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Home , Charles Durning, Dan Hedaya, James Hong filmography, John Gregory Dunne, Robert Chartoff, Robert Duvall

November 1, 2011 (XXIII:10) Ulu Grossbard, TRUE CONFESSIONS (1981, 108 min.)

Directed by Written by John Gregory Dunne, and Gary S. Hall (uncredited) Produced by Chartoff and Original Music by Georges Delerue Cinematography by Film Editing by Lynzee Klingman

Robert De Niro...Father Des Spellacy ...Det. Tom Spellacy ...Jack Amsterdam Kenneth McMillan...Frank Crotty ...Dan T. Campion Cyril Cusack...Cardinal Danaher ...Msgr. Seamus Fargo Rose Gregorio...Brenda Samuels Dan Hedaya...Howard Terkel Gwen Van Dam...Mrs. Fazenda Thomas Hill...Mr. Fazenda Play It As It Lays / screenplay), 1971 Such Good , 1971 Jeanette Nolan...Mrs. Spellacy , and 1965 “Kraft Suspense Theatre”. Joseph G. Medalis...Deputy Coroner ...Coroner Wong ROBERT CHARTOFF (August 26, 1933, City, New York) shared a best picture Oscar with Irwin Winkler for ULU GROSBARD directed only seven films: 1999 The Deep End 1976. Some of the other 35 films he produced were 2011 The of the Ocean, 1995 , 1984 Falling in Love, 1981 True Mechanic, 2010/II The Tempest, 2006 Rocky Balboa, 2004 In My Confessions, 1978 , 1971 Who Is Harry Kellerman Country, 1992 Straight Talk, 1990 , 1985 Rocky IV, 1985 and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?, and Beer, 1983 The Right Stuff, 1982 Rocky III, 1981 True 1968 . Confessions, 1980 , 1979 Rocky II, 1978 Uncle Joe Shannon, 1978 Comes a Horseman, 1977 Valentino, 1977 New JOHN GREGORY DUNNE (May 25, 1932, Hartford, Connecticut – York, New York, 1976 Nickelodeon, 1976 Rocky, 1975 Breakout, December 30, 2003, ) is a novelist who has eight 1975 Peeper, 1974 The Gambler, 1974 S*P*Y*S, 1974 Busting, screenwriting credits: 1996 Up Close & Personal, 1995 “Broken 1972 Up the Sandbox, 1972 The Mechanic, 1972 Thumb Trust”, 1990 “Women and Men: Stories of Seduction”, 1981 Tripping, 1972 The New Centurions, 1971 The Gang That True Confessions (novel / screenplay), 1976 A Star Is Born, 1972 Couldn't Shoot Straight, 1971 Believe in Me, 1970 The Play It As It Lays, 1971 The Panic in Needle Park, and 1965 Strawberry Statement, 1970 Leo the Last, 1969 They Shoot “Kraft Suspense Theatre”. Horses, Don't They?, 1968 The Split, and 1967 Point Blank.

JOAN DIDION (December 5, 1934, Sacramento, ) is a IRWIN WINKLER (May 28, 1931, New York City, New York) novelist and literary journalist who has nine screenwriting shared a best picture Oscar for Rocky (1976) with Robert credits: 1996 Up Close & Personal, 1995 “Broken Trust”, 1990 Chartoff. Some of the other 52 films he produced are 2011 The “Women and Men: Stories of Seduction”, 1981 True Mechanic, 2006 Rocky Balboa, 2006 Home of the Brave, 2002/I Confessions, 1976 A Star Is Born, 1972 Play It As It Lays (novel Enough, 2001 The Shipping News, 2001 Life as a House, 1999 At First Sight, 1992 Night and the City, 1990 Rocky V, 1990 Grossbard—TRUE CONFESSIONS—2

Goodfellas, 1989 Music Box, 1988 Betrayed, 1985 Revolution, , 1981 The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper, 1981 True 1985 Rocky IV, 1983 The Right Stuff, 1982 Author! Author!, Confessions, 1979 , 1979 , 1982 Rocky III, 1981 True Confessions, 1980 Raging Bull, 1979 1978 The Betsy, 1977 “: A Novel for Television”, Rocky II, 1977 Valentino, 1977 New York, New York, 1976 1977 The Greatest, 1976 The Eagle Has Landed, 1976 Network, Nickelodeon, 1976 Rocky, 1975 Breakout, 1975 Peeper, 1974 1976 The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, 1975 , 1974 The Gambler, 1974 S*P*Y*S, 1974 Busting, 1972 Up the The Godfather: Part II, 1974 , 1973 Badge Sandbox, 1972 The Mechanic, 1972 Thumb Tripping, 1972 The 373, 1972 , 1972 The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid, New Centurions, 1971 The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, 1972 The Godfather, 1971 THX 1138, 1970 MASH, 1965-1969 1970 The Strawberry Statement, and 1969 They Shoot Horses, “The F.B.I.” (6 episodes), 1969 , 1969 True Don't They? Grit, 1968 , 1968 The Detective, 1966 The Chase, 1961- 1965 “The Defenders”, 1963-1965 “”, 1963 “The OWEN ROIZMAN (September 22, 1936, Brooklyn, New York Virginian”, 1963 “Twilight