MovieChat Forums > In Cold Blood (1967) Discussion > Liberals and the death penalty

Liberals and the death penalty

posted 8 years ago by lucascolebooks
8 replies | jump to latest

To get the authenticity he wanted, Richard Brooks filmed in all the actual locations including the Clutter house (where the murders took place) and the actual courtroom (6 of the actual jurors were used). Even Nancy Clutter's horse Babe was used in a few scenes. The actual gallows at the Kansas State Penitentiary were used for filming the executions, however, in a 2002 interview, Charles McAtee (who was State Corrections Director for Kansas in the 1960's), clarified the hangman in the film was an actor, not the real deal."

--this from the Trivia section. Which astounds me the length to which movie makers will go to increase film authenticity, but not face reality of those lives inhumanly stolen. Imperiously using the Clutter home, photographs, even their horse, but make the pitch against ending the lives of the men who are no more human than today's ISIS seems incredibly naive, sanctimonious, and even cowardly. This film could have been titled "In Inhuman Blood." It does not seem fit to allow the murderers to live out their lives reading, complaining of the food quality, chatting with whoever chose to speak to them, or a hundred other banal meaningless events while the Clutters continued to rot in their graves, turning from living breathing laughing crying joyful sad humans into the decaying corpses made into by the two morons. We can only pray the victims actually rest with the Lord.

[–] dweilermg-1 7 years ago

A liberal anti-death penalty gal I knew asked me "Didn't you feel sorry for those 2 guys in In Cold Blood when they were on death row?" My response was that my sympathy was for those 4 people that they killed. I totally agree with the prosecutor's "for money" speech during their trial. ♣

[–] dweilermg-1 7 years ago

[–] Jefbecco-1 7 years ago

In my younger days I was very pro-death penalty. I'm now 48 and I've been a full-time police officer for the past sixteen years (and three months). Strangely I find that my taste for blood and vengeance has diminished as the years have gone by and I have to deal with the carnage that people can commit. I'm not necessarily anti-death penalty, but my enthusiasm for it has definitely waned. Not sure why. Maybe because I'm a little closer to my own end. Easier to be more in favor of death when one is twenty I guess. Especially other people's death. We (well at least I was) tend to be more self-righteous when we're younger. Know I don't feel sorry for Smith and Perry, but it doesn't make me feel better that they're also dead.

[–] liscarkat (16483) 3 years ago

Hanging the two worthless sub-human pieces of crap was more humane than the way they terrorized and slaughtered innocent people. These morons thoroughly earned their demise at the end of a rope.

[–] redban (5157) 3 years ago

But the movie went through a lot of pains to show how they ended up as killers. Both of them had pretty bad upbringings. Perry saw his beloved mother abused by his father, and as a result, he developed a sort of schizophrenia or other mental illness. Dick came from a poor household with a neglectful dad. His dad was so disconnected that he thought Dick was a good kid.

There is also a sense that the crime could have been prevented with proper treatment or help. Perry, for instance, was incredibly lonely; see how he asks for Perry Smith at the station (“most important thing in my life”). As he tells the reverent, he would have never done the crime if he had meet Perry that day.

[–] liscarkat (16483) 3 months ago

The fact that the dirtbags had sad childhoods is absolutely no excuse, meaning it does not excuse them from any responsibility or from suffering the ultimate penalty for the brutal murders they committed. None of what you have said matters. They both got what they thoroughly deserved. Not only did they deserve the punishment of having their worthless lives ended, but hanging also ensured that neither of them would ever harm anyone again.

[–] Otter (24464) 3 years ago

Speaking as an old liberal... campaigning against the death penalty is one of those causes I've never been able to work up any enthusiasm for.

That said, as long as convictions continue to be declared wrongful, as in they definitely pinned the crime on the wrong guy, there's an argument against the death penalty. I mean Hickock and Smith were undoubtedly guilty, they talked about committing the crime and there's no doubt, they were good riddance. But as long as a wrongfully convicted person is alive... there's a chance that the truth may come out, and real justice will be done.

[–] NGMI (1184) 3 years ago

Overturned convictions should be an automatic execution for the prosecutor. That would prevent them from being so zealous about those who lives hang in the balance over a flimsy case. Although, I have a feeling those wrongful convictions are just technicalities that let the real criminal go anyway. If someone is guilty, it is very necessary to execute them. Those lifers make prison life horrible for people trying to rehabilitate and lots of gang crime originates in prison, and seeps to the outside world. Executing these worthless motherfuckers who made the choice a long time ago, that their lives were worth nothing and so was everyone elses. They're broken people who can't be fixed and frankly, aren't worth trying.