This is before she had us.
Before she started drinking.
Who took care of you as a child?
Orphanage.
Me and Linda.
And that's your sister?
You know, we're not so different as you might think.
Yeah, I was abandoned repeatedly as a child.
My mama would drag me along to some new town...
so she could take up with another man she'd met.
Night after night, she'd lock me in the hotel room alone.
Mama would turn the latch and tell the staff not to let me out no matter what.
And I was terrified.
And I'd scream my head off...
until finally I'd collapse...
on the carpet next to the door and I'd fall asleep.
Then after years of this...
she just left me...
with relatives in Alabama.
Who raised you up?
My aunts.
And that's where I met Nelle.
And she lived next door.
Your mother was Indian?
Cherokee.
So drinking was not a good thing for her.
No tolerance for it.
We're on suicide watch.
That's why they leave the lights on at night.
I hope we're past that now.
I do.
'Cause he trusts me. I mean, that's why he gave it to me.
And he's given me absolutely everything.
And he wants so badly to be taken seriously...
to be held in some esteem.
Do you?
Do I what?
Do you hold him in esteem, Truman?
Well...
he's a gold mine.
And he's told me his entire life.
His dead mother.
He had a brother and a sister kill themselves.
Awful.
Did you tell him your mama did the same thing?
See, I can't tell him everything.
We've been talking our heads off for the past month.
And sometimes...
when I think how good my book can be, I can hardly breathe.
Anyway, this is what I wanted to read to you.
"If called upon to make a speech"...
"If called upon to make a speech"?
I mean, this is exactly what I'm talking about.
A speech, just in case he's ever recognized for an achievement.
"I can't remember what I was going to say for the life of me.
"I don't think ever before have so many people been so directly responsible...
"for my being so very, very glad.
"It's a wonderful moment and a rare one.
"Thank you!"
There's an exclamation point at the end of that "thank you"...
in case you didn't catch it.
Where'd you go?
I guess it stopped being funny.
I never said it was.
Wait, listen to this.
I was 14.
One day I said to her, "Mom's dead." I could see it.
A week later we got the news. She finally drunk herself...
Found her shivering...
She hit me so many times with that flashlight...
she broke it.
That night, I dreamed about that big yellow bird.
Clawed that nun's eyes, bright like the sun.
Lifted me to the sky.
Sometimes you see a thing how it really is.
Well, you're nothing if not hardworking.
Hey, you look good. Healthy again.
You know, I've decided on a title for my book.
I think you'll like it.
It's very masculine.
In Cold Blood.
Thank you.
It's as much for me as for anyone.
I couldn't bear the thought of losing you so soon.
We're gonna be able to use your book for our case.
You'll write we never got to raise an insanity plea.
You wrote how terrible the lawyers was.
I haven't written a word yet.
What have you been doing?
Research. Talking to you.
All right.
- I had hoped... - What are you calling it?
The book?
I have no idea.
Perry...
if I'm going to write about you...
if I'm going to determine how to write about you...
we need to talk about...
you know, why you're here.
You know, the murders...
and that night...
at the Clutter house.
Do you worry what I'll think?
Is that it?
Dick says you know Elizabeth Taylor.
I know a lot of people.
Perry, I have invitations to be in Morocco, Greece...
and I prefer to be here...
with you.
Jack, be patient with me.
I'm just missing this one piece.
Well, how long is that gonna take?
Why don't you just try leaving him alone for a while?
Come to Spain.
You can always visit him later.
I don't know.
Well, I'm off. I'm just... I've got my own writing to do.
Well, do it in Brooklyn. Wait for me.
There's too many people around. I've...
I'll leave the address on the kitchen table.
Well, think about what I said, and join me when you can.
I will.
- I will. - Okay?
Bye.
What?
Truman...
I've not been able to tear myself away from your book.
It's that good.
It's not good, it's astonishing.
- This first half is astonishing. - Oh, thank you.
When will you be done, do you think?
Yes, I'm already well into the third part.
But...
I can't finish that till I convince Perry to describe the night of the killings to me.
I was planning to visit this fall, see?
Then I think you need to talk to him now.
And we all need to see how this ends for the final part.
I can't finish the book till I know what happens.
If Perry and Dick are executed, it's one thing.
And if not, well...
Truman, you got your ending.
I really don't know.
The Kansas Court denied their appeal.
It came over the wire on Friday.
I mean, you need to talk to Perry now.
He'll be dead by September.
I mean, I'm sorry.
I know how much you've come to care about him.
Right. Yes, right.
So I want to set up a reading for you in the fall, in New York...
and, well, we'll build some interest, and we'll publish in the fall.
