In
1981, United Artists released True
Confessions, a Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler production directed by Ulu
Grosbard. Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall star in the movie. It is about faith,
hope, repentance and salvation. It is also about greed, corruption, pornography
and murder.
The
setting is Los Angeles of 1948. This is the City of Angels as conceived by John
Gregory Dunne in his superb 1977 novel of the same title. Dunne was an
accomplished novelist as well as a literary critic and a notable writer of
non-fiction; his 1998 book, Monster:
Living Off the Big Screen, is an invaluable account of the trials and
tribulations of writing a screenplay in Hollywood. True Confessions is certainly his best novel and, together with
Joan Didion (aka Mrs. Dunne), he adapted it to the screen. Didion was an
equally fine novelist and was also known for her acerbic essays on California
culture; in 1972, Didion and Dunne wrote the screenplay for Didion’s acclaimed
1970 novel Play It as It Lays. The
screenplay for True Confessions naturally
condenses the novel, which was 341 pages in its first edition, and eliminates
many incidents as well as characters. Nevertheless, the movie still fully captures
the essence of the novel. Actually, the screenplay improves upon the novel in
one respect, possibly due to Didion’s involvement. Dunne seems to have written the
novel in part as a form of therapy regarding his Irish-Catholic upbringing; by
the novel’s midpoint, many of the characters seem to blend together as
hopeless, cynical sinners. The movie is less critical of its main characters
without softening the impact of the narrative. Significantly, the movie still
captures Dunne’s insightful portrait of post-war Los Angeles. This is a city in
which moral and spiritual decay flourish. And it is a city in which the
excessively brutal murder of a young woman symbolizes the depravity that
permeates every facet of its superficially glittering façade.
The
film, like the novel, uses the factual Black Dahlia murder case of 1947 as a catalyst
for the plot but it is primarily the story of the two Spellacy brothers and how
their relationship becomes entwined with the murder of the woman whom the press
calls “the virgin tramp.” Monsignor Desmond Spellacy (Robert De Niro) is an
ambitious priest in the Catholic Church who hopes to rise someday to the position
of cardinal even if it means neglecting his sacred vows. Detective Sergeant Tom
Spellacy (Robert Duvall) is an embittered detective in the Los Angeles Police Department
who is disgusted by the pervasive corruption and by the fact that he was once a
part of it. Both Des and Tom are dealing with guilt which accounts in part for
their strained relationship. Des has perhaps been repressing his guilt but as
the story progresses it will come to the surface and he will have to confront it.
Tom has lived with his guilt since he was a young vice cop and now sees an
opportunity to expiate it. When the dissected body of Lois Fazenda is found in
a vacant lot, it sets into motion a series of events that will involve both Tom
and Des. Tom is in charge of investigating the murder while Des has a
peripheral connection to the victim. Neither Tom nor Des initially realize it
but the murder will propel them on a collision course.
This
is a complex film and, as the story unfolds, it expands to include the
compromises that individuals in the Los Angeles Police Department and in the Catholic
Church must make to exist in a morally corrupt environment. Representative of
this corruption is Jack Amsterdam (Charles Durning), a wealthy construction magnate
and a respected member of the Catholic populace. Amsterdam also has a
disreputable past of which both Tom and Des are aware. Nevertheless, Des has a
history of awarding contracts for building projects within the diocese to Amsterdam
in return for financial savings for the Church. It infuriates Tom that Des
disregards Amsterdam’s unsavory past because of his wealth. However, Tom
doesn’t know that Des is on the verge of terminating the Church’s association
with Amsterdam. Des hopes to soften the jolt by awarding Amsterdam with a
ceremony honoring him as Catholic Layman of the Year. Meanwhile, Tom’s investigation
takes a surprising turn when Amsterdam’s name appears among the victim’s
acquaintances. This increases his determination to solve the crime, regardless
of how it may involve his brother.
