In Cold Blood — The Novel and Film Adaptation

1967 Clutter Murder Film Based on Capote's Famous Novel

Nov 14, 2009

Truman Capote's famous 1966 novel In Cold Blood was adapted into an Academy Award nominated 1967 film of the same name.

Author Truman Capote, intrigued by the details of a murder in Midwestern Kansas, set off on a powerful and heart-wrenching journey that gave birth to an acclaimed novel and an award-nominated film based on the case.

In Cold Blood: The Novel

In Cold Blood was one of the first nonfiction crime novels — a book based on fact that also encompasses the literary skills of a work of fiction. This single work broke new ground by spawning a new genre of crime fiction and was considered from the outset to be a literary masterpiece.

The idea for the novel took root when a very brief article about the murders in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas made its way into the New York Times. There, it captured the interest of author Truman Capote. The article told how the Clutter family — prosperous farmer Herbert Clutter, his wife, and two of their teenage children had been found shot to death in their isolated farm home. The victims had been bound and gagged, yet nothing appeared to have been stolen. There was no clue as to who had committed the senseless crime, or for what motive.

Capote traveled to the site of the murder, and spent the next six years researching his masterpiece, In Cold Blood. He personally interviewed the condemned murderers Hickock and Smith while they were on death row. The book was published shortly after Smith and Hickock were executed.

Within the pages of the book Capote used his skill as a fiction writer to realistically recreate an account of the murders by making the killers actual characters as would appear in a work of fiction. The idea of fictionalizing a true crime in this way had never before been attempted.

The book was first published in the New Yorker in 1965 as a four-part serial. In Cold Blood was published in novel form by Random House in 1966. The book gained immediate literary fame and was soon made into a film.

In Cold Blood: The 1967 Film

The adaptation of Capote’s In Cold Blood garnered positive reviews for its cinematography and acting and was nominated for four Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

The film was directed by Richard Brooks, who also adapted the screen play. The film was shot in black and white, which gave it a gritty sense of realism for which Conrad Hill received much acclaim as cinematographer. The part of Perry Smith was played by Robert Blake, and Dick Hickock was played by Scott Wilson. The film follows the details of the book closely, and much of it centers around the two killers as they plan and execute their crime.

Two other more recent films have been made that have to do with the Clutter murders, The 2005 film Capote starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and the 2006 film Infamous, starring Toby Jones. In both of these releases, the crime is shown in retrospect, and the focus is on Capote’s experience in researching and writing the novel, while the original In Cold Blood is set and focuses on the actual events of the murder at the time when it happened.

How to Purchase the Original Book and the DVD of In Cold Blood

A reprint of the original 1966 In Cold Blood novel can be purchased at Amazon and other bookstores. The original In Cold Blood movie is also offered on DVD through Amazon and other stores.

The copyright of the article In Cold Blood — The Novel and Film Adaptation in Film Dramas Based on Books is owned by Vickie Britton. Permission to republish In Cold Blood — The Novel and Film Adaptation in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.