XDA

Went to see the Capote biopic with Philip Seymour Hoffman. Little slow but generally pretty good. The neat thing was Capote's companion Jack (played by Bruce Greenwood, an actor I have never really liked) was so interesting and mysterious that half the audience stayed to see who Bruce Greenwood had played; Jack Dunphy, said the credits and the theater emptied out. For people who want more, here's a thumbnail biography of Capote's long time lover:

Born in a working class neighborhood in Philadelphia, Jack Dunphy began his career as a dancer, and was one of the cowboys in the original Broadway production of "Oklahoma!" When he met Capote in 1948 he had written a well-received novel, "John Fury," and was just getting over a painful divorce from musical comedy star Joan McCracken.
Ten years older than Capote, Dunphy was in many ways Capote's opposite, as solitary as Truman was exuberantly social. Though they drifted more and more apart in the later years, the couple stayed together until the end. Other books include "Friends and Vague Loves," "Nightmovers," and the plays "Light a Penny Candle," "Cafe Moon" and "Too Close for Comfort." Although his work consistently received good notices from critics, he never had a bestseller. In 1987, he published "Dear Genius: A Memoir of My Life with Truman Capote."

(h/t) Emanuel Levy

The director was Bennett Miller, whose only other work appears to have been an 87 minute black and white documentary seven years ago called The Cruise about Timothy "Speed" Levitch, a twentysomething New York City Bus Tour Guide who talks and talks and talks. Sorry I missed it. The screenplay was done by Dan Futterman, a long time B list actor (mainly on TV) based on the book Capote by Gerald Clark. Futterman and Miller both graduated from Mamaroneck High School in 1985. My sister lived in Mamaroneck about that time, but I see I'm digressing.

It's all about Capote writing In Cold Blood and that would be the time I would choose to make a movie about Truman Capote as well. I grew up watching squirming, out-of-it Truman Capote on television talk shows after he finished this book, which really is quite extraordinary. With a voice even more nasally than local radio personality Craig Silverman's, Capote always struck me as weird and affected. By the time I read In Cold Blood, they quit having him on TV. It's good to see the early 60's (before I was a teen) recaptured. I can recall the fashions and millieu but vaguely. And it's particularly good to see Truman Capote when he was able to connect with normal people and get things done. It is a much more human side and I'm glad I got to see it. Along with the respect I have for his outstanding 'nonfiction novel' and a clearer (or at least a multifaceted) view of the author, I have now what I feel is a better understanding of the man. Thank you, movie.

A lot of it was supposed to take place in western Kansas where the 1959 murders took place. It didn't really seem like western Kansas to me though, and it wasn't. It was Manitoba. Funny that the movie centered on the Perry Smith character/murderer and didn't even bother to show the execution of the other murderer, Richard Hickock, because he was always more interesting to me than Smith. Little bit of an irony alert that Robert Blake played Perry Smith in the pretty good film version of Capote's book, particularly if the civil jury says he shot his wife.

It's a 110 minutes long, seemed a little longer; there is no sex (Thank God), little action and realistic, that is to say, very off-putting violence--a throat cut and four face shots with a shotgun. You have to see it just to watch Hoffman, always a gifted actor, nail (forgive the image) Truman Capote and recreate all his annoying manerism without mocking him. More solid, indeed, steller work from Hoffman.