Name: Retro Film Review: True Crime (1999)
Item: True Crime
Rating: 40
Author: @drax

(source:tmdb.org)

Every now and then, Hollywood film-makers like to remind critics (and, to a lesser degree, audiences) that they don't care only about money and that at least some tiny part of all those billions of dollars snatched at the box office can be put to some good use. This happens in the form of films that try to advocate certain noble causes that happen to be fashionable among Hollywood's leftist establishment. In case of True Crime, 1999 drama directed by Clint Eastwood, this noble cause is the abolition of death penalty.

The plot, based on the novel by Andrew Klavan, revolves around Steve "Ev" Everett (played by Clint Eastwood), Oakland Tribune reporter and recovering alcoholic whose career and marriage suffer because of his chain-smoking and constant womanising. Everett is given seemingly routine assignment - he must cover the last hours in life of Frank Louis Beachum (played by Isaiah Washington), black man condemned to death over murder of pregnant white woman. When Everett interviews Beachum, born-again Christian and dedicated family man, his journalistic instinct tells him that the innocent man might be put to death. With only few hours to go, Everett tries to dig enough evidence to prevent Beachum's execution.

Eastwood is one of the most experienced Hollywood actors and his years behind the camera are not less impressive. So, it is quite natural that True Crime is well-directed and well-acted film. Plot revolves smoothly and the pacing is deliberately slow, thus allowing characters to develop and many great actors, like Denis Leary, James Woods or Diane Venora, to show their formidable skills, usually underused in other Hollywood films.

But this isn't enough for True Crime to overcome its main problem - the script. In an attempt to advocate their anti-death penalty views to the audience, scriptwriters discard any subtlety and use all cliches and stereotypes possible. In the world of True Crime all death row inmates are black and, naturally, innocent, which should be obvious even to the viewers who don't have perceptive abilities of this film's protagonist. Death row inmate in this film is presented as the embodiment of angelic virtue and family values, while the system that tries to put him to death is full of closet racists, sadists and hypocrites. The real world is, of course, much more complex than that. With slightly less angelic death row inmate - for example, someone with the history of violence and spousal abuse – True Crime could have been much more convincing. Any shred of credibility is lost in the film's ending, which employs the very scenario that was ridiculed in Robert Altman's The Player. Unlike Dead Man Walking, which tried to approach controversial issue of death penalty with more realism and objectivity, True Crime shows that noble intentions, even when backed by extraordinary talents, aren't enough for good film.

RATING: 4/10 (+)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on October 5th 2004)