Year:
1999
Studio:
Warner Brothers
Movie:
4/5
DVD:
2/5
Teaser
Steve Everett is an aging writer for a San Francisco newspaper. He had
his moments of glory, but he's also opinionated and a womanizer who's
burned too many bridges, ending up as the embittered old coot of the
newsroom. It's a Saturday (or maybe Sunday) morning when Everett gets a
call from the paper. He needs to do a last minute assignment: interview
Frank Beachum, a black man convicted of killing a white girl and
scheduled to be executed at midnight tonight.
That's hardly enough time to do an investigative story. But the
newspaper doesn't want an investigative story, they want a human
interest filler story. Everett can't do that, especially once he starts
researching the case and finds several inconsistencies. As if he
doesn't have enough time, Everett also needs to take his daughter to
the zoo today. With only one day, can Everett prove Beachum's innocence
without ruining his daughter's day?
Movie
"True Crime" is a fairly impressive movie. We have Steve Everett, a
smart and worldly reporter, who is nevertheless cheating on his wife
(and has been doing it for years). The crime is simple with few
witnesses for Everett to track down. It's a good thing too, cause
Everett has a busy day planned even without this assignment.
The movie is set in the San Francisco Bay Area, though it's not the
scenic parts. Everett goes to the San Francisco Zoo (which I recognize)
and the bad parts of Richmond (but are there any good parts of
Richmond?). San Quentin is the prison used (though I don't know where
filming was done). I especially liked the warden and guards, who are
not "he's guilty, good riddance" nor are they really sympathetic. They
have a job to do and they know that doing their jobs right is the best
thing they can do to help.
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Actors
Clint Eastwood puts in a great performance as Steve Everett. The man is
almost 70, but not only did he star in the movie, he also directed and
and is one of the producers. Isaiah Washington and Lisa Gay Hamilton do
a good job of portraying Frank and Bonnie Beachum. James Woods is
brilliant as Editor in Chief Alan Mann, a man who doesn't care about
what reporters do outside the story. The expression of surprise when
Everett tells him that Beachum is innocent is amazing and somehow funny
too.
DVD
The lengthiest special feature is "True Crimes: True Stories", a
22-minute segment featuring Los Angeles Times Staff Writer Ray Herndon
as he recalls the events that led him to clear a man who had been
sentenced to 55 years in prison. Although the segment is intercut with
lengthy movie clips paralleling Herndon's story, at the end the segment
states that "True Crime" is not based on Herndon's story, which makes
me wonder why the segment was included in the first place.
In addition there is a 9-1/2 minute documentary "The Scene of the
Crime" with short interview clips with Clint Eastwood and other cast
members. The Diana Krall video "Why Should I Care?" is also included.
Rounding out the special features is the theatrical trailer and cast
filmographies (but curiously no biographical information). Overall it's
a good amount of material considering there is no commentary track.
Recommendations
I was impressed with the movie. It's a crime drama that moves quickly.
More importantly, the key clues are shown in the movie and an
exceptionally astute viewer can spot those clues. The back story is
interesting and helps frame the main protagonist. All in all a good
mystery that I do recommend. |