|
|
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Ulu Grosbard's True Confessions was mostly set aside and ignored when new, although I remember one critic carping that, "oh, I guess Robert DeNiro wanted to play a priest, to play every kind of role that Montgomery Clift played. It's one of those pictures where we believe that the characters existed before and after the story begins and ends. DeNiro and Robert Duvall play Catholic brothers, whose relationship extends through brotherhood to philosophies of life and faith itself. John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion's screenplay was adapted from Dunne's own novel.
Ulu Grosbard's True Confessions is the best movie to date that references the "Black Dahlia" killing, even though the horrible 1947 murder is used only as a backdrop for a story about two brothers, one a homicide detective and the other a high-ranking Catholic politico in the Los Angeles diocese. It's a profound tale of corruption and atonement, and a major acting workout for two of 1981's hottest stars, Robert DeNiro and Robert Duvall. If you like L.A. Confidential, Chinatown Cutter's Way and other period pictures about life in The City of the Angels, and can take the film's slower than normal pace and lack of conventional thriller action, True Confessions will be a highly rewarding show.
It's a hot summer sometime in the late 1940s. Detective Sergeant Tom Spellacy (Robert Duvall) refuses to take bribes, even though his partner Frank Crotty (Kenneth McMillan) still acts as 'bagman' in the Chinese neighborhood. Together they investigate the 'virgin tramp' murder of Lois Fazenda, whose body is found bisected and bloodless in a vacant lot. Tom has only a tentative relationship with his brother Desmond (Robert DeNiro), a Monsignor slated to move up when Cardinal Danaher (Cyril Cusack) retires. Tom and Frank cover up for the church when a priest dies in a brothel run by Brenda Samuels (Rose Gregorio), but Tom cannot stomach Desmond's business dealings with Jack Amsterdam (Charles Durning), a developer making millions from church projects. Jack was once a pimp who ran Brenda's business and Tom knows that he still uses hoodlum tactics. Until Tom went straight, he was himself one of Jack's bagmen. Desmond is certain that he can do what needs to be done to keep Jack's past from harming the diocese, even though he can't even prevent his beloved mentor Monsignor Seamus Fargo (Burgess Meredith) from being put out to pasture. The tentative status quo is maintained -- until Tom finds a link between poor Lois Fazenda, Jack Amsterdam and other high-ranking laymen with close contacts to Desmond.
John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion's True Confessions script updates the '30s notion of brothers who grow up on both sides of the law, as with James Cagney and Pat O'Brien in Warners' Angels with Dirty Faces. The Catholic Church surely welcomed that old movie's fairy-tale take on the priesthood, but I doubt they'd feel flattered by this image of a diocese run by power brokers unwisely allied with mobsters. Then again, because today's particular church scandals have no part in the story, perhaps they'd feel relieved by an exposé that merely says that churchmen are only doing business with sex criminals.
True Confessions is a story of moral redemption. 'Good' brother Desmond is a pillar of the community. Once a corrupt cop, his brother Thomas now has nothing to do with bribes and payoffs, even though it means he can't afford a car in good working order. Tom is profane, cynical and outwardly cruel in his associations, especially with Brenda Samuels, a tired madam who craves his help and understanding: they were once lovers. The cops share blasé, morbid shop-talk and sick jokes over Lois Fazenda's body, left cut in two in a weed field. Tom even throws a hurtful remark at a nun ("May all your sons be Jesuits") for no good reason at all.
