree.

Go find this one, Stan....then watch Samantha Morton terrify you all over again in LONGFORD.

Cheers,

Judy