An alcoholic reporter is sent to cover the last day of a killer on death row but seems convinced that he is innocent. Can he find the evidence & stop the wrongful execution in time!
Clint Eastwood is not only an acting icon but a very good director from Play Misty For Me to the multi-Oscar winning Unforgiven. True Crime however is a blot on a career which has for the most part been of a consistently high & entertaining quality.
The problem with True Crime is that it comes across as a TV movie or at best a 50s B-movie. The characters are cliched from the washed up reporter to the Newspaper Boss with a grudge & everything has been seen before, better done. Who do we blame for the films faults? The script doesn't thrill or excite & the whole film is a mass of contradictions which is not helped by uninspiring direction & by the numbers acting. Is it an anti-death penalty movie, a light thriller or a comment on the treatment of ethnic minorities by the legal system of America? I doubt if anyone involved in this film knows. For example, more could have been made of the Prison Governor, who in one small scene hints at his doubts as to his prisoners crime. This idea could have been expanded - a man whos job it is to incarcarate questioning the guilt of those he must punish.
The finale of True Crime has to be one of the most unintentionally hilarious in cinema history & anyone who has seen The Player will find it laughingly familiar. Also the way in which we get to it is quite uninspiring, no mass of clues coverups & false evidence here just a total change of heart by one of the characters in the space of a couple of seconds! No in-depth detective work from Mr Eastwood apart from a quick interview with a witness, a stack of crisps & a lucky break involving a piece of evidence all of which surely must have come up during the trial.
Overall this is a totally pointless film which neither thrills when it should or pulls at the heartstrings at the right moments. An unfortunate choice not only for the legendary Clint Eastwood but James Woods who has done far better than this mess of a movie.
Clint Eastwood is not only an acting icon but a very good director from Play Misty For Me to the multi-Oscar winning Unforgiven. True Crime however is a blot on a career which has for the most part been of a consistently high & entertaining quality.
The problem with True Crime is that it comes across as a TV movie or at best a 50s B-movie. The characters are cliched from the washed up reporter to the Newspaper Boss with a grudge & everything has been seen before, better done. Who do we blame for the films faults? The script doesn't thrill or excite & the whole film is a mass of contradictions which is not helped by uninspiring direction & by the numbers acting. Is it an anti-death penalty movie, a light thriller or a comment on the treatment of ethnic minorities by the legal system of America? I doubt if anyone involved in this film knows. For example, more could have been made of the Prison Governor, who in one small scene hints at his doubts as to his prisoners crime. This idea could have been expanded - a man whos job it is to incarcarate questioning the guilt of those he must punish.
The finale of True Crime has to be one of the most unintentionally hilarious in cinema history & anyone who has seen The Player will find it laughingly familiar. Also the way in which we get to it is quite uninspiring, no mass of clues coverups & false evidence here just a total change of heart by one of the characters in the space of a couple of seconds! No in-depth detective work from Mr Eastwood apart from a quick interview with a witness, a stack of crisps & a lucky break involving a piece of evidence all of which surely must have come up during the trial.
Overall this is a totally pointless film which neither thrills when it should or pulls at the heartstrings at the right moments. An unfortunate choice not only for the legendary Clint Eastwood but James Woods who has done far better than this mess of a movie.