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TRUE CRIME Send This Review to a Friend
Without sacrificing his man-of-action image, Clint Eastwood has taken a serious if melodramatic swipe at capital punishment with "True Crime," which he directed from a screenplay by Larry Gross, Paul Brickman and Stephen Schiff, based on a novel by Andrew Klavan. Eastwood also stars as Steve Everett, a reporter who has hit bottom in his professional and personal life but is getting a last chance in Oakland, California. His instincts tell him that a condemned man about to be to killed by lethal injection didn't commit the murder for which he was convicted.
It's a race against the clock. Everett interviews the quietly desperate prisoner, played imposingly with inner intensity by Isaiah Washington, then frantically searches for evidence that can stop the execution. The San Quentin prison scenes as the warden gears up the death ritual are downright harrowing, a chilling reminder of how repulsive it is when the state takes a human life, apart from the pressing issue of killing the wrong man.
The script is much too pat; nearly everything occurs within a day as the clock ticks ominously toward the deadline, and the ending itself, apart from the facile plot resolution, is cutely contrived. There's also the excess clutter of the domestic squabbles between the reporter and his wife (Diane Venora), although the scenes with their young daughter (played by Eastwood's own daughter Francesca), are meant to underscore Evertt's desire to be a good father and the conflict between his domestic obligations and the pressure of his work.
The Oakland Tribune newsroom crackles with smart-assed dialogue between Evertt and the editor in chief, colorfully and profanely played by James Woods, and the mounting tension between Everett and his city editor (Denis Leary), with whose wife he has been having an affair. You have to hand it to Eastwood, who apparently still enjoys putting himself into scenes with attractive, younger women. When Clint is stripped to the waist and looks in the mirror, the upper body he sees shows the wear of age. But his charisma remains as strong as ever, and there's no reason to believe younger women wouldn't fall for the guy.
Eastwood films haven't fared well at the box office when they don't present him as an action hero. In this case he combines a social conscience with his macho image, car chase and all. Despite its imperfections, "True Crime" is a well-intentioned attention-grabber. A Warner Bros. release.
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