The irony is that the cynical and bitter Tom is the brother who has found his way back to a solid moral code. His choice is more than simply a compensation for the sins of his youth. The specter of Chinatown hovers over the city -- everyone harbors past failures that eat the soul. Desmond's own situation takes longer to unfold. He wants his brother to talk politely and humor their senile mother (Jeanette Nolan), even though she persists in tagging Tom as a bad boy. Desmond's basically the Church contact with the outside world when it comes to construction and development. He admits that his calling is more organizational than faith-oriented: if the church is going "to save souls it needs places to do it in." Unfortunately, Desmond has involved the church with a bunch of glad-handing heavy donors. When the transparently corrupt Jack Amsterdam isn't crowding Desmond for a positive answer to his latest scheme, business agent Dan T. Campion (Ed Flanders) is smoothing things over. The proud Desmond has risked his future to save a few dollars and become a financial big shot: if Jack and his cohorts run afoul with the law, the diocese will be tainted.
(spoiler)
Tom knows that Amsterdam suppresses his competition with criminal methods, and is happy when a break in the Lois Fazenda case connects him to the actual killer. Unfortunately, the trail of scandal reaches right into the chancery: Lois met Jack and his cronies after she hitched a ride from Del Mar with Desmond and Campion. The pragmatic Cardinal has already cashiered good old Monsignor Fargo for merely disagreeing with Desmond's sharp business dealings. If Tom breaks the scandal, Desmond could go from Cardinal shoo-in to persona non grata in a heartbeat.
The dark center of True Confessions occurs when Tom comes upon the location where Lois was actually killed. Without dialogue, we follow Tom step by step through the ghastly remains. The sequence has an eerie religious tone. Less powerful but still meaningful is the scene where the murdered girl's parents identify her body, a sort of replay from the classic The Naked City done L.A. style (and revisited again in L.A. Confidential). After mourning her baby, the mother eventually levels her eyes at Duvall and says, "Catch the son of a bitch."
Director Ulu Grosbard (The Subject Was Roses,
Straight Time) has mounted a superb film for period atmosphere, an L.A. where the sun is always out and everybody with shined shoes has some kind of racket going. The story of the real Black Dahlia killing went in an entirely different direction, but Lois Fazenda's characterization as a nervy good-time girl is still accurate. If anything, the film's picture of L.A. law in the late 1940s isn't dark enough: in the best account I have read, the LAPD maintained a special detail of cops to look out for the mob's interests, and keep the vice money flowing.
Robert DeNiro and Robert Duvall are riveting separately and even more impressive together. They share a powerful confession scene that suddenly illuminates Tom's feelings of shame. The script is all the more intelligent for not letting characters 'explain' themselves; we have to watch and see. Charles Durning, Kenneth McMillan and Ed Flanders are all good, and Rose Gregorio as the complex Brenda Samuels exceptionally so. She's a prime example of a character that has only a handful of scenes, yet lingers in the memory. Around the periphery we can spot Dan Hedaya ("It's the work of a werewolf!"), James Hong, Jorge Cervera Jr. and Paul Valentine of Out of the Past, made 34 years earlier. It's a shame that the film wasn't promoted more forcefully when new.
The KL Studio Classics Blu-ray of True Confessions is a fine transfer of this richly-filmed show, which sometimes captures its period atmosphere by looking like old Kodachrome. Cinematographer Owen Roizman just dials down the bright colors, and the wool suits and predominant browns and blacks become instant memory visions of the past.
The trailer included sells prestige but also taps every confrontation, so is best seen after viewing the movie. It's too bad there are no other extras with this film, as Ulu Grosbard is an interesting director respected by actors of the caliber of DeNiro and Duvall. Rose Gregorio is an interesting actress with an impressive stage career. After seeing her in a part in The Swimmer, I'm making a point of trying to catch up with all of her film appearances.
On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor,
True Confessions Blu-ray rates:
Movie: Excellent
Video: Excellent
Sound: Excellent
Supplements: Trailer
Deaf and Hearing Impaired Friendly?
YES; Subtitles: English
Packaging: Keep case
Reviewed: October 13, 2014
Text © Copyright 2014 Glenn Erickson
See more exclusive reviews on the Savant Main Page.
Reviews on the Savant main site have additional credits information and are often updated and annotated with reader input and graphics.
T'was Ever Thus.
Return to Top of Page
|
