Geez, I was just thinking about Mrs. Clutter on Friday. Thinking about how she was bed ridden—obviously suffering from severe depression. Thanks for posting.
Some more In Cold Blood articles from FR and elsewhere:
A Teenage Girl, Truman Capote, Two Killers and a Full Moon
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2627789/posts
50 years later: Kansas town remembers ‘In Cold Blood’ deaths, still angry about Capote’s book
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2382280/posts
After murders, Capote’s book, Clutter home is up for auction
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1704671/posts
In Cold Blood: A Legacy, in Photos April 3, 2005
http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/galleries/2005/apr/03/in_cold_blood_a_legacy_in_photos/
In the end, just a home
A house with a history of murder finds new life
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/apr/06/in_the_end/
I have long suspected Capote of stealing the parrot in In Cold Blood from Flaubert.
I have long suspected Capote of stealing the parrot in In Cold Blood from Flaubert.
For what it’s worth. Robert Blake reprised his role as the murder many years later only this time he got away with it.
“Do the crime. Don’t necessarily do the time” Fred the Bird or was it Sammy Davis ?
The murders took place 54 years ago. Anyone who knows anything is dead or at least long since retired.
To be sure, the KBI's hesitation in pursuing Messrs. Smith and Hickock was brief, resulting in no delay of justice. Within five months of killing the Clutters, Messrs. Smith and Hickock were caught, convicted and sentenced to death. Both men confessed. They were hanged in 1965.
Contrast and compare to any similar murder today as to the relative timeline. The passage above details a swift justice we are likely to never see again in this country.
Did they ever tie the murderers to the murder of a family in Florida? I have heard nothing.
I think this is just a spat between reality and imagery.
The truth is that real police work is rather dull and methodical, either “cleaning up” after crimes and collecting evidence, or doggedly pursuing criminals.
It’s important, just not typically dramatic. The vast majority of what they do is both dull and leads nowhere, such as interviewing people who have no clue or useful information.
Nobody is at fault in this, as it does not reflect ineptness, indifference or incompetence. But it is extraneous to the story, after the fact.
As far as creating the genre of “nonfiction novel”, it is a paradoxical term, and could be more accurately described as a “mostly-nonfictional novel”. Not quite as bad as scripted “reality television”, but in a similar vein.
I think that if anything, we should look back at those events nostalgically for one reason. Two brutal murderers were executed by hanging just 5 years and 5 months after the murders. Not decades, like today.