12 replies to this topic

[mashed tates]

i was inspired by the walk the line thread...i didn't dig that movie as much as some folks, but i went to see capote recently, and that movie is definitely top notch. i'm not sure just how popular it is right now, so i might be stating the obvious...but i just wanted to see if other people shared the same amount of impressedness with the character depth and plot development. and obviously, hoffman...and go!

[aaronburke]

i want to see it, but haven't been able to yet.

[larah]

I wanted to read "In Cold Blood" before I saw it.

I am glad to hear a good review on it. PSH is an amazing actor.

[unluckycharm]

It's good. It's actually great.....probably the best new movie I've seen all year.


So here is a question: Was Capote patently out of line for 'using' death row convicts to get fodder for his new novel?

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edit: plus----there is an unsubstantiated rumor that Capote ghost wrote To Kill A Mockingbird. My female friends totally freaked out on me when I mentioned that, as if it could *never* be a fact.

[mashed tates]

i think most people would say exploiting the ignorant for your own recognition is pretty rude, and i would agree with them. however, it seemed to really make the country sympathize with the way these culprits were only victims of some deeper, greater problems than just violent tempers. totally relevant today even still. for me, the non-fiction thing was cool, but nowhere near as important as the idea that maybe we would have done the same thing were we to have lead an existence identical to perry smith. abolish the death penalty! F&^# bush! legalize marijuana!

[ToroRojo]

I enjoyed the movie. It was a little slow, but I enjoy seeing movies about little slices of history such as this.

I thought one of the things the movie was getting at was the idea that Capote's alcoholism was triggered by his guilty conscience for having (somewhat) falsely befriending and using the accused as a way to write his book.

Anyone see Love Lisa, another PSH movie? I thought it was interesting that the main character's drug of choice was huffing gasoline. Not exactly as glamorous as heroin or even alcohol, but least it was original.

[unluckycharm]

I've read that Harper Lee based her character of Dill ("I'm Charles Baker Harris, and I can read") on Capote, her childhood friend. This explains Dill's extraordinary characterization in the second half of the novel after he runs away from home, cries at Tom's trial. People also claimed husband Percy wrote Mary's Frankenstein. I say go dress up as a ham for Halloween.

Ha. Who knows the truth, but it was Capote's editor at the New Yorker who claimed he wrote TKAMB. Maybe he was just pissed at Harper Lee for something or other.

[bob]

larah, there's also a movie of "in cold blood," if you get lazy.

[weener]

I heard that thing about Dill in TKAMB too, it's a lesser-known fact that the tough-girl neighbor Idabel in Capote's Other Voices, Other Rooms was based on Harper Lee.

[Big_Poppa]

I heard that thing about Dill in TKAMB too, it's a lesser-known fact that the tough-girl neighbor Idabel in Capote's Other Voices, Other Rooms was based on Harper Lee.

do you work in a library or something?!?

[larah]

larah, there's also a movie of "in cold blood," if you get lazy.

thank you for that. i really enjoy the cliff notes like films.


i still have about 4 books laying on the floor next to my bed waiting to be read and are probably overdue by now.