AllMovie

The crime that shattered America's innocence comes to vivid life in this adaptation of Truman Capote's groundbreaking non-fiction book of the same name (which was previously adapted for the screen by director Richard Brooks in 1967). Compelled by a fellow convict's claim that a wealthy Kansas rancher named Herb Clutter has stashed $10,000 in his home safe, 20-year-old convict Dick Hickock (Anthony Edwards) bides his time behind bars awaiting the day he will be paroled. When that day comes, he recruits unrepentant ex-con Perry Smith (Eric Roberts) to help him retrieve the cash. Upon invading the Clutter's home on a crisp November night in 1959, however, Hickock and Smith find no safe, and fly into a rage, killing the rancher, his wife, and their two teenage children. Later, despite a disheartening lack of evidence, Detective Alvin Dewey (Sam Neill) does everything in his power to crack the case, and catch the killers.