Zone”, 1963 “The Untouchables”, City, New York) has 28 cinematographer credits, including 1995 1962 To Kill a Mockingbird, 1961-1962 “Naked City”, 1962 French Kiss, 1994 Wyatt Earp, 1991 Grand Canyon, 1991 The “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” (TV series), and 1956 Somebody Up Addams Family, 1990/I Havana, 1985 Vision Quest, 1982 There Likes Me. , 1981 Taps, 1981 Absence of Malice, 1981 True Confessions, 1980 The Black Marble, 1979 The Electric CHARLES DURNING (February 28, 1923, Highland Falls, New Horseman, 1978 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1978 York) has been in 203 films and tv series, among them 2004- Straight Time, 1976 Network, 1976 The Return of a Man Called 2011 “Rescue Me” (26 episodes), 2011 The Life Zone, 2011 The Horse, 1975 Three Days of the Condor, 1975 The Stepford Great Fight, 2011 Naked Run, 2010 An Affirmative Act, 2010 Wives, 1974 The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, 1973 The The Waiter, 2008 The Golden Boys, 2006 Local Color, 2002 Exorcist, 1972 The Heartbreak Kid, 1972 Play It Again, Sam, Mother Ghost, 2002 Turn of Faith, 1998-2002 “Everybody 1971 The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, and 1971 The Loves Raymond” (7 episodes), 2002 “” (13 French Connection. episodes), 2000 O Brother, Where Art Thou?, 1999-2000 “Now and Again” (20 episodes), 1998 “A Chance of Snow”, 1998 (August 17, 1943, NY, NY) won a best actor “Homicide: Life on the Street”, 1995 The Grass Harp, 1990- Oscar for Raging Bull (1980) and a best supporting Oscar for The 1994 “Evening Shade” (98 episodes), 1994 The Hudsucker Godfather: Part II (1974). Some of his other 86 roles were in Proxy, 1991 V.I. Warshawski, 1990 Dick Tracy, 1989 Brenda 2012 The Wedding (post-production), 2012 Red Lights (post- Starr, 1986 , 1982 Tootsie, 1982 The Best Little production), 2012 Freelancers (post-production), 2011 New Whorehouse in , 1981 True Confessions, 1981 “The Girls Year's Eve (post-production), 2012 Being Flynn (completed), in Their Summer Dresses and Other Stories by Irwin Shaw”, 2011 Killer Elite, 2011 Limitless, 2010 Little Fockers, 2009 1980 The Final Countdown, 1980 Die Laughing, 1980 “Attica”, Everybody's Fine, 2007 Stardust, 2006 The Good Shepherd, 1979 When a Stranger Calls, 1979 Starting Over, 1979 North 2004 The Bridge of San Luis Rey, 2004 Meet the Fockers, 2002 Dallas Forty, 1979 , 1978 The Greek Tycoon, Analyze That, 2001 The Score, 2000 Meet the Parents, 1999 1978 An Enemy of the People, 1977 The Choirboys, 1977 Analyze This, 1998 Ronin, 1998 Great Expectations, 1997 Jackie Twilight's Last Gleaming, 1976 Harry and Walter Go to New Brown, 1997 Wag the Dog, 1997 Cop Land, 1996 Marvin's York, 1975-1976 “The Cop and the Kid” (13 episodes), 1975 The Room, 1996 Sleepers, 1996 The Fan, 1995 Heat, 1995 Casino, Hindenburg, 1975 , 1973 , 1973 1994 Frankenstein, 1993 A Bronx Tale, 1993 This Boy's Life, “”, 1971 The Pursuit of Happiness, 1970 I Walk 1993 Mad Dog and Glory, 1992 Night and the City, 1992 the Line, 1963 “East Side/West Side”, and 1953 “You Are Mistress, 1991 Cape Fear, 1991 Backdraft, 1990 Goodfellas, There”. 1989 Stanley & Iris, 1987 The Untouchables, 1987 Angel Heart, 1986 The Mission, 1985 Brazil, 1984 Once Upon a Time in KENNETH MCMILLAN (July 2, 1932, Brooklyn, New York – America, 1983 The King of Comedy, 1981 True Confessions, January 8, 1989, Santa Monica, California) appeared in 63 films 1980 Raging Bull, 1978 The Deer Hunter, 1977 “The Godfather: and TV series, among them 1989 Three Fugitives, 1987 A Novel for Television”, 1977 New York, New York, 1976 The “Magnum, P.I.”, 1987 “Murder, She Wrote”, 1986 Last Tycoon, 1976 1900, 1976 Taxi Driver, 1974 The Godfather: “Moonlighting”, 1986 Armed and Dangerous, 1985-1986 “Our Part II, 1973 Mean Streets, 1973 Bang the Drum Slowly, 1971 Family Honor” (13 episodes), 1985 Runaway Train, 1984 Dune, The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, 1971 Born to Win, 1971 1984 Amadeus, 1984 The Pope of Greenwich Village, 1983 Blue Jennifer on My Mind, 1970 Bloody Mama, and 1968 Greetings. Skies Again, 1981 Whose Life Is It Anyway?, 1981 Ragtime, 1981 True Confessions, 1981 Eyewitness, 1980 Hide in Plain Sight, Robert Duvall (, 1931, , California) won a 1980 Little Miss Marker, 1979 Chilly Scenes of Winter, 1978 best actor Oscar for Tender Mercies (1983). He has 137 acting Oliver's Story, 1977-1978 “Rhoda” (16 episodes), 1978 “The credits, some of which were 2013 Jayne Mansfield's Car (post- Rockford Files”, 1978 “Starsky and Hutch”, 1978 Bloodbrothers, production), 2009 , 2009 The Road, 2005 Thank You 1978 Girlfriends, 1976-1978 “”, 1975-1976 “Ryan's Hope” for Smoking, 2003 Gods and Generals, 2002 Assassination (17 episodes), 1975 The Stepford Wives, 1974 The Taking of , 1998 Deep Impact, 1997 , 1996 , Pelham One Two Three, and 1973 Serpico. 