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Superior in almost every way to its unfortunate predecessor ("Capote"), the plot of "Infamous" covers the period during which Truman Capote broke away from his comfortable Park Avenue social circle to write about the gruesome murder of a family in rural Kansas. Although some of the film is based on actual events, another portion - the extent of which is impossible to determine - is based on a "fictional re-imagining" of the same facts (just as Capote's novel, "In Cold Blood", was a blend of journalism and psychological techniques that had been used in novels).

Although the director's approach begins by using the comical aspects afforded by the unexpected intrusion of a flamboyantly gay writer (Capote) into the social fabric of small Midwestern town, the tone of the film soon turns serious. Accompanied by his cousin, Harper Lee (Sandra Bullock), who had just finished writing "To Kill A Mockingbird", and Truman (Toby Jones) begins knocking persistently on the doors of people who have barely imagined life outside of Kansas, but who have also just received a horrific lesson from another moral universe.

Aided by a fortuitous comment on product diversity at the cheese cooler of the local grocery store (a slight variation on the previous film's version), Truman and Nell insert themselves into the town's social circle. As they do, they harvest from the towns folk a richness of emotional reactions and moral meanings that totally escaped the director of "Capote".

But it is when Capote meets the killers that "Infamous" really begins to distance itself from the competition. William Hickok describes his partner, Perry Smith, as seeming like a "faggot" because he offered some comfort to the men of the murdered family before killing them. But Truman's further discussions with Hickok unearth more clues to the makeup of the complex man that Capote became emotionally involved with during the course of this unsettling project. His dilemma: how close could he, as a writer selling a commercial literary project, come to Perry Smith without compromising himself totally as a moral human being? The agony of this problem becomes much more vivid in this retelling than in the cold power struggle depicted in last year's film: Capote and Smith, although initially separated by mistrust and ambition, become nearly mirror images here, separated only by circumstance from vastly different fates.

British actor Toby Jones works miracles - although aided by his small stature and blond coloring, his vocal technique and mannerisms much more closely evoke the "real" Truman Capote. More importantly, his portrayal of the character makes emotional sense of the moral corner in which the subject found himself - how as an author to render the humanity of a character he had fallen in love with without reaching the end of that character's life - execution - and how the fame that rendering brought also conflicted with his feelings for Perry Smith.

The opening scene begins like a Sunday picnic/Turkey shoot: well-dressed couples in period costumes milling around, young boys plunking away with their new rifles. It takes a minute or so to realize that this is stand-off with a man sealed inside a log cabin. A few racial epithets later and we realize the man is (a) black and (b) possibly innocent of the crime he is accused of.

Director Edwin Scherin lucked into a fine script co-authored by Elmore Leonard, one of the pioneers among popular writers to take up the subject of racism in best-selling detective and action novels. He uses Burt Lancaster, the title character, judiciously at first, having him enter inconspicuously and a little awkwardly, like a man who knows he is out of place. But soon Lancaster assumes control of the deadlocked situation, and but for the interference of a trigger-happy shooter (Richard Jordan), almost manages to end it peacefully.

This scene sets off the plot events that follow, as Valdez tries to obtain money to compensate the man's Native American widow. Most of the action - except for the bizarre humiliation of Valdez at the hands of a wealthy gun-runner - follows standard formulas, but Lancaster underplays his role so well that the clichés turn to his and the movie's advantage. Add solid supporting roles by John Cypher, Susan Clark, and an offbeat ending, and you have a surprisingly engaging Western that delivers what we expect and then some.