Ulu
Grosbard initially achieved fame as a Broadway theater director. He received
two Tony nominations for Best Direction, in 1965 for Frank Gilroy’s The Subject Was Roses and in 1977 for
David Mamet’s American Buffalo. Regarding
his film career, some critics accused him of lacking an individual style as
well as an artistic approach to the medium of film that would distinguish his
movies. This may be due in part to the fact that, though his film career
spanned three decades, he only directed seven movies (compared to eight
Broadway plays), all of which are different in style and genre. He began his Hollywood
career as an assistant director in the early 1960s. His first directorial
credit was the film version of The
Subject Was Roses (1968), which proved that he was equally adept with film
as he was with the stage. He followed this with an interesting but pretentious
misfire, Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is
He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971). However, his third film, Straight Time (1978), is another
underrated gem. True Confessions followed
and is undoubtedly his best film. He followed this with a modest romantic drama,
Falling in Love (1984), also with De
Niro.
Grosbard
distinctly demonstrates cinematic expertise with True Confessions. He imbues the moviewith a neo-noir atmosphere, though this may not be initially
apparent from the film’s beginning. The movie opens in 1962 as the elderly
Spellacy brothers reunite in a dilapidated church in the desert in Palm
Springs. This will lead to the flashback to 1948 and the main narrative which
begins with a wedding in an opulent church in Los Angeles. The stark difference
between the rundown church in the desert and the multi-million dollar cathedral
is readily apparent. Equally apparent is the difference between the humble
appearance of the elderly desert priest and the luxuriously attired young city
ecclesiastic, especially since they are the same person. The reason for this
transformation, which the public and the press labeled his disgraceful
downfall, is the heart of the story that follows.
Grosbard
directs the film in a restrained manner, excluding any flamboyance which might
distract from his emphasis on the characterizations of Des and Tom Spellacy. His
direction includes several memorable sequences. The restaurant scene begins
with Tom’s amusing response to an uppity maitre’d and ends with his angry
confrontation with Amsterdam in front of an embarrassed Des. The Catholic
Layman Award ceremony simmers with suppressed tension and climaxes with an even
more violent altercation between Tom and Amsterdam. The confessional scene in
which both Amsterdam and Tom furiously and unjustly lash out at Des instead of
one another bristles with unbounded rage while eliciting sympathy for the
beleaguered monsignor. And there are some quieter scenes which are notable for
their sensitivity to the characters. The diner scene in which Desmond tries to express
to Tom his regret for the course of his life reveals the latent tenderness
between the brothers, an emotion which both are unable to express. The
abandoned military base in which Tom discovers the sight of the murder is
shocking in its underlying anguish for the savagely-murdered victim. Even more
sorrowful is the scene in which Tom tries to console Lois Fazenda’s parents as
they remember her innocent childhood full of hopes and dreams. Through scenes
such as these, Grosbard gradually builds the emotional content of the story as
well as the tension until the explosive penultimate scene outside the
courthouse. The director received some criticism for the brevity of this scene,
for not showing Amsterdam’s comeuppance and for not filming a more dynamic
solution to the murder. But this would have distracted from his main theme
which is why he returns to the desert church for the highly poignant finale.
The
incisive screenplay by Dunne and Didion contains striking character portraits, all
of whom breathe realism due to the convincing dialogue as well as the skill of
the performers. They include Brenda Samuels (Rose Gregario, aka Mrs. Grosbard),
a downtrodden madam who was once close to Tom and whose fate will spur him to
take decisive action; by her manner and tone, Gregario conveys the impression
that Brenda has been totally crushed by the system and is merely existing. Father
Seamus Fargo (Burgess Meredith) is a traditional priest who has not forgotten
the meaning of his vows and is punished for his morality; though the use of his
garden shears, Meredith indicates the fury of the injustice perpetrated upon
him. Tom Campion (Ed Flanders), Amsterdam’s lawyer, was one of Lois’s
acquaintances and is frightened of exposure and humiliation; Flanders combines
mock shame with veiled threats that expose Campion as a blatant hypocrite. Tom’s
partner, Detective Frank Crotty (Kenneth McMillan), is slightly unethical but
still has scruples that Tom may lack; McMillan amusingly reveals a trace of pleasure
in Crotty’s acceptance of trivial bribes. Cardinal Danaher (Cyril Cusack) has
risen to the top of his diocese by being publicly devout; beneath his
piousness, Cusack’s disdainful attitude discloses Danaher’s embracement of
power within the Catholic community. There are also brief vignettes which contribute
to the film’s impact. Jeanette Nolan appears in one scene as Des and Tom’s
bedridden mother but she is compelling; Mrs. Spellacy is somewhat confused but
her attitude toward both brothers explains in part their tense relationship. Tom
Hill and Gwen Van Dam provide heart-rending portrayals of Mr. and Mrs. Fazenda;
from their demeanor, it is obvious that Lois’s mother and father will return
home and never smile again.
