True Confessions

Dir: Ulu Grosbard

1981

****

The big selling point and buzz that surrounded Ulu Grosbard's 1981 crime-drama True Confessions was due to the teaming of Hollywood favorites Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall, who were both at the top of their games at the time. It ended up being a box office flop and if I'm being honest, while Duvall has a far more entertaining role, De Niro doesn't really bring much to his character. However, it's a pretty solid crime drama that incorporates the infamous and still unsolved real life murder of Elizabeth Short, otherwise known as the Black Dahlia murder, and the biblical story of Cain and Able. Duvall and De Niro play brothers, Duvall an ex-bag man criminal turned hard-hosed detective and De Niro his brother, a monsignor whose religious duties bring him close to church patrons of a questionable nature. Both men are chalk and cheese, friendly with each other but never really seeing eye to eye. Both actors play off each other well in the scenes they are in together, these scenes being the strongest parts of the film by far. De Niro never really convinced me he was an authentic priest (he has since though in 1996's Sleepers) while Duvall is quite thrilling in an uncompromising and rather unpredictably intense performance. Great support comes from Charles Durning, Kenneth McMillan and Burgess Meredith and the overall direction is suitably sleek and stylish. My big criticism is that very little of the story involves the Black Dahlia case and when it does it is largely fictional but then this really isn't what the film is about. The performances, pace and subtle symbolism more than makes up for it anyway and the conclusion is brilliantly executed. A stylish tale of redemption and devotion, criminally overlooked and worthy of far more praise than it received on release.