the actual crime story at the core of in cold blood might seem a little tame for those who be weened on the classic serial killer story ( gein and bundy and dahmer ) and or just the more notorious case out in hollywood ( oj and manson ) . the essential fact in the case do not amount to anything terribly convolute represent perry smith and dick hickock ( here play by robert blake and scott wilson respectively ) meet by some luck and conspire to rob a man farmhouse safe out in kansa and and after kill a family of four with a shotgun and dagger come away with 43 dollar . aside from their returning to the u after flee briefly to mexico and there isn not a whole lot of mystery to the resolution either . they be catch by some stroke of ironic chance ( a cop follow them and stop them for have a steal car after smith and hickcock help out a boy and his old man collect bottle for change ) and and sentence to hang by the neck until dead . the story end in 1965. but it the handling of the story and moment of moot and the performance and a pure cinematic touch that brook and his absolutely marvelous ( the late or great ) dp conrad hall provide in crisp widescreen black and white and and a storytelling style that feel realistic without go into too much naturalism or too much melodrama ( save perhaps for near the end and which be pitch perfect ) . the air of tragedy hang over the story and and not so much because of the killing themselves and no matter how brutal they be a the third man that be conjure up and a the narrator observes and by smith and hickcock team up and but because of the inevitability of the story . you feel somehow for these criminal and who in any other hand would be just be conventional figure or something out of a b movie . these aren not good people and but they aren not necessarily monster either and at least all the way through . it also an excellent road movie a we see smith and hickcock on the road down to the clutter residence ( the actual night time scene of the crime take place late in the film ) and then on to mexico and then back to america towards las vega . we get to soak in the personality of these two and probably even more than that of the police detective who at first have no lead and then finally get a break with an inmate . it actually kind of disturb to get this close to these two ( sort of akin to the aimless quality of malick badlands character ) and and it also a sign of dare for the period . there no sermonizing and like he do this because of that and this or the other . we see how smith have an abusive and psychotic father and but that smith love and hat him . the complexity there be too much for the movie and maybe even too much for capote book ( which and i should confess and i have still yet to read and though i plan to ) . and we see hickcock be this creature of slick confidence ( i. e. get the suit and other thing with bad check ) and but without any deep rooted explanation to it all . the streak of fatalism in in cold blood be some of the starkest of the 60 and and it the luck of brook to have it star a blake in his top of the pop performance ( this and lose highway and oddly enough consider his real life saga in recent year and his quintessential piece of work ) and and wilson breakthrough before become a character actor . while theyre surround by fine support work and they themselves be eerily absorb and driven more or less by greed and fantasy of escapism with treasure and and stay pretty much ground in their situation through the death row and on through their end . be this a morale of the story and if there could be one and that it more horrify to confront the possibility that those who kill can not be classify and of good v evil get smudge . smith apologize for his crime before be hung and and he point out and but to who . this be a story bound to give the most hardened fan of true crime the bonafide chill and and it quite possibly the best american film of 1967 .