Thank God. There's nothing in the house.
Why aren't you working?
Well, I knew you couldn't be counted on to stock the kitchen.
What are we going to feed our famous guest?
Oh, Jesus, I completely forgot.
Plus, I finished my novel yesterday.
What?
When was the last time you wrote to him?
I don't know.
What's this?
It's a letter for Truman I was asked to deliver.
It's from Perry.
Let's have it.
"Dear friend Truman, where are you?
"Read this item in a medical dictionary.
"'Death by hanging is caused by asphyxia...
"'by fracture of the cervical vertebrae...
"'by laceration of the trachea.'
"Not too comforting, as we lost our appeal.
"Missing you.
"Alone and desirous of your presence.
"Your amigo, Perry."
Mr. Shawn told me about the court decision yesterday.
I was wondering why you were in such a good mood.
That's a terrible thing to say.
I write him all the time. I've just...
I've been so focused on the book lately.
What was he in jail for?
Well, they said it was for not paying his taxes...
but really, for being an outsider.
Refusing to go along.
Lowell, you're being moved.
- Why? - You're going to final holding.
No.
Come on, Lowell. Open the door.
Stand up.
- Put your arms behind your back. - Okay, last chance.
Get up.
Good evening, New Yorkers...
and thank you for coming to the first public reading...
the first offering of any kind...
of Truman Capote's new work, In Cold Blood.
Hello. My name is Truman Capote.
For this evening's program, I'm going to read some passages...
from the first three parts of my new book.
"The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas...
"a lonesome area that other Kansans call 'out there.'
"Until one morning in mid-November, 1959...
"few Americans, in fact, few Kansans, had ever heard of Holcomb.
"Like the waters of the Arkansas River...
"like the motorists on the highway...
"exceptional happenings never stopped there.
"Perry Smith's voice was both gentle and prim.
"A voice that, though soft...
"manufactured each sound exactly...
"ejected it like a smoke ring issuing from a parson's mouth.
"The four coffins, which quite filled the small, flower-crowded parlor...
"were to be sealed at the funeral services...
"very understandably...
"for the effect was disquieting.
"Nancy wore her dress of cherry-red velvet...
"her brother a bright plaid shirt.
"The parents were more sedately attired...
"Mr. Clutter in navy-blue flannel, his wife in navy-blue crepe.
"And it was this especially that lent the scene an awful aura...
And I slipped and I ripped a hole...
from the bottom of my scrotum...
all the way up to the top of the crack of my ass.
And I sat there.
And I didn't know it. All I felt was a...
I didn't know it. All I felt was a cool breeze, you know, between my...
Sorry. If I may...
Yes.
Your portrait of those men was terrifying.
Terrifying.
Thank you.
Stop that man! Come back here!
Dad!
Have any of you met my father?
He hasn't spanked me in years.
George didn't come backstage.
He had... He had a...
Something that his wife had to rush him off to.
- But he made a point of... - Well, I'm still waiting for a call.
It was beautiful. And everybody came. Everybody came.
Need to check your papers, sir.
This is what we've been waiting for.
A stay of execution to make a federal appeal.
All thanks to you.
Thank you!
They're not gonna corner me now. Not unless the U.S. Government says so.
Kansas has had it in for me for 10 years. They can't corner me now.
Hey, Perry, sit down...
for a minute.
I need you to talk to me.
We've got all the time in the world to talk.
I've been thinking about Ricardo.
You really need to stop sending him those trashy books.
I won't even mention the pornography.
Now, I realize that Dick probably can't grasp the literature that you gave me.
And the books you send him only...
They only exacerbate the problem.
They only heighten or intensify it.
Maybe we can get him started on a program.
Perry, I know what "exacerbate" means.
Okay, well, just thinking...
There's not a word or a sentence or a concept that you can illuminate for me.
There is one singular reason I keep coming here.
- Truman. - November 14, 1959.
Three years ago. Three years.
And that's all I want to hear from you.
Now I asked you not to. Ever.
This is absurd. Do you know what absurd means?
I'm ready. I have a plane to catch.
I found your sister in Tacoma.
Hello, handsome.
What's the name of your book?
I don't know what you're talking about.
"Truman Capote read last night before a packed audience...
"from his nonfiction book In Cold Blood."
"The true-crime novel tells of killers Richard Hickock...
"and Perry Smith...
"who brutally murdered a Kansas family three years ago."
- Wait, who sent that to you? - That's not your goddamn business.
It is my business, because it's not true.
The organizers of the reading needed a title.
They picked one, a sensational one, I admit...
to attract a crowd.
- They picked it? - Yes.