1995 The Scarlet Letter, 1994 The Paper, 1993 , 1991 Convicts, 1991 Rambling Rose, 1990 The Handmaid's Tale, Ed Flanders (December 29, 1934, Minneapolis, Minnesota – 1989 “”, 1988 Colors, 1984 The Natural, 1983 February 22, 1995, Denny, California) appeared in 55 films and Grossbard—TRUE CONFESSIONS—3

TV series, some of which were 1995 Bye Bye Love, 1994 “The Chambermaid, 1945 Story of G.I. Joe, 1938 Spring Madness, Road Home” (6 episodes), 1992 “Citizen Cohn”, 1990 The 1937 There Goes the Groom, and 1936 Winterset. Exorcist III, 1989 “The Final Days”, 1982-1988 “St. Elsewhere” (120 episodes), 1981 “Skokie”, 1981 The Pursuit of D.B. ROSE GREGORIO (1932, Chicago, Illinois) has 44 acting credits, Cooper, 1981 True Confessions, 1979 “Backstairs at the White among them 2003 “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”, 2000 Maze, House”, 1977 MacArthur, 1976 “Eleanor and Franklin”, 1969- 1996-1999 “ER” (7 episodes), 1991 City of Hope, 1989 “Doogie 1975 “Hawaii Five-O” (7 episodes), 1973 “Kung Fu”, 1972 Howser, M.D.”, 1981 True Confessions, 1979 “Charlie's “Banyon”, 1972 “M*A*S*H”, 1972 “Ironside”, 1972 “The Trial Angels”, 1978 “”, 1978 Eyes of Laura Mars, of the Catonsville Nine”, 1971 “Mission: Impossible”, 1971 1976 “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman”, 1975 “Harry O”, 1971 “McMillan & Wife”, and 1967 “Cimarron Strip”. Desperate Characters, 1971 Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?, 1968 The CYRIL CUSACK (November 26, 1910, Durban, Natal, South Swimmer, 1963 “East Side/West Side”, and 1961 “Naked City”. Africa – October 7, 1993, , England) has 126 acting credits, some of which are 1993 “The Young Indiana Jones DAN HEDAYA (July 24, 1940, Brooklyn, NY) has 124 acting Chronicles”, 1992 As You Like It, 1992 Far and Away, 1990 The credits, including 2010 The Extra Man, 1997-2005 “ER”, 2005 Fool, 1989 My Left Foot, 1988 “The Theater”, Strangers with Candy, 2001 Mulholland Dr., 2000 Shaft, 1998 A 1988 Little Dorrit, 1984 Nineteen Eighty-Four, 1984 The World Civil Action, 1998 A Night at the Roxbury, 1997 “Homicide: Life of Don Camillo, 1983 “The on the Street”, 1993-1997 “Law Comedy of Errors”, 1981 True & Order”, 1997 Alien: Confessions, 1980 “Strumpet Resurrection, 1996 Marvin's City” (6 episodes), 1978 “Les Room, 1996 The First Wives Miserables”, 1978 Poitín, 1973 Club, 1995 Nixon, 1995 To Die The Homecoming, 1973 The For, 1994 Maverick, 1993 Day of the Jackal, 1972 The Searching for Bobby Fischer, Italian Connection, 1972 “The 1991 Doubles, 1990 Pacific Golden Bowl” (6 episodes), Heights, 1988-1990 “L.A. 1972 “Clochemerle” (6 Law”, 1990 Joe Versus the episodes), 1971 Harold and Volcano, 1986 Wise Guys, 1986 Maude, 1971 Sacco & Vanzetti, “The Equalizer”, 1984-1986 1971 , 1968 Galileo, “”, 1985 “The 1968 Oedipus the King, 1967 Twilight Zone”, 1985 The Taming of the Shrew, 1966 Commando, 1981-1984 “Hill Fahrenheit 451, 1966 Time Lost Street Blues” (5 episodes), 1984 and Time Remembered, 1965 Blood Simple., 1984 The The Spy Who Came in from the Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Cold, 1962 Waltz of the Toreadors, 1959 Shake Hands with the Across the 8th Dimension, 1984 Reckless, 1983 The Hunger, Devil, 1957 The Rising of the Moon, 1956 The Man Who Never 1982 I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can, 1981 True Confessions, 1979 Was, 1950 Gone to Earth, 1949 The Blue Lagoon, 1947 Odd The Seduction of Joe Tynan, 1976 “Kojak”, 1975 “Ryan's Hope” Man Out, 1941 Mail Train, and 1918 Knocknagow. (10 episodes), and 1970 Myra Breckinridge.