However,
two performances dominate the movie. Robert De Niro provides an introspective portrayal
of Monsignor Desmond Spellacy. It is perhaps at the opposite extreme of the
role he portrayed immediately prior to this one, as Jake LaMotta in Martin
Scorsese’s Raging Bull (which was
also a Chartoff-Winkler Production for United Artists). To prepare for his role
as Des Spellacy, he studied the ritual of the Catholic Mass along with the
substance and symbolism of the Church’s canon under the film’s religious technical
advisor. As Father Spellacy, he suggests that, though he appears content on the
surface, he is beginning to have difficulty controlling his emotions amidst the
surrounding passions of varying intensity. As the story progresses, his
expressions imply an emergent internal conflict between his religious and
political roles as he maneuvers through the complexities of shady business
dealings and the financial needs of the diocese. De Niro also seems to have
studied the bearing of priests since he walks and gestures in a clerical manner
while also modifying the pattern of his speech to sound like an Irish-American.
The result is an extremely believable portrayal of a man who is undergoing a
reconsideration of his entire life. Indicative of this is his vacant expression
as he returns to his modest room from playing golf and ritualistically goes
through the motions of preparing for bed. And there is his reserved anger as
Campion confesses his sexual impropriety with Lois. More sorrowful is his
expression of depressed resignation in the confessional, an indication that he
accepts his inevitable fate. Because it
is so uncharacteristic and quite literally soul-searching, this is one of De
Niro’s most unappreciated but nonetheless superb performances.
Robert
Duvall also excels as Sergeant Tom Spellacy. Duvall had previously worked with
Ulu Grosbard in the 1962 Off-Broadway play by William Snyder, The Days and Nights of Beebee Fenstermaker
(which also starred Rose Gregario). They also collaborated on the 1966
Off-Broadway production of Arthur Miller’s A
View from the Bridge and on the 1977 Broadway production of American Buffalo (which also starred Kenneth
McMillan). To prepare for his role as Sergeant Tom Spellacy, Duvall spent time
with Los Angeles homicide detectives but he conveys the awareness that Tom’s
role as a brother is increasingly conflicting with his role as a cop. Through
his expression and tone, he transmits Tom’s bottled-up anger, his
dissatisfaction with his life, his conflicting emotions toward Des and his contempt
for any offender of the law which includes himself. He suggests a veiled
resentment when he meets Des in his luxurious office suite as well as a hint of
pleasure when he gives the rosary of the priest who died in the brothel to Des.
When he is with Brenda, his displays muted affection and pity tinged with the
knowledge that he is partially responsible for her pitiful plight. He perfectly
captures Tom’s resentment of Amsterdam; in the restaurant scene, he expresses his
anger with a minimal change of expression except for an occasional sharp glance
as his rage steadily escalates from simmering to smoldering. As his
investigation increasingly implicates Amsterdam, Duvall exposes Tom’s intensifying
hatred which eventually explodes in an outburst of frenzy. And yet after he
achieves his objective his remorse for his brother’s destiny is evident. Duvall
splendidly displays all of these emotions in one of his most complex and
full-dimensional portrayals.
Charles
Durning perhaps come as close as possible to stealing the movie from De Niro
and Duvall, not an easy accomplishment by any means. His portrayal of Jack Amsterdam
is outstanding, fully capturing his character’s powerful position as well as
the depravity that underlies that position. Durning utilizes his large,
imposing physical presence so effectively to exhibit his power that Amsterdam looks threatening even when he is dancing the Irish jig. His rapid change of
expression from sociability to intimidation when Tom insults him signifies that
the brute who once exploited prostitutes is still underneath his civilized
façade. His narrowing of his eyes when Des informs him that the Church may not
award him a contract to build a school in his new housing development signifies
the danger that he presents to anyone who crosses him. The unmitigated fury
that he unleashes at the award ceremony shows that he could easily kill Tom
with his bare hands if not for the men holding him back. But it is ironically
in the confessional booth that Durning totally shows Amsterdam’s degeneracy with
not only his furious facial expressions and menacing tone but with the intermittent
wracking cough that seems to symbolize the moral and physical malignancy
within. Durning makes Amsterdam such a morally dissolute character that he
casts a malevolent spell over the entire film.
