Review of True Confessions

Introduction

True Confessions, made back in 1981, is the story about two brothers separated by vocations yet kept together by blood. Teaming up Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall for their second and only other time together after The Godfather Part II is the main selling point of this movie: rarely in the 70’s-80’s era did either of these screen giants put in a performance not memorable for its intensity.

Tom Spellacy (played by Duvall) is a streetwise homicide detective, beaten down over the years from his undoubtedly genuine concern for justice, into a cop content to take backhanders and bend the law to get his own way. His brother, Father Desmond Spellacy (De Niro) is his moral opposite: a pillar of his community, the apple of their mother’s eye, and now rising fast in the Catholic Church due to his flair for fundraising. But when Tom’s investigation of the murder of a prostitute leads to a local businessman, a benefactor of the Church and one of Desmond’s close acquaintances, he faces a difficult decision whether to turn a blind eye or to risk his brother’s reputation and lifestyle in the pursuit of justice. Desmond faces an equally tough decision: can he admit to himself in the face of God that he is not as pure as it seems, that he has been tainted by the corrupt morality of an increasingly business-like Church, and gain redemption?

Video

Thankfully the picture here is in pretty good shape: I’ve seen this film on TV and the picture was truly terrible. Although made over 20yrs ago now, the print is in decent condition, with few specks and only a small amount of grain. The level of detail is high throughout, and although there are pretty obvious signs of edge enhancement the picture is good enough to warrant a strong ‘7’ rating.

Audio

The mono soundtrack is just how you would expect: clear dialogue, but obviously no surround effects. But, since True Confessions is virtually entirely dialogue-based, this is not missed much here.

Features

The only extra is - you guessed it - the original theatrical trailer.

Conclusion

As films go, True Confessions is ‘pretty good’: a judgement that a lot of films (see The Score, Wag The Dog) seem to receive when the expectation that its heavyweight cast creates outstrips the value of the finished product. Nevertheless, De Niro and Duvall are superb on screen, creating undoubted chemistry between their two complex characters; yet the screenplay is never quite as polished as the acting, and the film noir plot premise turns a little pedestrian and predictable halfway through. The DVD doesn’t have much to offer over the video or even TV versions: True Confessions is a film worth watching, but not worth buying unless picked up on the cheap.