BURGESS MEREDITH (November 16, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio – JAMES HONG (February 22, 1929, Minneapolis, Minnesota) has September 9, 1997, Malibu, California) has 173 acting credits, appeared in 365 films and TV series, some of which are 2011 some of which are1995 Grumpier Old Men, 1995 Across the The Lost Medallion: The Adventures of Billy Stone, 2011/II Safe, Moon, 1995 Tall Tale, 1994 Camp Nowhere, 1993 Grumpy Old 2011/I Junk, 2011 : Legends of Awesomeness, Men, 1990 Rocky V, 1990 State of Grace, 1988 Full Moon in 2010 I'm in the Band, 2008 The Day the Earth Stood Still, 2008 Blue Water, 1983 Twilight Zone: The Movie, 1982-1983 “Gloria” Kung Fu Panda, 2002-2004 “” (18 (21 episodes), 1982 Rocky III, 1981 True Confessions, 1981 episodes), 2002 Hero, 2000-2002 “”, 2001 Clash of the Titans, 1979 Rocky II, 1977 “Tail Gunner Joe”, 1977 “Alias”, 2000 The Art of War, 1999-2000 “Martial Law”, 1999 “Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye”, 1976 Rocky, 1976 Burnt G2, 1996 “Nash Bridges”, 1996 “The X-Files”, 1995/I Bad Offerings, 1975 The Hindenburg, 1975 The Day of the Locust, Company, 1994 The Shadow, 1992 Gengis Khan, 1991 1974 Golden Needles, 1972-1973 “Search” (14 episodes), 1972 “”, 1990 The Two Jakes, 1989 Tango & Cash, 1988 “McCloud”, 1968-1972 “Ironside”, 1971 Such Good Friends, “Beauty and the Beast”, 1987 “Miami Vice”, 1987 “Magnum, 1968-1971 “The Virginian”, 1970 There Was a Crooked Man..., P.I.”1987 Black Widow, 1986 Big Trouble in Little China, 1983 1969 Mackenna's Gold, 1966-1968 “Batman” (21 episodes), “”, 1983 “Dynasty” (5 episodes), 1983 “St. 1966 Batman, 1966 A Big Hand for the Little Lady, 1966 “12 Elsewhere”, 1982 Blade Runner, 1981 True Confessions, 1981 O'Clock High”, 1965 “Mr. Novak” (17 episodes), 1965 In “Dallas”, 1981 “Soap”, 1980 “”, 1980 Airplane!, Harm's Way, 1961-1964 “Rawhide”, 1963 , 1959- 1979 “”, 1979 “Lou Grant”, 1978 “Charlie's Angels”, 1963 “Twilight Zone”, 1962 “Naked City”, 1962 Advise & 1978 Go Tell the Spartans, 1976 Bound for Glory, 1976 “Black Consent, 1947 Mine Own Executioner, 1946 The Diary of a Sheep Squadron”, 1976 “The Streets of San Francisco”, 1976 “The Rockford Files”, 1976 “”, 1976 “Jigsaw John” (15 Grossbard—TRUE CONFESSIONS—4 episodes), 1972-1975 “Kung Fu” (9 episodes), 1973 “Barnaby No need to pussyfoot. No need to mince words. Get straight to Jones”, 1985 “”, 1965-1967 “I Spy”, 1966 The the point, even if it's not pretty or, for that matter, even if it is. Sand Pebbles, 1966 “The F.B.I.”, 1965-1966 “The Man from Sometimes things do go right. It does happen. You know it first U.N.C.L.E.”, 1965 “The Fugitive”, 1965 “Ben Casey”, 1962- in the pit of your stomach. A nice feeling but unfamiliar - it's the 1963 “Perry Mason”, 1962 “Have Gun - Will Travel”, 1961 bile vanishing as things look up. Like watching ''True Confes Flower Drum Song, 1960 “”, 1959 Never So Few, 1959 sions.'' “The Loretta Young Show”, 1959 “Zorro”, 1959 “The True Confessions…is the tough, marvelously well-acted Adventures of Rin Tin Tin”, 1958 “Dragnet”, 1957-1958 “The screen version of John Gregory Dunne's novel, adapted by him New Adventures of Charlie Chan” (37 episodes), 1958 “G.E. and Joan Didion and directed by Ulu Grosbard who, with this True Theater”, 1957 China Gate, 1956 “Four Star Playhouse”, film, becomes a major American film maker. Quite simply it's 1955 “Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theatre”, 1955 Blood one of the most entertaining, most intelligent and most Alley, 1955 Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing, and 1955 Soldier thoroughly satisfying commercial American films in a very long of Fortune. time. True Confessions, the film as well as From Wikipedia: Ulu Grosbard (born 9 the novel, owes a lot to a kind of 1940's, tough- January 1929) is a Belgian-born, naturalized guy, fringe-world Southern California fiction in American theatre and film director and film which private eyes drink whisky instead of producer. coffee for breakfast and calmly turn in their sweethearts on murder-one raps because, well, Born in Antwerp, Grosbard emigrated to you can't trust a dame who shoots real bullets. Havana with his family in 1942. In 1948, they She can kill you as easily as she burns toast. moved to the , where