True Confessions Reviews

Underrated at the time of release, TRUE CONFESSIONS is a fascinating film that exposes the dark underside of the Catholic Church and fixes it firmly in the seedy, corrupt world of film noir. The first on-screen teaming of De Niro and Duvall (they appeared in GODFATHER II but never in the same scene), the film is largely set in Los Angeles in the 1940s. Tom Spellacy (Duvall) is a hard-boiled homicide detective whose investigation of the grisly murder of a porno starlet leads him to believe that his brother Des (De Niro), an ambitious Catholic monsignor, is involved with corrupt local businessman Jack Amsterdam (Durning)--Spellacy's chief suspect. Adapted by the husband-and-wife team of Dunne and Didion from Dunne's fine novel, all of the characters in TRUE CONFESSIONS are corrupt to the core. The period detail is letter-perfect, the cast is uniformly excellent, and Delerue's score is haunting and evocative. TRUE CONFESSIONS is a thoughtful but deeply disturbing film, and its frank portrayal of corruption and murder makes it for adults only.