1. Richard Brooks
Born in 1912, died in 1992, lived 80 years.
In Hollywood, Richard Brooks is a humanitarian intellectual, and in the literary world, he has become a well-known Hollywood director.
He is not a film master, but in his more than 40 years of film career, he also left several masterpieces, such as "Blood on the Tiger's Head Gate" (1947), "The Wonderful Woman of the Zhu Family" (1958), "The Sea of Sin" ( 1960), "Professional Thief" (1966), "Cold Blood" (1967) and so on.
He worked as a reporter, joined the army, wrote novels, and finally edited and directed, leaving more than 30 film works.
2. From novel to movie
The movie "In Cold Blood" is a classic, but the novel "In Cold Blood" is a more classic literary work.
The novel "Cold Blood" was published in 1966, and it was No. 1 on the US bestseller list for a year. Moreover, the book is the pioneering work of "non-fiction" or "non-fiction writing".
On December 14, 1967, the film "Cold Blood" was released, and the production company could be said to strike while the iron was hot. Richard Brooks lived up to the hype and made a film that rivaled the original. The film also sold as expected.
The original author of the novel, Truman Capote, was quite satisfied with the film (he praised the film after watching the demo and in the interview), but he also had a little "abdominal slander". His main dissatisfaction was that, The film focuses on two "cold-blooded killers," while his novel focuses on both the perpetrator and the victim. However, the big sales of the film also made him a lot of money, and he would no longer "investigate" the matter.
Truman Capote and Richard Brooks knew each other and had the same agent. And Richard Brooks' experience as a reporter also makes people feel that he is able to get as close to the original as possible. It is logical that Richard Brooks becomes the director of "Cold Blood".
As an intellectual and director with an independent personality, Richard Brooks is not satisfied with "drawing a scoop according to the gourd" of the original work.
Before the film started, he re-did "field investigation" on the case. And his final script was not completely faithful to the original.
The description of the trial in the novel takes more than 50 pages (in English), while the movie takes only 4 minutes to present it.
In short, the focus of the film and the focus of the novel are misplaced. In addition to the film's length limit, the more important thing is that director and screenwriter Richard Brooks has restructured the presentation of the entire case.
The novel "Cold Blood" is a great work, and the movie "Cold Blood" partially inherited its greatness, but also joined the equally great second creation of Richard Brooks.
3. Documentary and Reproduction
"Cold Blood" is a black and white film.
In 1967, black-and-white films were no longer the mainstream of Hollywood, and Richard Brooks himself had made color films before, such as "The Wonderful Woman".
The choice of black and white film is not because of cost, nor because of the creative inertia of the main creator, but because "Cold Blood" should be a black and white film.
Black and white films have a better sense of documentary (at least in the era when the film was created), they also have more obvious contrast, and they can highlight the light and dark of human nature. In addition, "Cold Blood" has mostly night scenes, and black and white films allow creators to create stronger and sharper light and shadow.
"Cold Blood" is also a "film noir". "Film noir" is not necessarily black and white, but black and white can often bring a unique temperament to "film noir".
Richard Brooks has his say about sticking to black and white to present the story, this film is about "fear" that I see in black and white that I can't see in color arrived.
In order to "truly" reproduce the case - not only the characters and events, but also the geography, climate, environment, and atmosphere - Richard Brooks chose Kansas and Kansas City, where the case happened, as the main shooting In fact, the filming time of the film is also highly consistent with the time of the incident, and many shooting locations, such as stations, shops, etc., are the places where the two murderers once visited. He also deliberately rented the farm where the incident occurred in reality. shoot.
The entire crime committed in the film, Richard Brooks almost represented the scene in the form of "scenario reproduction". The murderer's cold blood and the victim's fear made the audience feel like they were on the scene.
4. Actor selection
The two male protagonists in "Cold Blood" have different personalities, and neither of them is a heinous person. It is unlikely that any of them will make such a "cold-blooded" act when they appear at the crime scene in the film. As a "combination", in a specific situation committed such a heinous crime.
As intruders, they are strangers, strangers to the victims, and equally strangers to the audience. In order to "create" this strangeness, Richard Brooks insisted on choosing two "amateur" actors to play the two leading roles.
