True Confessions (1981)

This one is probably less well known than THE LAST TYCOON despite the star cast - De Niro, Duvall and Durning. The confrontation scene between Durning and Duvall was great - it was pretty violent and ugly, the two of them sort of exploded on screen. I wish the film had more explosive scenes like that. Despite the understated tone of the movie, I was never bored. And i guess guess that is mainly because of the mesmerizing performances by De Niro and Duvall. De Niro must have done this right after THE RAGING BULL. Here he plays a solemn but ambitious priest in direct contrast to his aggressive detective brother played by Duvall.The film was based on John Gregory Dunne's novel and was adapted by none other than Joan Didion (PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK) and Dunne who was her husband.

After the end of World War II, Americans turn their attention to other stories. Capturing the country's attention is the 1948 murder of a young woman known as "The Virgin Tramp". Her body is found in Los Angeles, neatly cut in half. There is some disagreement about whether the body requires one or two stretchers on its way to the morgue. My vote is one, but forensics folks like to keep the body as it was discovered. Arriving at the murder scene is police detective Robert Duvall (as Thomas "Tom" Spellacy). His brother is Catholic priest Robert De Niro (as Desmond "Des" Spellacy). There will be a connection...You would expect a crime story involving a policeman and priest played by Mr. Duvall and Mr. De Niro to be better than this. There is also a great supporting cast, led by Duvall partner Kenneth McMillan (as Frank Crotty) and De Niro associate Charles Durning (as Jack Amsterdam). And, it's obviously well-produced. The story should have stuck with Duvall and the murder mystery. De Niro's character might have been more minor - the film is, simply, too sluggish. Also, there was no need for the bracketing opening and closing scenes set in the present. Surely, the brothers had more to reminisce about than this incident.***** True Confessions (9/24/81) Ulu Grosbard ~ Robert Duvall, Robert De Niro, Charles Durning, Kenneth McMillan

This was a really good little film. It takes a look at the Black Dahlia killing but it mainly focuses on the relationships between the people. Even though they look and figure out who the killer is, it's a secondary part of the story. The Black Dahlia part in this movie is not accurate to the facts from the real case but it's not really suppose to be. Catholic Church corruption, prostitution and murder all combined for a really quiet meaningful little flick.Long before L.A. Confidential, this film made light of the massive corruption and lack of caring in the L.A. police department back in it's bad years from the 20's through the 50's. You'll be glad you didn't live there back in those days.No action but high on drama/thriller twists and turns. If you like L.A. Confidential, see this. I'm willing to bet, you'll like it.

Based loosely on the famous Black Dahlia murder case, "True Confessions" revolves around two brothers, played by Robert Duvall (fresh off his great performance in "The Great Santini") and Robert De Niro (fresh off an equally great performance in "Raging Bull"), seeking atonement for their past sins.Set in Los Angeles during the late 1940s, De Niro plays an ambitious priest who spends the film establishing mutually beneficial relationships with corrupt clergymen, gangsters and construction moguls. Preaching the purity of the eternal soul whilst helping scoundrels hide their sins, De Niro is well aware of his hypocrisy, but deludes himself by maintaining that it's ultimately all for the greater good of the church.Tom, a local police detective, faces a similar dilemma. Himself touched by sin (he was once found guilty of police corruption), Tom becomes determined to solve the murder of a young girl who was found dumped in the Hollywood Hills. Solve the murder and absolve his sins, that's the way he sees it. And of course, his brother holds a vital piece of evidence. A piece of evidence which he must give up in order to redeem himself.There are a lot of interesting themes here – the links between business and religion, wounded souls searching for forgiveness, the tale of a city built on corruption, victim as sacrificial lamb, the way those in high places buy their angelic images through politics or church – but for the most part we've seen this stuff done better elsewhere."Godfather 3", for example, better dealt with the ties between Church and Mafia, "Bad Lieutenant" better dealt with a sin-stained Catholic seeking redemption by solving a crime and "Chinatown" is a both a better mystery and a better tale of a city founded on corruption. Of course today the gold standard for this sort of panoramic film-noir is the HBO series "The Wire", in which corruption is not only a way of life but a long accepted means of survival. In terms of shear scope, "The Wire" renders all these films outdated.But at the heart of "True Confessions" is the Black Dahlia murder and the romance and mystery it somehow still manages to exude. The most famous murder in Hollywood history, the crime has popped up in countless novels and films, the best being James Elroy's "Black Dahlia", partially about the murder of his own mother, and Brian De Palma's underrated adaptation of Elroy's novel.7.5/10 – Though a lesser film noir, the film works whenever De Niro and Duvall are together, and the cinematography by Owen Roizman has some appropriately atmospheric moments (he avoids golden-brown nostalgia and goes instead for sunlit sleaze). Worth one viewing.