Friday 6 February 2009

True Crime 1999

True Crime is a 1999 mystery drama film directed by Clint Eastwood, and based on Andrew Klavan's 1997 novel of the same name. Eastwood also stars in the film as a journalist covering the execution of a death row inmate, only to discover that the convict may actually be innocent.
Clint Eastwood plays Steve Everett, a journalist recovering from alcoholism, given the task of covering the execution of murderer Frank Beechum (played by Isaiah Washington). Everett discovers that Beechum might be innocent, but has only a few hours to prove his theory and save Beechum's life.
True Crime 1999 UK Quad poster rolled 30x40
True Crime 1999 3" x 5" Colour Transparency of Clean Artwork
True Crime 1999 U.S. Original 1 sheet poster rolled 27x41

True Crime 1999 Clint Eastwood Swedish Insert

True Crime 1999 DVD Clint Eastwood
True Crime 1999 film tie in novel of the Clint Eastwood movie
True Crime 1999 Full German lobby set x 4
True Crime 1999 Lobby set x 6 French
True Crime 1999 Original US Lobby set 14 x 11
True Crime 1999 Original Colour Slide featuring Clint behind the camera
True Crime 1999 10 x 8 Original Press Stills b/w x 29 + 1 colour
True Crime 1999 Rare Original RPK CD (Electronic Press Kit) from Germany
True Crime 1999 Rare unreleased complete score by Lennie Niehaus
True Crime 1999 Rare and hard to find CD single of Why Should I Care by Diana Krall
True Crime 1999 Rare Original Japanese mini poster, double sided, different on reverse
True Crime 1999 USA folder and full production notes
True Crime 1999 Very rare original 35MM cinema trailer
True Crime 1999 was released on Blu-ray in May 2016


Some True Crime material from around the world
Below: A Rare Japanese cinema ticket and Souvenir booklet from Japan

An original Interview from Australia
EASTWOOD, CLINT: True Crime
A WRECK OF A HERO

True Crime is Clint Eastwood’s 21st film as a director. It’s also his 41st starring role. So what was it that appealed to him about it, asks NICK RODDICK. 


Clint Eastwood has never been anyone's idea of a conventional hero. From his days as The Man With No Name through Dirty Harry and his Academy Award-nominated performance in Unforgiven, Eastwood has embodied the loner, the anti-hero, the flawed but powerful individual whose code of honour has, at its core, its own sense of honour. And audiences have never tired of watching that character in action. 


Now, in his 41st starring role and his 21st film as a director, Eastwood explores a new character - and one whose sense of honour is, at first, almost impossible to locate. Newspaperman Steve Everett is an alcoholic, an adulterer, an unreliable husband and father, an irresponsible driver and an all-around reprobate. But he's an outstanding reporter, and his nose for news is legendary. 


"I liked the lack of vanity of the character," says Eastwood. "He knows he’s a failure at most activities relating to normal human relationships, and he doesn’t try to pretend he’s better than he is. But he doesn’t let remorse or any other falseness distract from what he is good at, which is finding the truth in a story."
Everett is called upon to interview a Death Row inmate hours before his execution and begins researching the story and asking fresh questions, even though his assignment is a routine one. When the answers don't seem to add up, the veteran newsman takes to the streets, opening old doors - and old wounds - as he challenges every assumption made about the convict's guilt. And when he finally meets Frank Beachum (Isaiah Washington), the condemned man, only eight hours before he is scheduled to die by lethal injection, Everett becomes convinced that the subject of his story is innocent. 


The reporter races to unravel the long-closed case and save Beachum's life. But, throughout the tense exposition, his character remains what it was when we first met him - that of a wreck, just an arm's reach away from a drink or a woman, temporarily sorry for his transgressions but, in the long run, accepting of himself and all his flaws.
True Crime is adapted from Andrew Klavan’s novel by Larry Gross, Paul Brickman and Stephen Schiff. Originally, the story was set in St Louis, but Eastwood moved it to a setting he knows better and understands deeply - that of his home town, Oakland, California. "I liked the visual possibilities better with Oakland," explains the actor/director with typical understatement. "I know the area pretty well and I'm comfortable here."

"allowing things to happen on the screen."

As a film-maker and actor, Eastwood has been able to achieve a level of autonomy that few of his peers have reached. His Warner Bros-based production company, Malpaso Productions, develops only projects that Eastwood is interested in, and puts them into production with a minimum of fuss. Eastwood himself is free to choose the films he will direct and those in which he will star - and often does both with equal aplomb. Since his directing debut with Play Misty for Me in 1971, he has frequently set his stories in Northern California and incorporated into them the scenery, the jazz music and the hard-bitten, laconic characters that suit him. And he has done so with unabated success.
"What I try to do is show a lot of real time between people," he said while making The Bridges of Madison County, which earned Meryl Streep an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. "In movies today, whether because of our MTV mentality or whatever, we cut to the action and the chase. I try to be more in the Ford or Hawks tradition of allowing things to happen on the screen."
True Crime began shooting on May 21, 1998, 10 days before the director's 68th birthday. Joining Eastwood as producers were Richard Zanuck and Lili Fini Zanuck, who themselves had won Oscars for their Best Picture of 1990, Driving Miss Daisy. It is their first collaboration with the director, but most of the other behind-the-camera jobs were filled with regular Eastwood collaborators.

"I’ve been fortunate to have attracted a very talented group of collaborators"

"When I’m directing a picture," says Eastwood, "I like to work with my regular crew because it’s a much more efficient process. They understand me and I understand them and we can move along more smoothly than if I had to explain everything about my methods of working to a group of strangers. I've been fortunate to have attracted a very talented group of collaborators, so it’s always a pleasure to work with them."
But what was it that first drew Eastwood to this story. Well, it’s unvarnished reality, for a start. "True Crime," he says, "is a suspense thriller based on a wrong that was committed and must be discovered and quickly remedied by an unlikely person. Without those elements, you wouldn’t really have a story, so that’s why they’re in the movie. If it was impossible, it wouldn’t have any dramatic value, so there must be some chance that it could happen. Beyond that, I couldn't say."


Below: Some rare sheet music composed by Lennie Niehaus
Below: A Promotional baseball cap was also released in a limited supply
Below: Clint Eastwood poses with his then wife Dina, left, actress Frances Fisher, right, and Eastwood’s daughter Francesca at the premiere of his film True Crime Monday, March 15, 1999, on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, Calif. Fisher is also a cast member in the film, which Eastwood both directs and stars in.
 
 
Below: True Crime 2 page Japanese review

2 comments:

russel said...

Thanks for sharing

Clint's archive said...

Hey Russel, you are very welcome, appreciate you leaving a comment, come back anytime.
TCEA