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True Crime

True Crime

Crime · Thriller · Mystery · 1999

Boozer, skirt chaser, careless father. You could create your own list of reporter Steve Everett's faults but there's no time. A San Quentin Death Row prisoner is slated to die at midnight – a man Everett has suddenly realized is innocent.

Movie details

True Crime

“An innocent man has only 12 hours to live...”

1999 Crime · Thriller · Mystery 2h 7m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.5 / 10

Community rating

Boozer, skirt chaser, careless father. You could create your own list of reporter Steve Everett's faults but there's no time. A San Quentin Death Row prisoner is slated to die at midnight – a man Everett has suddenly realized is innocent.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over True Crime?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Bordertown

Bordertown

Crime · 2007

American corporations are using the North American Free Trade Agreement by opening large maquiladoras right across the United States–Mexico border. The maquiladoras hire mostly Mexican women to work long hours for little money in order to produce mass quantity products. Lauren Adrian, an impassioned American news reporter for the Chicago Sentinel wants to be assigned to the Iraq front-lines to cover the war. Instead, her editor George Morgan assigns her to investigate a series of slayings involving young maquiladora factory women in a Mexican bordertown.

Righteous Kill

Righteous Kill

Crime · 2008

Two veteran New York City detectives work to identify the possible connection between a recent murder and a case they believe they solved years ago; is there a serial killer on the loose, and did they perhaps put the wrong person behind bars?

The Public Eye

The Public Eye

Crime · 1992

A crime photographer gets involved in a conspiracy.

South of Heaven

South of Heaven

Crime · 2021

Convicted felon Jimmy gets early parole after serving twelve years for armed robbery. Upon his release, he vows to give Annie, his childhood love, now dying from cancer, the best last year of her life – unfortunately it’s not that simple.

Five Minutes of Heaven

Five Minutes of Heaven

Crime · 2009

The story of former Ulster Volunteer Force member Alistair Little. Twenty-five years after Little killed Joe Griffin's brother, the media arrange an auspicious meeting between the two.

Veronica Guerin

Veronica Guerin

Drama · 2003

In this true story, Veronica Guerin is an investigative reporter for an Irish newspaper. As the drug trade begins to bleed into the mainstream, Guerin decides to take on and expose those responsible. Beginning at the bottom with addicts, Guerin then gets in touch with John Traynor, a paranoid informant. Not without some prodding, Traynor leads her to John Gilligan, the ruthless head of the operation, who does not take kindly to Guerin's nosing.

Blood Ties

Blood Ties

Thriller · 2013

Two brothers, on either side of the law, face off over organized crime in Brooklyn during the 1970s.

Barron's Cove

Barron's Cove

Crime · 2025

When his young son is viciously murdered by a classmate, a grieving father with a history of violence kidnaps the child responsible, igniting a frenzied manhunt fueled by a powerful politician -- the father of the kidnapped boy.

The Life of David Gale

The Life of David Gale

Drama · 2003

A man against capital punishment is accused of murdering a fellow activist and is sent to death row.

Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler

Crime · 2014

When Lou Bloom, desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story. Aiding him in his effort is Nina, a TV-news veteran.

Where it lives

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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Clint Eastwood

Written by

Larry Gross · Paul Brickman · Stephen Schiff

Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood

Steve Everett

Isaiah Washington

Isaiah Washington

Frank Louis Beechum

LisaGay Hamilton

LisaGay Hamilton

Bonnie Beechum

James Woods

James Woods

Alan Mann

Denis Leary

Denis Leary

Bob Findley

Bernard Hill

Bernard Hill

Warden Luther Plunkitt

Diane Venora

Diane Venora

Barbara Everett

Court is in session

Put True Crime on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.