he earned Mr. Dunne's best-selling novel, loosely Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees based on an actual murder case, from the University of Chicago. He studied uses history as the author sees fit, and though then at the Yale School of Drama for one year its syntax is familiar, its concerns are more far- before joining the , and he reaching and more psychologically complex became a naturalized citizen in 1954. than the fiction it recalls. It's a big novel and True Confessions is a big film. Grosbard gravitated towards theatre when he To begin with, it has America's two relocated to New York City in the early best actors in its leading roles, as brothers, one . After directing The Days and Nights of BeeBee an up-and-coming monsignor of the Roman , Fenstermaker off-Broadway, he earned his first Broadway credit Desmond Spellacy (Robert De Niro), who is on his way toward with The Subject Was Roses, for which he was nominated for the some of the higher honors the church can bestow, and Tom Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play in 1964. That same year Spellacy (Robert Duvall), Desmond's older brother, a Los he won the for Best Direction and the Drama Desk Angeles detective of shabby background. Early in his career, Award for Outstanding Director of a Play for an off-Broadway when he was a member of the vice squad, Tom had been on the revival of the play , for take. Now he is so embittered he has somehow come full circle. which served as stage manager and assistant He's back pursuing justice at all costs, at least justice as he director. defines it. The place is Los Angeles and the time is the late 40's, Grosbard's additional Broadway credits include Miller's The not long after World War II, before television had become a Price; 's , which earned him Tony force in the world and when Hollywood was still turning out a and nominations; 's The couple of hundred program pictures a year. One morning, in an Floating Light Bulb; and a revival of 's The especially ugly vacant lot, there is discovered the naked, bisected Tenth Man. body of a pretty part-time actress, a displaced person from the Middle West who has become what the papers used to call a In Hollywood, Grosbard worked as an assistant director on ''party girl.'' It's a grisly murder, but at first, it doesn't seem to be Splendor in the Grass, West Side Story, The Hustler, The Miracle an especially important one. Another case. That's all. Worker, and The Pawnbroker before helming the screen In the way of good fiction, as in life, nothing is quite as adaptation of The Subject Was Roses on his own. Additional simple as it originally seems in ''the case of the virgin tramp,'' screen credits include Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He which is how the paper come to label the murder of Lois Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? and Straight Time, both Fazenda. with Dustin Hoffman; True Confessions and Falling in Love, As the single-minded Tom Spellacy roots around in his both with Robert De Niro; Georgia for which he won the Grand investigation of the murder, he finds links between the victim Prix des Amériques at the Montréal World Film Festival; and and Tom's sometime mistress Brenda (Rose Gregorio), who runs The Deep End of the Ocean. what is crudely though accurately described as ''a $5 cathouse.'' There also are connections between Lois and Jack Amsterdam Grosbard has been married to actress Rose Gregorio since 1965. (Charles Durning), a big-time Los Angeles contractor and pillar of the Catholic Church, a fellow who is one of Msgr. Desmond Vincent Canby, New York Times, September 25, 1981 Spellacy's softer touches. Jack Amsterdam, former pimp, now Grossbard—TRUE CONFESSIONS—5 receives introductions to the Pope, builds church schools at cost True Confessions studies the crossed moralities of two Irish and gets honored as ''the Catholic layman of the year.'' American brothers: Monsignor Des Spellacy (De Niro), an up- As the investigation continues, the connections become and-coming Catholic star and church fixer, and Tom (Duvall), a increasingly complicated and dangerous for just about murder detective once on the take (the immigrant Irish mother’s