Compulsion (1959)

Wow, this is a REALLY bad movie!

Simply Perfect

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Watching this nearly 50 years after it was made, it is perhaps not surprising that the film is filled with stale ideas that have been used a million times since. The out-spoken, outlandish defence lawyer with a seemingly water- tight case against his clients. The culprits that you are made to love and hate at the same time - even down to the hot, stuffy court room. You have seen it all before and done better. As others has mentioned, Dean Stockwell turns in the best performance in the film (although that's not saying much) Welles plays the role that made him famous, but here he does so without much effort or, it seems, interest; just going through his tried and tested routine. All other characters inspire no real interest or sympathy from the audience. All in all, it misses the key drama points that would have made for a much sharper, compelling and gritty film even in the late 50s when it was made.

(Flash Review)Based on a true story from 1924, two young and cocky men thought they were so smart that they were above the law. And that they could commit whatever crime they felt and make a game of outsmarting the police and detectives. They felt it would be a unique intellectual experience to act out a crime. They do, now will they get away with it? Will their intellectual minds get the high and rush they are looking for? How will they outsmart everyone? Interesting story with good dialog and character development. Orson Welles plays a great character as well as directs this picture. This is a lesser known and solid Welles film.

***SPOILERS*** Highly fictionalized version, in order to protect the guilty, of what was then in 1924 called the "Crime of the Century" as the notorious L & L Boys Leopold & Loeb kidnapped and murdered 14 year old Bobby Franks for no other reason then to see if they can get away with it. That's to prove their superiority over the rest of the human race that they seemed to have total disdain for. Here we have what they call themselves Nietzshche style "Ubermenschen" or Supermen the spoiled and snotty Judd Steiner & Artie Strauss, Dean Stockwell & Bradford Dillman, in their hair brain plan and execution of the the perfect crime that they screwed up so badly, in not covering their tracks, that they were caught almost overnight and faced execution themselves.We never get to see the "Boys" or "Boychicks" in Yiddish going into action in their brutal kidnap and murder of little Paulie Kessler-The Bobby Franks character- but we do see them make, despite their super high intelligence, complete fools of themselves in murdering him. That in getting caught so easily by the Chicago Police in that even a 70 IQ moron would have done a better job and could have gotten away with it. It's the mosey and creepy looking Judd known as the "Birdman" or "Bird Watcher" who left all the clues, his glasses, that the police needed to catch and convict him and his boyfriend or master, Judd played the part of the slave, Artie-Known as "Crazy Artie" to his friends & family- of 1st degree murder. With defense attorney Jonathan Wilk, Orson Wells, taking on the case Pro Bono to defend the two spoiled and murderous brats he plans to use an insanity defense to get them off the hook or the hangman's rope by avoiding a jury trial that he felt he had no hope of winning. Wilk throws them at the mercy of the court or judge played by Voltaire Perkins, of divorce court fame, knowing that no jury will ever find the two of them innocent of their hideous crimes and vote for the death penalty after less then five minutes of deliberation!***SPOILERS**** Being an open and shut case right from the beginning in that the "Boys" willfully admitted and even boasted about their crimes it was now up to their lawyer Jonathan Wilk to throw a monkey wrench into the wheels of justice to get them off from at least being strung up by their scrawny necks. Pulling a ace out of his sleeve Wilk choose a bench not jury trail feeling that by putting pressure on the judge Voltire Perkins to send to "Boys" to the gallows he's got a far better chance then with a jury that like the entire city of Chicago is out for their blood. The insanity defense that Wilk used was really, in my opinion, nothing but grandstanding on his part to make the public think that the "Boys" had no idea, despite their over 180 IQ's, what they were doing and saw nothing wrong in it. It was really putting Judge Perkins on the spot or hot seat in him , being against the death penalty and opting to let the jury do it for him, being the one who'll end up sending the "Boys"-Judd & Artie-to their death that seemed to have done the trick in saving their lives.

I was mostly going through a youtube movie streak when I ran into this gem. The movie seems to be broken up into two parts, the first is an exploration of the motives and guilt of the two main characters who have committed an atrocity. Oddly enough for the horrific characters that they are, I found that I was not outright rooting for their fall which is quite an achievement in my eyes. Regardless, this part of the film is interesting in terms of character motifs but perhaps a little too linear in its uncovering.The second part of the film is when their lawyer, Orson Welles comes in to defend them. At first it seems very odd and bureaucratic as a procedure but ultimately pays off with a quite raw and dramatic court room scene at the end of the film which is probably the most powerful part of the movie.Regardless of how good the movie is, I would recommend this film just because of its structure, even though there is less of an emotional impact this way, I feel like it achieves something else. Instead of focusing on pulling us to identify or feel their sorrow we are invited to think critically about the paradoxical nature of the death penalty.