| As Clint Eastwood arguably enters the
twilight of his acting career, he has enjoyed the transition of a great actor to one of
Director & Producer with 'True Crime' now being his 41st film as an actor and his 21st
film as Director. I missed the film when it was shown theatrically and I remember that the
consumer reaction was luke warm at best. 'True Crime' is the story of Steve Everett
(Eastwood) who is a chain-smoking, womanizing alcoholic who also happens to be a damn fine
reporter or so we are spoon fed by his boss at the Oakland Tribune, Alan Mann (James
Woods). Frank Beachum (Isaiah Washington) who puts
on a great performance is on death row in San Quentin prison for the alleged shooting
murder of a young pregnant female convenience store worker. When the death of a Tribune
reporter (killed at a
traffic hazard aptly called Dead Man's Curve...Oh please !!) leaves Everett to interview
Beachum for the newspaper’s "human interest" angle on the event he
immediately senses that the case against Beachum is not altogether just, and, with only
hours before the fatal injection, sets out to find out where a rigorous judicial process
went wrong.
This is where the movie falls down in my opinion, Everett
senses that there is something wrong but with no real justifiable basis present in my
opinion, he just has 'a hunch'. While that's okay but in no uncertain terms he
aggressively sets out to prove the mans innocence and he has not yet even interviewed or
met the guy. But he does visit the scene of the crime and finds out that the only
eyewitness to the murder who entered the store after the killing must be mistaken in his
testimony because and wait for it...... how could the accountant have seen over the potato
chips?. When I heard that poor, poor line I said out loud "Oh Please, you are
not serious". I was then dragged along from scene to scene hoping for some startling
revelation that will restore my faith in him. I also found annoying was the fact that In
True Crime, every woman wants him. I mean every woman. All the women are young
enough to be his grand daughters but they are all dying to sleep with Everett who looks
just about as old as you can be, there's one scene where he comes out of the
bathroom topless (Chapter 5 - The Editors wife) and he looked positively grizzled,
shrivelled and very, very wrinkled. When a 23 year-old woman makes a pass at him, I coud
not help but let out another but one of many "Oh Please, you are not serious"
remarks.
Naturally, this film raises issues about the death penalty,
the possibility of killing an innocent man, and the ease with which it might actually
happen. The few scenes we get of Beachum coming to terms with his fate (like when he tells
his wife and daughter goodbye) are haunting, it's just a shame that we get far too many
scenes of Everett annoying nearly everyone he comes into contact with as he bumbles
through his investigation. If you have not got the picture by now, I was disappointed with
the film and can understand why the general audience's reaction was indeed luke warm. Does
he save the day, well you'll have to watch it if you've not seen it yet, but be prepared
to sit through just another race-against-the-clock drama.
So How Does This Transfer Hold Up??
VIDEO
Warner Home Video released “True Crime” on DVD now in its original
theatrical widescreen aspect ratio in a transfer that is enhanced for 16x9
TV sets. The transfer is quite clean and brings out the best of the film’s
photography. Using very natural looking lighting set-ups for most of the film the disc
does not exhibit any problems and exhibits some very natural
fleshtones, warm colors and good contrast.
AUDIO
The disc’s 5.1 channel Dolby Digital soundtrack is well
balanced and makes good use of the surrounds, although not very
aggressively as you would expect of a film such as this. The soundstage is wide and is
intermingled with ambient sound effects that add quite good realism to the story. Dialogue
is natural sounding and easy to understand. A good example of the digital audio with some
decent bass and ambient surround effects is the car crash in Chapter 3 - An Accident.
EXTRAS
Extras are excellent with the DVD containing two documentaries, one of them
taking you behind-the-scenes of
the film with cast and crew interviews. The second one is a visual essay about some
real life occurrences that built the foundation to “True Crimes”, when a writer
for the New York Times was once able to save a convict from certain death.
If you happened to enjoy the movie that the DVD will please, it has a great video
transfer, good sound and a some good extras. If you have'nt seen it then I strongly
recommend a rental before purchase.
| PICTURE QUALITY |
9/10 |
| SOUND QUALITY |
8/10 |
| FEATURES |
8/10 |
Review Equipment
TV: Pioneer SD-T43W1 (16:9 RPTV)
DVD: Toshiba 2109 Region Free
Receiver: Yamaha RXV995
Speakers:-
Fronts: Polk Audio RT55
Centre: Polk Audio CS350
Rears: Polk Audio AB705's
Subby: M&K V125
- Reviewed 3rd January 2000 |