everybody, except, perhaps, the urbane Cardinal Danaher (Cyril dream team of a priest and a cop). Neither brother ever stops to Cusack), who has made his archdiocese one the the country's question doing wrong for what they perceive as a greater good— wealthiest, and Frank Crotty (Kenneth McMillan), Tom selling indulgences, intimidating prostitutes, offering bribes for Spellacy's partner. Crotty is a cheerfully crooked cop who takes zoning variances, collecting payoffs for gangsters. Whatever it small bribes but who would never railroad an innocent man to takes to raise a few bob for the church or just get good old- the gas chamber, as Tom might. fashioned revenge does not count as sin in the eyes of God or True Confessions has plot to spare, and even if it's not Man. always possible to follow the ins and outs of the business As bagmen for their retrospective institutions, their dealings, the film is abundant with life and character. At the actions have repercussions. The good Monsignor’s cloistered film's rich center is the relationship between the monsignor and superiority provides him the comfort of hypocrisy; the bad cop’s the detective, the priest being far more worldly and self-aware worldliness offers him the discomfort of self-awareness. than the policeman, who, somewhere down deep, still believes in Monsignor Des may visit his mother’s hospital bed, but he plays the kind of hell-fire that his brother probably abandoned at age whore for his boss, the Cardinal. Tom is nobody’s bitch; he just 15. likes whores. Tom, though the elder, remains the bane of his Mr. De Niro and Mr. Duvall are at the peak of their Ma’s existence. He has sinned and repented, but won’t be talents here. They work so beautifully together it sometimes forgiven. Mom sees the world through the priest’s tinted glasses. seems like a single performance, two sides of the same complex The Black Dahlia victim lies cut in two in an L.A. wasteland, character. But then the film is stuffed with memorable physically mirroring the moral tear separating the siblings. You performances. They include those of Mr. Durning and Ed can use two stretchers to carry her away or one, but she will Flanders, as the most prominent laymen in the monsignor's never be whole. Both brothers suffer from the Irish male malady parish; Burgess Meredith as Seamus Fargo, an ancient, crotchety, of emotional paralysis, unable to apologize or express love until seriously committed monsignor who's being given the expedient too late (or drunk). Honesty can be expressed only through the sack in the course of the film; Miss Gregorio, who has never darkened panel of a confessional; truths must be kept within the before had a film role to equal this one, which she brings to vivid walls of that confinement. Truth, in this church, serves to life, and Mr. Cusack and Mr. McMillan. imprison rather than free the soul. There is no state of grace to be The screenplay, of course, provides material that actors found in this box. might die for. It sometimes reaches for its effects, but there's not True Confessions studies the loneliness of two stubborn a foolish line in it, nor a bland character. The movie is dense with men refusing to acknowledge their connection and similarity. period detail, but Mr. Grosbard makes sure that it never Having shared a fanatical Catholic mother and an overwhelms a tale that is ironic and sad and very wise. True uncommunicative father, they should have each other but don’t. Confessions comes close to being a model movie of its kind. One has God, one is divorced (another sin), and they both sleep alone at night. When leaving L.A., Rose, the aged prostitute, meets Tom to say goodbye. “It’s nice to have someone to say goodbye to,” she says. Earlier she had said to him, “I need you like I need another fuck.” In this film, such a turnabout suffices as redemption. True Confessions demonstrates that great Catholics can only attain purity through mortification and crucifixion. Only through self-realization can salvation be reached and self- realization is the true confession. But this is Noir and no good deed goes unpunished. For something as big as salvation, you get to pay a big price. P.S. It’s a good murder mystery as well.

