True Crime

raccoon

(31,498 posts) Mon Jul 23, 2012, 04:10 PM Jul 2012

IN COLD BLOOD. I think Capote portrayed Perry Smith as being less cold-blooded than he really was.

When the two killers went in the Clutter house and murdered the family, the way Perry tells the story there were several times when he almost backed out of it, but he didn't. Or, that's how the story is told. Maybe Smith told Capote
that, maybe Capote was embellishing the story.

There were a lot of other things that Capote embellished, which doesn't take away from it being a really good book.

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IN COLD BLOOD. I think Capote portrayed Perry Smith as being less cold-blooded than he really was. (Original Post) raccoon Jul 2012 OP

Nobody knows what Smith was really thinking Scairp Jul 2012 #1

One thing I think was understated in ICB was the racial prejudice Perry encountered. raccoon Jul 2012 #2

Not sure who spoke to her Scairp Aug 2012 #3

I found someplace on the Net dated about 2009 that said she was still alive. If I can ever locate raccoon Aug 2012 #4

I went to the post office to find her address, but it was Saturday, and they were closed Tom Ripley Apr 2015 #7

Message auto-removed Name removed Apr 2015 #5

I think Perry Smith portrayed himself as being less cold-blooded than he really was Tom Ripley Apr 2015 #6

Message auto-removed Name removed Apr 2015 #8

Scairp

(2,749 posts)

1. Nobody knows what Smith was really thinking

Reply to raccoon (Original post)

Tue Jul 24, 2012, 07:29 PM

Jul 2012

All we know is what Capote wrote and that he said that was what Perry Smith told him about the crime. There is a telling scene in the movie "Capote" which I think is great, where Capote goes to visit Smith's surviving sister and she tells him how he acts very sweet and vulnerable but would just as soon cut your throat as look at you. I think that probably summed up Perry Smith better than anything we know about him. He was an angry little man out for revenge against society for perceived slights throughout his life. If it hadn't been the Clutters it surely would have been someone else.

raccoon

(31,498 posts)

2. One thing I think was understated in ICB was the racial prejudice Perry encountered.

Reply to Scairp (Reply #1)

Wed Jul 25, 2012, 06:59 AM

Jul 2012

(Which might explain his behavior but does NOT excuse it.)

The scene you mentioned with Perry's sister, there was a scene like that in the book, only in the book it was one of the KBI agents--Nye, I think, who visited her.

Scairp

(2,749 posts)

3. Not sure who spoke to her

Reply to raccoon (Reply #2)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 04:05 PM

Aug 2012

But I've read elsewhere that she did tell either investigators or a reporter something very close to the dialogue in the movie. She didn't want Perry to know where she was living, even though he was already on death row. That was very telling. Wonder if she's still alive.