Lynzee
Klingman’s editing keeps the story moving along at a steady pace with every
scene, every line of dialogue and every meaningful pause adding substance to the
story. Credit should also be given to Production Designer Stephen S. Grimes,
Set Decorator Marvin March and Art Director Stewart Campbell for realistically
recreating Los Angeles of the late Forties with all of its superficial glitter
and sheltered filth intact. Owen Roizman’s cinematography captures the
near-purity of the Mojave Desert which contrasts with the seedy and unromantic appearance
of post-war Los Angeles. The vacant, garbage-strewn lot in which Lois Fazenda’s
mutilated body has been discarded symbolizes the fate of the poetry-writing
young girl from the Midwest who went to Hollywood to become a movie star but
descended into prostitution and pornography.
Also
deserving of mention is George Delereu’s haunting score. Delereu’s themes for True Confessions occasionally may seem
incongruous to the visuals on screen until it becomes clear that the composer
is reflecting the inner emotions of the characters, particularly Des and Tom
Spellacy. The recurring sounds of woodwind instruments employing religious
themes and chorales associated with Catholic masses enhances the spiritual
qualities underlying even some of the more sordid features of the story. The
score includes a beautiful Irish-flavored theme for Des and Tom that expresses
the requisite mood of sadness and regret that underlies their relationship. Concurrent
with the release of the movie, Varese Sarabande issued a soundtrack LP
conducted by Delereu; sides one and two are entitled “Suite for Chorus and
Orchestra, Parts One and Two, with Choral Selections (traditional) arranged by
the composer.” In 2005, Varese Sarabande released a limited edition CD of the
soundtrack with a totally different track listing.
True Confessions was a box-office
disappointment. Mystery fans expecting a detective story may have been frustrated
by the film’s focus on characterization rather than detection. Religious
patrons may have been turned off by the story’s sexual aspects as well as its
implied violence. Negative reviews from some critics may have also affected the
movie’s commercial potential. For instance, Roger Ebert in The Chicago Sun-Times wrote: “It’s frustrating to sit through a
movie filled with clues only to discover at the end that the filmmakers can’t
be bothered with finishing the story.” Gary Arnold in The Washington Post wrote: “It seems unsporting for Dunne to
confront us with a shocking murder and then flub the identity of the killer, a
character that has no bearing on the disposition of the story.” Such reviewers
obviously missed the point of the movie. Other critics were more perceptive.
Jack Kroll of Newsweek wrote that the
movie is: “a tough, tense blend of the whodunnit and the morality play; De Niro
and Duvall develop a complex and riveting relationship that is one of the most
brilliant brother acts in screen history.” Vincent Canby also understood the
aspirations of the filmmakers. In The New
York Times, Canby called True
Confessions: “one of the most entertaining, most intelligent and most
thoroughly satisfying commercial American films in a very long time.” He added:
“Mr. De Niro and Mr. Duvall are at the peak of their talents here; they work so
beautifully together it sometimes seems like a single performance, two sides of
the same complex character.” Nevertheless, members of the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences failed to recognize the many virtues of the film
which didn’t receive a single Academy Award nomination though many of the
participants in front of and behind the camera were deserving. At least the New York Film Critics Circle nominated
Duvall for Best Actor. Also, De Niro and Duvall shared the Golden Phoenix Best
Actor Award at The Venice Film Festival
while Duvall won the Pasinetti Award for Best Actor. And Grosbard received a
Golden Lion nomination for his direction.
True Confessions is an exceptional
movie. It is admittedly difficult to watch at times, particularly the scene involving
the bathtub which reveals the existence of absolute evil in the world. And yet
the evil co-exists with goodness. Des and Tom Spellacy are basically good
people but they have human failings. They are both struggling to find meaning
in their lives. They achieve this but at great expense.
(The film is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. Click here to order the DVD.)