The Black Dahlia murder, From Wikipedia: "The Black Dahlia" was a nickname given to Elizabeth Short (July 29, 1924 – ca. January 15, 1947), an American Karl O’Toole, True Confessions, Brooklyn Rail: woman and the victim of a gruesome and much-publicized murder. She acquired the moniker posthumously by newspapers On its surface, True Confessions recounts the story of in the habit of nicknaming crimes they found particularly the real life 1947 virgin tramp murder, a story revisited last year colorful. Short was found mutilated, her body sliced in half at the in De Palma’s failed The Black Dahlia. Beneath the whodunit, in waist, on January 15, 1947, in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, pure noir style, bubbles a bleak tale of restrained sibling love, California. Short's unsolved murder has been the source of parochial corruption, loyalty and its cost, and finally, redemption. widespread speculation, leading to many suspects, along with Set against the clannish, back-scratching Irish Catholic several books and film adaptations of the story. Church society of a beautifully recreated 1940’s Los Angeles, Grossbard—TRUE CONFESSIONS—6

Elizabeth Short was born in greater Boston, "posed" with her hands over her head and elbows bent at right ; she grew up and lived in Medford. She was the angles. third of five daughters of Cleo Short and Phoebe Mae Sawyer. The autopsy stated Short was 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m) Her father built miniature golf courses until the 1929 stock tall, weighed 115 pounds (52 kg), and had light blue eyes, brown market crash, in which he lost much of the family's assets. In hair, and badly decayed teeth. There were marks on her ankles 1930, he parked his car on a bridge and vanished, leading some and wrists made by rope, consistent with being tied either to believe he had committed suicide. Short's mother moved the spreadeagled or hung upside down. Although the skull was not family to a small apartment in Medford, and found work as a fractured, Short had bruising on the front and right side of her bookkeeper. It was not until scalp with a small amount of later that Short would discover bleeding in the subarachnoid her father was alive and was space on the right side, living in California. consistent with blows to the Troubled by asthma head. The cause of death was and bronchitis, Short was sent blood loss from the lacerations to live for the winter in Miami, to the face combined with shock Florida at the age of 16. She due to a concussion of the brain. spent the next three years living William Randolph there during the cold months Hearst's papers, the Los Angeles and in Medford the remainder Herald-Express and the Los of the year. At age 19, Short Angeles Examiner, travelled to Vallejo, California sensationalized the case; the to live with her father, who was working nearby at Mare Island black tailored suit Short was last seen wearing became "a tight Naval Shipyard on San Francisco Bay. The two moved to Los skirt and a sheer blouse" and Elizabeth Short became the "Black Angeles in early 1943, but an altercation resulted in her leaving Dahlia", an "adventuress" who "prowled Hollywood Boulevard". there and finding work in the post exchange at Camp Cooke As time passed, the media coverage became more outrageous (now Vandenberg Air Force Base), near Lompoc, California. with claims her lifestyle "made her victim material", when those Short next moved to Santa Barbara, where she was arrested on who knew her all reported that Short did not smoke, drink or September 23, 1943, for underage drinking. Following her arrest, swear. she was sent back to Medford by the juvenile authorities in Santa On January 23, 1947, the killer rang the editor of the Barbara. Short then returned to Florida to live, with occasional Los Angeles Examiner, expressing concern that news of the visits back to Massachusetts. murder was tailing off in the newspapers and offering to mail In Florida, Short met Major Matthew Michael Gordon items belonging to Short to the editor. The following day a Jr., a decorated United States Army Air Forces officer who was packet arrived at the Los Angeles newspaper containing Short's assigned to the 2nd Air Commando Group and in training for birth certificate, business cards, photographs, names written on deployment to China Burma India Theater of Operations. Short pieces of paper and an address book with the name Mark Hansen told friends that Gordon wrote her a letter from India proposing embossed on the cover. Hansen, the last person known to have marriage while he was recovering from injuries sustained from seen Short alive (on January 9), became the prime suspect. The an airplane crash. She accepted his proposal, but Gordon died in killer would later write more letters to the newspaper, calling a second airplane crash on August 10, 1945 before he could himself "the Black Dahlia Avenger", after the name given to return to the United States. She later exaggerated this story, Short by the newspapers. On January 25, Short's handbag and saying that they were married and had a child who died. one shoe were found in a garbage bin a short distance from Although Gordon's friends in the air commandos confirmed that