Robert Black and Scott Wilson are not completely "amateur" actors, they both have some acting experience. Robert Blake is a child star, but when he is young, he is not necessarily good. When he appeared in this film, he was just a little famous actor. Scott Wilson had previously acted in only one film. Although this film is the famous 40th Oscar best picture "Hot Night" (1967), but Scott Wilson is only a small supporting role in the film.
Production companies must want to choose stars to star in, because stars often bring in higher box office. Richard Brooks has also worked with many big stars, such as Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor, etc. However, if Paul Newman is cast as the killer in the film, it is easy for the victim or the audience to see him at first sight Only seeing Paul Newman and not seeing the killer, the realism of the film is greatly reduced.
Richard Brooks' obsession makes us watch this film 50 years later and still feel the horror natural and realistic.
Richard Brooks, in pursuit of the truth of the story, even brought in a suit shop salesman Luke Shoop to play himself (he was deceived by the murderer's empty promise) and the 12-member jury at the trial of the case. 7 of them came to play the jury members in the film.
5. Humanitarian stance
"In Cold Blood" has the character of a reporter who is generally thought to be the incarnation of the novelist Truman Capote.
But some of the views of the journalists who carried the statement were inconsistent with Truman Capote himself. Truman Capote doesn't express his opposition to the death penalty in the novel, but the reporter makes clear in the film that "the death penalty doesn't solve anything".
Let's not forget that Richard Brooks himself was a journalist, so watch his words and deeds. The reporter in the film is not so much Truman Capote, but Richard Brooks himself. . Furthermore, Richard Brooks has always been a director who directly expresses his views in the film, and the personality of this reporter is also highly consistent with his personality.
6. If you want people on the balcony to hear you, you have to shout.
On a Richard Brooks set, you don't need to ask who the director is because you can be sure he's the director right away.
Just as Richard Brooks expresses his views directly in the film, he also tells everyone what he wants with his loudest voice on the set.
Not only did he shout out, he also believed that audiences should listen to his films.
Someone asked him, is your request a little too high?
If you want people on the balcony to hear you, you have to shout, he said.
7. Conrad Hall
Conrad Hall is one of Hollywood's most famous photographers, he has been nominated for Best Cinematography ten times and won three of them.
This is his second collaboration with Richard Brooks, who worked together the previous year on The Great Thief (1966). It's a color film, and it was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography.
In Cold Blood became one of the greatest "noir" films of the 1960s, thanks to Conrad Hall. The lighting of each scene in the film allows the audience to enter the atmosphere of the scene, and the setting of each camera position creates the most appropriate viewpoint.
8. Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones' fame has always been associated with Michael Jackson, for whom he produced the highest-selling album in music history, Thriller.
In fact, he is not only a great music producer, he is also an excellent creator. The soundtrack he created for "Cold Blood" is his classic work.
He uses jazz and other musical forms to well render the cold environment of Kansas and the cold humanity of the killer. Quincy Jones is a relatively restrained soundtracker. The soundtrack of the whole film is not too much. He will never "intervene" in the part that should be left to the ambient sound, such as the murder of the murderer. Most of the time he puts The voice was given to the whistling wind outside the house, and it wasn't until Perry cut the host's throat that the music started rushing.
9. John Huston
In 1943, Richard Brooks joined the army. But instead of going to the battlefield, he was sent to follow John Huston to make war movies (mainly propaganda).
It can be said that John Huston was Richard Brooks' mentor and guide. Without this experience during the war, Richard Brooks might not have had such an easy post-war place in Hollywood.
What Richard Brooks learned from John Huston was not only the technique of filmmaking, but also his thinking.
John Huston's outstanding contribution during World War II has a more intuitive and detailed introduction in the documentary "The Return of the Five: Hollywood and World War II".
Simply put, the baptism of war made both John Huston and Richard Brooks thorough humanitarians.
10. The movie "Capote" (2005)
The film is about Truman Capote writing the book "In Cold Blood".
After watching the film that year, I wrote this review:
"The angle of entry of the film is very good, showing the personality of the protagonist through the writing process of a book. "Cold Blood" is Capote's pinnacle and the beginning of his self-destruction. Just as a documentary inevitably constitutes a Exploitation, this non-fiction novel is actually the exploitation of the protagonist, and in the exploitation, three dimensions of the protagonist, the writer, and human nature are formed, which are mutually offensive and defensive.”
Unlike Truman Capote, Richard Brooks did not exploit the perpetrators and victims of the case in Cold Blood.
In coldness, I see more compassion.
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