A REVIEW OF "TRUE CRIME" by Ryan Ellis
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The decade of the '90s has not been infinitely wonderful for Clint Eastwood. The Hollywood icon followed "Unforgiven" with "In The Line Of Fire", then did some sub-par films like "Absolute Power" & "Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil". Those first two films are much, much better than the second two or even "A Perfect World". So it's safe to say that Eastwood has slipped in the latter part of the decade after a couple of near-brilliant pictures. The decade ends with his latest, "True Crime", a thriller with plenty of ups & downs. Not quite a top-notch effort, this film is watchable more for Eastwood's fine acting than his acceptable, yet standard, directing.
Eastwood stars as Steve Everett, a crack reporter for the Oakland Tribune who is long in the tooth and living on reputation. To give this movie a nice dose of humanity, Everett is written as a thoroughly flawed character (aren't we all thoroughly flawed characters?). He's a recovering alcoholic who cares only about himself in his quest for self-fulfillment. Despite having a wonderful family--an attractive wife & an adorable daughter--he's a philaderer too. Basically, he's a real person with real problems. And he's a person who has his own journalistic standards. After all, Everett resigned from a prestigious newspaper when his bosses wouldn't print some juicy details he digs up about the mayor while working in New York. Eastwood plays this character very well, making us like him even though he's such a selfish rascal.
Everett is rumbling through life in Oakland, carrying on in an affair with his editor's wife and also trying to score with a young female reporter. After that young reporter dies in a car accident, Everett is assigned to fill in for her and do a fluff interview with a young black prisoner, Frank Beachum (Isaiah Washington), in San Quentin. Beachum is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection that night for the shooting murder of a white pregnant woman in a convenience store. Editor Bob Findley (Denis Leary) phones his own home to discover Everett just dressing after a tryst with Bob's wife. He gives the assignment to the notorious old reporter, partly hoping Everett will screw up and get himself fired. And going against orders by not just writing a low-key human interest piece, the man with the "nose" snoops around to see if young Beachum really is guilty or not.
On his odyssey of fact-finding, Everett has an unfortunate incident with his cute little daughter at the zoo, interviews a key witness who has dubious information about the murder, and struggles through the tense situation at work. Meanwhile, Beachum sits on death row, awaiting a fate he may or may not deserve. He claims he's innocent of the murder, but cannot offer any evidence to clear his name. In fact, only Everett and Beachum's family even care about whether or not this man is innocent since Beachum has been sitting on death row for 6 years. It's old news to most people, including the lawyers and witnesses involved. Everett's snooping reveals surprises and other clues, eventually leading him to believe that maybe Beachum is indeed innocent. His only task is to find some kind of proof. In a bubble-gum, car-chasing, action finale Everett races to try and beat the clock and find that elusive proof.
"True Crime" is a manipulating film. It tugs at the heartstrings by making us like a man who may in fact be a murderer. It makes us like Everett too, even though he's not an upstanding citizen and everything he does is either selfish or rebellious. Even the prison employees are likable since they are not portrayed as typical movie monsters who inhumanely brutalize the criminals. The most obvious heartstring puller, though, has to be the portrayal of both Beachum's daughter and Everett's daughter. Who can resist such innocence and sweetness? These young girls provide a direct contrast to the ominous task of a (legal) murder that is looming at 12:01 that night. So the manipulating is tolerable because it isn't overly sentimental, yet Eastwood dares you to dislike the likable main characters.
The script is solid, if predictable. It provides a good analysis of the whole death penalty process. Also, we get a small glimpse into the fast-moving politics of a newspaper office. James Woods plays the Senior Editor, Alan Mann, in his typically dynamic way. He's got the best lines and gets some good laughs. The only major contrivance is that this one reporter could discover so many clues that no one else could find after 6 years! He may be a good reporter, but if a team of detectives and lawyers can't figure out some of the things that Everett does, maybe we need a brand new justice system! I can't reveal an even bigger contrivance in the picture because it would give away the ending. Still, the script delves pretty deeply into these characters considering that the majority of the movie takes place in a 24-hour period. Call this a day-in-the-life of a scoundrel reporter and a nice guy "murderer".
Eastwood's direction is okay, but to call this a walk in the park would be understating it. It's verrrrry deliberate pace almost undermines the script and its characters before the long-awaited climax. It's a long 2 hours to watch this film, but a fulfilling 2 hours all the same. Perhaps an extra few seconds comes from Eastwood's use of slo-mo a couple of different times. This is notable because he said he didn't like slo-mo during the American Film Institute's "100 Years, 100 Movies" show last year and rarely uses the technique. It's also ironic that this is set in Oakland because Eastwood has set so many films in the city right across the bay--San Francisco.
Since "True Crime" is a quiet thriller with "whodunnit" overtones, it isn't for all tastes. I predicted the final result, but I still had plenty of thinking to do along the way. It's a thinking man's movie. Along with some social commentary about the death penalty, Eastwood has crafted a film that doesn't claim to have all the answers--mostly about marital and work troubles. Eastwood should also be commended for not stereotyping the black "murderer" or Beachum's family. Isaiah Washington is muted and doesn't exactly remind one of Denzel Washington, but he's sympathetic and likable in his role. Ultimately, the final pay-off isn't monumental and that keeps this film from being an instant Eastwood classic. "True Crime" is a solid film with interesting characters--a pretty nice counter to all those teen films out there right now!
USELESS TRIVIA--Clint Eastwood's daughter in "True Crime" is his real daughter as well. The adorable girl's mother is Frances Fisher (who also appears briefly in this film). Mother Fisher appeared in "Unforgiven" with Eastwood. Make the connection...
This film gets an 8/10.
THE RYAN RATING SYSTEM SAYS... 10/10--absolutely outstanding 9/10--excellent 8/10--pretty darn good 7/10--sure, go on and give it a peek 6/10--so-so; ye ol' recommendation point 5/10--not quite worth the dollars 4/10--only if you have a free pass 3/10--don't go, PLEASE don't go 2/10--avoid even if you DO have a free pass 1/10--"Showgirls" territory; truly crappy 0/10--bang your head off a wall instead Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
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