Norton Avenue. Due to the notoriety of the case, more than 50 Gordon and Short were engaged, his family denied any men and women have confessed to the murder and police are connection after Short's murder. swamped with tips every time a newspaper mentions the case or Elizabeth Short returned to Los Angeles in July 1946 to a book or movie about it is released. Sergeant John P. St. John, a visit Army Air Corps Lieutenant Joseph Gordon Fickling, an old detective who worked the case until his retirement, stated: "It is boyfriend she had met in Florida during the war. At the time amazing how many people offer up a relative as the killer." Short returned to Los Angeles, Fickling was stationed at NARB, Gerry Ramlow, a Los Angeles Daily News reporter later Long Beach. For the six months prior to her death, Short stated, "If the murder was never solved it was because of the remained in southern California, mainly in the Los Angeles area. reporters ... They were all over, trampling evidence, withholding The body of Elizabeth Short was found in the Leimert information." It took several days for the police to take full Park district of Los Angeles on January 15, 1947. Her remains control of the investigation during which time reporters roamed had been left on a vacant lot on the west side of South Norton freely throughout the department's offices, sat at officers desks, Avenue midway between Coliseum Street and West 39th Street. and answered their phones. Many tips from the public were not The body was discovered by local resident Betty Bersinger, who passed on to police as the reporters who received them rushed was walking with her three-year-old daughter. Short's severely out to get "scoops". mutilated body had been found nude and severed at the waist, Short was buried at the Mountain View Cemetery in completely drained of blood. Her face was slashed from the Oakland, California. After her other sisters had grown up and corners of her mouth toward her ears, called the Glasgow smile. married, Short's mother moved to Oakland to be near her The body had been washed and cleaned and she had been Grossbard—TRUE CONFESSIONS—7 daughter's grave. Phoebe Short detailed account of her living finally returned to the East Coast and working arrangements in the and lived into her during this period. Although a 90s. popular portrayal amongst her According to newspaper acquaintances and many true reports shortly after the murder, crime authors was of Short as Elizabeth Short received the a call girl, the Los Angeles nickname "Black Dahlia" at a district attorney's grand jury Long Beach, California drugstore proved there was no existing in mid-1946, as a word play on evidence that she was ever a the then-current movie The Blue prostitute and the district Dahlia. Los Angeles County attorney's office attributes the district attorney investigators' claim to confusion with a reports state that the nickname was invented by newspaper prostitute of the same name. Another widely circulated rumor reporters covering the murder. Los Angeles Herald-Express holds that Short was unable to have sexual intercourse because of reporter Bevo Means, who interviewed Short's acquaintances at a congenital defect that left her with "infantile genitalia". Los the drug store, is credited with first using the "Black Dahlia" Angeles County district attorney's files state that the investigators name. had questioned three men with whom Short had sex, including a A number of people, none of whom knew Short, Chicago police officer who was a suspect in the case. The FBI contacted police and the newspapers claiming to have seen her files on the case also contain a statement from one of Short's during her so-called "missing week"—a time period between the alleged lovers. Found in the Los Angeles district attorney's files time of her January 9 disappearance and the time her body was and in the Los Angeles Police Department's summary of the case, found on January 15. Police and district attorney investigators Short's autopsy describes her reproductive organs as ruled out each of these alleged sightings, wherein in some cases, anatomically normal although the report notes evidence of what those interviewed were identifying other women they had it called "female trouble". The autopsy also states that Short was mistaken for Short. not and had never been pregnant, contrary to what had been Many true crime books claim that Short lived in or claimed prior to and following her death. visited Los Angeles at various times in the mid 1940s; these The Black Dahlia murder investigation was conducted claims have never been substantiated and are refuted by the by the LAPD. The case also enlisted the help of hundreds of findings of law enforcement officers who investigated the case. officers borrowed from other law enforcement agencies. Owing A document in the Los Angeles County district attorney's files to the nature of the crime, sensational and sometimes inaccurate titled "Movements of Elizabeth Short Prior to June 1, 1946" press coverage focused intense public attention on the case. states that Short was in Florida and Massachusetts from September 1943 through the early months of 1946 and gives a

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