- It's not your title. - Perry, I haven't chosen one yet.
How could I choose a title when we still haven't talked about that night?
How could I? I couldn't possibly.
You pretended to be my friend.
I'm sorry.
I should have told you.
And I couldn't pretend to be your friend...
'cause the truth is, I can't help wanting to be.
There must be something wrong with us, to do what we did.
We heard there was $10,000 in that house.
Once we tied up everybody and searched all over...
I knew the guy that told us about it was wrong.
There was no money.
Dick wouldn't believe it...
so he went tearing through the house, banging on the walls...
looking for a safe.
When he was done...
he said he was gonna go up to Nancy's room and have his way with her.
I wouldn't allow it.
And I told him that.
So I sat with her.
Dick came up and got me.
We turned off the lights and went down to the basement...
where Mr. Clutter and the boy was.
He kept saying, "No witnesses"...
but I figured if I waited him out, he'd...
He'd give up and we'd leave them tied up there.
And we'd drive all night. They'd never find us.
We tied Mr. Clutter's wrists to a pipe over his head.
And he looked hurt, so I cut him down.
I put a box out there so he'd be more comfortable.
He asked how his wife and daughter was and I said they were fine...
and they were getting ready for sleep, and it wouldn't be long...
till morning when they'd find him.
He was just looking at me.
Looking into my eyes.
Like he expected me to kill him.
Like he expected me to be the kind of person who would kill him.
I was thinking, "This nice man is scared of me."
I was so ashamed.
I mean, I thought he was a very nice...
gentle man.
And I thought so right up till I slit his throat.
I didn't know what I did till I heard the sound.
I mean, the truth is, I'm desperate to be done with it.
I've spent four years of my life on this book.
They got a stay of execution yesterday.
Another, yes.
Supreme Court.
It's harrowing.
You know, at least for Nelle...
you should try and pretend you're having a good time tonight.
I thought I'd find you here.
Oh, Nelle.
Thank you.
I'll have another, please.
- How are you? - Terrible.
I'm sorry to hear that.
I mean, it's torture the way...
What they're doing to me.
And now it's the Supreme Court.
And can you believe it?
If they win this appeal...
I will...
have a complete nervous breakdown.
I may never recover...
and I'll just pray that it turns my way.
- It must be difficult. - It's torture.
Hello.
- Mr. Truman Capote? - Yeah.
I have a call from Mr. Perry Smith in the Kansas Correctional System.
Will you accept charges?
Yes.
Mr. Smith, you're on the line.
Hello.
Hello?
Hello, Perry.
They let me make a couple of phone calls before I go down to holding.
You heard the Supreme Court rejected the appeal?
No, I didn't. I hadn't heard that.
Yeah.
I'm sorry.
Yeah. They let me make two phone calls.
We got a date set for the warehouse, Dick and me.
Two weeks and finito.
April 14.
Will you visit me?
Truman?
It's him again.
It is utterly inappropriate for me to talk to him.
Yes?
I'm sorry, he won't be able to make it.
- Hello? - Mr. Shawn, it's Nelle.
I just got this telegram. Has he seen it?
He won't read it.
- Would you put him on, please? - Nelle, he won't talk.
Mr. Shawn, if you have to hold him down and put the phone on his ear...
I need to speak to him.
All right.
Well, I didn't expect to see you again.
You can visit for a few minutes.
- Yeah. - No.
Five minutes.
Well, well.
He returns.
I don't know what you must think of me.
Well, you haven't been foremost on my mind lately...
as you can probably imagine.
You got the letter?
Yes, I did.
It's true. I understand why you didn't want to come.
I wouldn't be here either if I didn't have to.
You got that right.
You know Ricardo donated his eyes to science?
Next week, some blind man will be seeing what Dick used to see.
Yeah, you could be walking in Denver or somewhere, Truman...
and suddenly these eyes will be staring at you.
That would be something, wouldn't it?
It would be. It would be.
You'll be watching?
I don't know, I'll be...
Do you want me to?
I'd like to have a friend there.
Okay. Then I will.
It's all right.
I did everything I could.
It's okay.
Nice to see you.
Perry Edward Smith.
For the crime of murder in the first degree, by order of the Court of Finney County...
and the Supreme Court of the sovereign state of Kansas...
you are sentenced to hang until you die.
"I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.
"Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me."
You can say something if you want.
Is there anybody from the family here?
No, Perry.
Well, tell them...
I can't remember what I was gonna say for the life of me.
Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
It was a terrible experience...
and I will never get over it.
They're dead, Truman. You're alive.
And there wasn't anything I could have done to save them.
Maybe not...
but, the fact is, you didn't want to.