Compulsion (1959)

Two wealthy law-school students go on trial for murder in this version of the Leopold-Loeb case.

Director:

Richard Fleischer

Writers:

Richard Murphy (screenplay), Meyer Levin (based on the novel by)

Stars:

Orson Welles, Diane Varsi, Dean Stockwell

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Orson Welles	...	Jonathan Wilk
Diane Varsi	...	Ruth Evans
Dean Stockwell	...	Judd Steiner
Bradford Dillman	...	Arthur A. Straus
E.G. Marshall	...	District Attorney Harold Horn
Martin Milner	...	Sid Brooks
Richard Anderson	...	Max Steiner
Robert F. Simon	...	Police Lt. Johnson (as Robert Simon)
Edward Binns	...	Tom Daly
Robert Burton	...	Charles Straus
Wilton Graff	...	Mr. Steiner
Louise Lorimer	...	Mrs. Straus aka 'Mumsy'
Gavin MacLeod	...	Padua - Horn's Assistant
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ina Balin	...	Mike's girlfriend (scenes deleted)
Edmund Cobb	...	Policeman (scenes deleted)

Storyline

In 1924 Chicago, Artie Strauss and Judd Steiner are friends and fellow law students who both come from wealthy backgrounds. They have few true friends as they believe all their contemporaries are intellectually inferior. Within their relationship, Artie is the dominant and Judd the submissive who says he will do whatever Artie tells him. Although Judd acts intellectually arrogant to others, he also shows signs of weakness and reticence most evident to Artie. Part of their goal in life is to experience how it feels to do everything. As such, they plot to commit what they consider the perfect crime - a kidnapping and murder - not only so that they can experience the sense of killing for killing's sake, but also taunt the law with the knowledge of it and their superiority after the fact. They believe their crime is above the law. Their murder of young Paulie Kessler is not so perfect, with evidence at the scene uncovered by one of their law school colleagues, Sid Brooks, who also works ...

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Plot Keywords:

trial | student | murder | evidence | defense attorney | 

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Taglines:

You know why we did it? Because we damn well felt like doing it!

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Genres:

Biography | Crime | Drama | History | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

May 1959 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Der Zwang zum Bösen

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles High School - 4650 W. Olympia Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Darryl F. Zanuck Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min 99 min (FMC Library Print)

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm magnetic prints) (Westrex Recording System) Mono (35 mm optical prints) (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Because Orson Welles was having tax problems during the production, at the end of shooting his salary for the movie was garnisheed by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. This upset Welles so much that just before he finished looping his dialogue in post-production, he stormed off the studio and left the country. All that was left to be looped was the last 20 seconds of his end speech in the courtroom. Incredibly, editor William Reynolds fixed this problem without needing Welles. Reynolds took words and pieces of words Welles had spoken earlier in the movie, and pieced them one by one into those 20 seconds.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Judd Steiner: To the perfect crime!
Arthur Straus: Crime. Oh, my wealthy fraternity brothers. 67 dollars, and a second-hand typewriter.

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Connections

Referenced in Murder by Numbers (2002)

User Reviews

The Hand of God

In 1924, in Chicago, the wealthy and psychotic nihilist law students Judd Steiner (Dean Stockwell) and Arthur Strauss (Bradford Dillman) believe that they can be above the law and commit minor infractions. Their college mate Sid Brooks (Martin Milner) that works for the Chicago Globe is assigned to go to the morgue to see a drowned boy found in Hegewisch Park. He discovers that the boy is actually Paul Kessler, the son of a millionaire that had been kidnapped for ransom. Further, Sid discovers a pair of the glasses with the boy that becomes a lead to the police since it does not fit the victim. When Judd finds that his glasses are evidence for the murder case, he prepares an alibi using his activity of ornithologist and tells that he was picking up girls with Artie driving the Stutz Bearcat of his family. However the astute District Attorney Harold Horn (E.G. Marshall) investigates the case and lures Judd getting his confession. But the Steiner and Strauss families hire the cunning defense attorney Jonathan Wilk (Orson Welles) to defend the perpetrators of the hideous crime. In the beginning of the trial, Wilk surprisingly changes his plea from "not guilty" to "guilty".

Movies of trial are usually engaging and "Compulsion" is not an exception. The dark story based on a true murder case is supported by magnificent performances, highlighting Dean Stockwell and Bradford Dillman in the roles of arrogant and psychotic millionaires that expect to commit a perfect crime and Orson Welles in the lesser but relevant role of a smart lawyer. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Estranha Compulsão" ("Strange Compulsion")