This film is bad, very bad. Badly directed, badly acted,badly constructed and exceptionally badly written. If I did not know any better I'd say the film was financed by the millionaire families of Leopold- Loeb (the real-life killers on whom the film is based) in an attempt to lessen what was in reality nothing less than the cold blooded murder of a 12-year-old boy by two spoilt rich kids who thought their so-called superior intellects put them above the law. Orson Welles plays the two boys' lawyer whose closing speech to the court is truly awful - so over the top that one thought he was talking about the imminent demise of humankind. How Welles is viewed as an exceptional actor - only by Americans it has to be pointed out - I'll never know. He's on a continuous ego trip in every film he's been involved with. It is said Welles fled the country after the film over tax debts. Personally, I think he did a runner out of complete embarrassment over having anything to do with such a crass film.
Review of Compulsion
