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Here's one of those movies that's basically been done before but still manages to hold our interest -- and hold it fairly well. Squinty Clinty plays an over-the-hill newspaper reporter who sniffs a bigger scoop when assigned a human interest story about a death row inmate hours away from execution. It seems his fine shackled friend is really innocent, but can our hero prove it in time?

It's hard to pinpoint what elevates TRUE CRIME above its formulaic tendencies. Though not in top form, Eastwood is intriguing despite his character's occasional unlikeability. Isaiah Washington, playing the innocent inmate, is well cast and able to stoically earn our sympathy. Eastwood's newsroom antics would seem tired in many other films, but decent writing and supporting performances help keep things moving at a reasonably smooth pace. And although we know Eastwood will prevail at the end of the day, we're not always quite sure how.

TRUE CRIME is a picture some will appreciate more than others. What's for certain is that there are much worse ways to spend 127 minutes. It's worth a look on a rainy night.

After watching Clint Eastwood's "True Crime" for the first time, I didn't what to think of it, so I get it another chance. Eastwood plays Steve Everett, a journalist that works for the Oakland Tribune and is still haunted by his past and his dirty habits (alcohol & women). Everett is asked by the newspaper's editor Alan Mann (James Woods - The Virgin Suicides) and a calm excutive Bob Findley (Denis Leary - The Thomas Crown Affair) to interview Frank Meachum (Isiah Washington - Bulworth), a Death Row inmate who is to be excuted by lethal injection at a prison in San Quentin at midnight. Everett takes the assignment and notices that Meachum is innocent. The sub-plot is so-so and that's about Steve's marriage with his wife, Barbara (Diane Venora - Heat). Eastwood has assembled a very solid cast and the peformances are great, most notably, Eastwood, Washington, Woods, and Bernard Hill as the prison's confident warden. There are a few lines that Woods says to Eastwood and Leary that made me chuckle. This film's ending is good as "In The Line of Fire" is. Jack N. Green's cinematography is good as Lennie Niehaus's musical score. Despite the so-so subplot, "True Crime" is terrific .

Clint Eastwood's True Crime shows how even at the ripe old age of 69 (or 70) he can still make a film that has an equal level of skill and practical entertainment value to his older ones. It's nothing great as art, however, and I doubt that it'll be put along the ranks of his great westerns of really chilling cop thrillers. But I remember seeing it twice in the theater (the second time as it was the only movie I could see as being worth seeing among the lot of movies that were out in the theater that time of the year), and thinking well enough of it both times. It's a perfunctory, suspenseful look at a flawed-man though hard-edged journalist (Eastwood) who is trying to find the truth of a death years earlier to save a man's life on deat5h row (Isaiah Washingon is convincing as this man). Denis Leary and James Woods give their all for Eastwood here as co-stars, and there's always a sense of other good character actors in the mix as well (Michael Jeter anyone?). With moments of sorrow mixed with touches of dark comedy, and a finale we all know is coming but keeps us biting the nails all the way, it's not bad at all. If I wouldn't rank it right up there with the best of Eastwood's it might be because of its pat predictability and somewhat lack of interest in the core case in the story. B+

I'll be perfectly frank; it's difficult for me not to have bias in my reviews of Clint Eastwood films because I admire his persona as a actor and director a great deal. However, saying that, I never shy away from giving credit when credit is due. I praised "Bridges of Madison County," raved "In the Line of Fire," okayed "Absolute Power," and failed to see the point of "Midnight in the Garden..." Clint's latest effort, entitled TRUE CRIME, is another good mystery that can be added to Clint's stellar works of the nineties. I will admit that it doesn't necessarily give us a story that we haven't seen before, or give us a Clint that we failed to notice previously, but the acting is so top-notch and the story is very well-paced, it's very hard to knock this film. Clint is a journalist for an Oakland paper who is famous for turning print media into crime-solving reports. He is also far from saintly, sleeping around with various women of assorted age groups (one of them happens to be his supervisor's wife), and of course, he drinks up a storm. Amidst all these turn-offs, he still has the guts to prove that a young black man (Isaiah Washington, in a fine performance) is not guilty of killing a convenience store clerk in cold blood. He has less than a day to prove it because, it so happens, Washington is to be executed by lethal injection at San Quentin by a minute after midnight, that very night! Sound familiar? What does work very well in TRUE CRIME is the way in which the film is paced. Clint cuts right to the chase, giving us just the facts, keeping the suspense taut throughout the whole film, and maintaining our interest. His cast is well chosen as always. Washington is a fine new talent, doing an effecting acting job here. James Woods appears in a few entertaining scenes as the head editor of the paper, humorous and stylish as usual. Denis Leary, very subdued this time, is Eastwood's protege. Frances Fisher even turns up briefly as the district attorney who handled Washington's case six years before. TRUE CRIME is a good thriller, told with quick pacing, effective acting, and good direction as always by Eastwood. The only major problem I have is that it doesn't provide us with any new plotlines or intricate complications. But then again, how often do we get something like this from Hollywood anymore? It is certainly not a lot. Rating: Three stars.

True Crime is a fairly engaging movie that has some good performances. Eastwood as the director stages the action well and moves the plot forward. Only in the scenes where he takes his daughter to the zoo does the film tend to lose a little momentum. Then again, a scene like that helps illustrate the character that Eastwood is playing. He'll follow a story, but he'll try to make time for his daughter. Eastwood the actor, he seems to enjoy the roles of the tough but flawed theme. His character in True Crime is a womanizer, and a former drunk. Good characters always have flaws and Eastwood can play them with his eyes closed. The supporting cast is well rounded and helps advance the narrative. The only qualm I had was that Eastwood the director, should've tightened the running time and made the story that much more urgent. We've all seen the beat the clock films and this one's no exception. What could've made this movie better is a brisker pace, but Eastwood the director chose a more laid back style. After thirty years in the business, Eastwood can do whatever he wants with his films. He's earned it.