In Cold Blood- The Complete Miniseries

1 2 At the end of the 1950s, in a more innocent America, the brutal, meaningless slaying of a midwestern family horrified the nation. So compelling was our grim fascination with the crime that the nation devoured Truman Capote’s hauntingly detailed, psychologically penetrating nonfiction novel about it. While in prison, Dick Hickock, 20, hears a cellmate’s story about $10,000 in cash kept in a home safe by a prosperous rancher. When he’s paroled, Dick persuades ex-con Perry Smith, also 20, to join him in going after the stash. In November 1959, Dick and Perry break into the Holcomb, Kansas house of Herb Clutter. Enraged at finding no safe, they wake the sleeping family and brutally kill them all–the rancher, his wife, and their teenage son and daughter. The bodies are found by two family friends who come by before Sunday church. The murders shock the small town, where doors were routinely left unlocked. Detective Alvin Dewey of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation heads the case, but there are no clues, no apparent motive and no suspects. When their money runs out, they return to the States, pass more bogus checks and steal a car. The break in the case comes in a tip from Floyd Wells, Dick’s former cellmate, who has heard a radio broadcast about the murders and hopes for parole and a reward. Dewey, pressing his relentless hunt, catches up with Dick and Perry in Las Vegas. Dick blames his accomplice, but Perry’s confession details events the night of the murders. Psychological evaluation describes Perry’s tragic childhood of alienation and abuse, and Dick’s history of anti-social behavior. Both are convicted and sentenced to die. Dick studies law books and pursues an appeal without success. Five years later, with Detective Dewey and his team as witnesses, the killers are executed.