The Capote Tapes

Greetings again from the darkness. The audio tapes of interviews George Plimpton conducted for his 1997 biography, "Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Distractors Recall his Turbulent Career", serve as the foundation for this documentary by Ebs Burnough, once a Senior Advisor to former First Lady, Michelle Obama. As fascinating as the tapes are, it's the archival footage, photographs, and additional on-camera interviews that turn this into a well-rounded profile of the enigmatic Truman Capote.

We hear those who knew him describe Capote as seductive, a freak, sleazy, brilliant, fun, and naughty. He's also the author of two literary classics, "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1958) and "In Cold Blood" (1966). It's the latter which some claim kicked off the celebrity culture (the one that's out of control today), as Capote capitalized on his fame and high society standing to become bigger than the work (insert Norma Desmond line here). Burnough uses the long-standing rumors of Capote's scandalous manuscript, "Answered Prayers" as the structure of his story-telling. For more than 10 years, Capote teased with his anticipated answer to Proust's "In Search of Lost Times". The closest it came to publication was a couple of chapters in Esquire Magazine in 1975. We hear this described as "excerpts of a novel that doesn't exist".

Whether the manuscript exists or not, has little bearing on Burnough's ability to help us understand Capote. Those providing insight include author Jay McInerney ("Bright Lights, Big City, 1984), Capote's long-time partner Jack Dunphy, Pulitzer Prize winning author Norman Mailer (claims Capote "wrote the best sentences"), and Kate Harrington, Capote's adopted daughter (he had a relationship with her father). Ms. Harrington's recollections are quite personal and add a welcome dimension to an otherwise focus on celebrity.

The segment on Capote's 1966 "Black and White" ball at New York's swanky Plaza Hotel is likely the best snapshot of how many remember him. The guest list was truly a who's who among New York high society, intellects, celebrities, and even royalty. By this time, we've learned of Capote's "Swans" - the beautiful and elegant society ladies who constantly escorted him in public. Of course, gay life in those days was quite a bit more challenging, so appearances were crucial.

CAPOTE (2005) with Philip Seymour Hoffman and INFAMOUS (2006) with Toby Jones, stand as the main cinematic depictions of Truman Capote for younger generations. For those of us a bit older, we vividly recall the talk show appearances by this funny little man with the baby voice and effeminate mannerisms. He was an oddity to most of us, in that he looked and sounded quite different, but it was clear he was intelligent and funny. What we didn't know was that drugs, alcohol, and self-absorption were slowly killing him. Capote became a caricature of himself, and by the end in 1984 at age 59 had betrayed many of his friends. Burnough's documentary is all we hoped it would be.

Opens in New York and Los Angeles theaters on September 10, 2021.

While I enjoyed Capote's writing I never cared much for Capote that i got to know through his many talk show interviews i saw all through my childhood. Yes, he was talented but didn't strike me as someone I'd like to get to know. The one day on the recommendation of a friend I read Gerald Clarke's biography of Capote. For someone that I wasn't all that interested in, tremendous credit and praise must go to Clarke's book. It is so thoroughly researched and well-written that I could not put it down. And, I found Truman Capote's life story very, very interesting. This film is only 90 minutes and as such there is a lot that is not addressed and much is addressed only topically. He was a complicated man with a few complicated relationships. We don't really get a deep dive into the man but for those that are curious this is an interesting introduction worth checking out.

I remember wanting to see this in the cinema because it looked interesting. It is. You can watch it on Hulu. Lots of interesting interviews, vintage film footage of New York City, and of course, Truman who was a force...until he sunk into alcohol and pills. "Truman wrote the best sentences," said Norman Mailer (high praise and unexpected) and "No one carried the stress and the weight of what must have been a heavy burden just being him," said Norman Mailer when they went into a dark New York City bar one afternoon in the early 1960s and every head turned to watch Truman walk to the back and sit at a table. Mailer said he was tense from exhaustion from the adrenaline rush he was feeling waiting for a brawl, but the altercation never came. The men in the bar left them alone.

Capote was a great writer and a great personality. He may have been foolish at times but he was never stupid. He was able to keep his work life separate from his party life, until he couldn't. The crash came fast and hard and we were witness to it as Capote continued the talk show circuit longer than he should have. Those who wanted to save him couldn't rescue him from himself. But before Truman was lost, he was on top of the world. New York City was/is the pinnacle. No one cares where you were born, where you went to school, they care about what you do, who you are. You can be the richest man in DesMoines but its not worth a damn. Nobody understood this better than Truman Capote. His beginnings were crushing, would have destroyed anyone, anyone but Truman. It's interesting hearing what his friends and others had to say about him and better still hearing Truman in own words to really understand his charisma and the wit that drew people to him.

This is a well researched portrait of one of the most fascinating people of the 20th century.

Truman Capote's legacy -- encompassing a literary masterpiece, "In Cold Blood", a beloved Hollywood Movie, "Breakfast at Tiffany's", an incomplete and truly controversial novel, "Answered Prayers" -- (incomplete in that only 3 Chapters of it were ever published), and memorable appearances (for us old-timers) on all the major talk shows of the time from Johnny Carson, to Dick Cavett, to Merv Griffin, to a poignant, funny 1-man Tony award winning Broadway Show, "Tru", featuring the great actor Robert Morse, is now beautifully, succinctly yet comprehensively examined in this excellent documentary, which manages to cover this complex, controversial, pathetic, sometimes funny, sometimes tragic life of Capote. No punches are pulled. In addition to the magical world of celebrity and wealth and fame, a spotight also shines on the sadder aspects of Capote's life, from his sad/poignant upbringing, essentially abandoned by his mother, to his moments of glory with the success of his early literary work and celebrity, and his famous Black & White Ball to his tragic, lonely downfall, created by his own undoing. Black & White! That's Capote's life -- The highest of successes, and fame and money, and recognition -- to the lowest of failures, and infamy and derision, loneliness and sadness. A true American original, who's name will live on. AND this wonderful documentary will most certainly help that legacy long continue!

Honestly, this is one of the nastiest, most biased depictions of a historic literary figure that I have seen. After the opening sequence, it starts in a semi-objective manner, but then becomes a cruel character assassination. One thing that particularly disturbed me was the claim that Truman Capote had been urging the authorities to end the stays of execution for Perry Smith and Richard Hickock (the two killers in the book, In Cold Blood). It implies that due to Capote's ambition for publication and success, he threw them under the bus. However, it fails to note that if not for Truman Capote, the pair would have been hung many years before. It is possible that Capote actually wanted the stays of execution to end because he wanted the death sentence to be commuted to a life sentence. Afterall, it was Truman Capote who organized a reputable lawyer to lodge their first appeal. This was a biased production. It made me wonder, who financed The Capote Tapes? I felt that it was homophobic in parts. As if a Gay kid in high school was being rounded on by a group of malicious students, bitter that he'd had the audacity to be a success. At the beginning there are a series of recorded voices commenting on Capote. Two remarks stood out to me.. A man claims: "He was a freak, an absolute freak". A woman's voice quips: "I haven't had a good laugh since he died." - The full series of comments are predominantly spiteful. Those quotes set the standard for what follows...