True Confessions

Media:	VHS Tape
Directed by:	Ulu Grosbard
Starring:	Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall
Release date:	07 July, 1998
List price:	~~$14.95~~
Our price:	that is 100% off!

True Confessions

Average rating:

A story of brotherly love and sibling rivalry

It is hard to believe that a film with outstanding performances from both Robert Duvall and Robert DeNiro could slip through the cracks of the movie going consciousness. True Confessions perfectly captures, in an effortless manner, the feel of post-war California, we don't see men in costumes or old cars, we're put right in the time and place through artful direction. Two brothers, one a pious priest with a head for high finance, the other a hard bitten detective, now clean after an earlier career stint as a bagman, must handle the problems of their separate worlds. A brutal crime - the murder and dismemberment of a young woman - is about to bring their two worlds crashing together. The up and comers of the building in boom in California, who the Church is using to advance their goals of schools and hospitals, may not be the pillars of the community that wish to appear to be. A well balanced mystery of money, power, politics and principles. Don't miss the scene in which Charles Durning dances an Irish jig at a wedding.

Dissapointing...

I was pretty disappointed in this film. I'm a fan of Duvall and DeNiro (who isn't?) and they do great work here, but I couldn't shake the feeling that their roles should have been reversed -- DeNiro should have been the edgy detective and Duvall the Priest. But the biggest disappointment is the causal use of the ''Black Dahlia'' murder; here disguised as ''The Virgin Tramp'' murder. This was a heinous, brutal crime that's used here only as an excuse to buck up a thin plot. (I'm getting pretty tired of scenes in which hard-boiled detectives stand over a nude dead woman and make cracks about her body.) I feel sorry for the dead women who populate this movie for no other reason then to provide titillation between the endlessly dull scenes of patriarchal posturing and male bonding. Skip it.

Unrecognized classic

I am in complete agreement with 'A viewer from Summit N.J.', unable to understand why this thoughtful, moving film failed to achieve the recognition is so clearly deserves. De Niro and Duvall are both at their distinguished best, their interaction as brothers one of the most persuasive and compelling I have ever seen on the screen. The evocation of the period - including the Catholic Church of the day - seems flawless, and the slowly unfolding drama of personal redemption gives the movie very unusual dramatic weight. An excellent film in every way.