Synopsis
A cop clashes with his priest brother while investigating the brutal murder of a young prostitute.
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Cast
- Robert De NiroFather Des Spellacy
- Robert DuvallDet. Tom Spellacy
- Charles DurningJack Amsterdam
- Kenneth McMillanFrank Crotty
- Ed FlandersDan T. Campion
- Cyril CusackCardinal Danaher
- Burgess MeredithMsgr. Seamus Fargo
- Rose GregorioBrenda Samuels
- Dan HedayaHoward Terkel
- Gwen Van DamMrs. Fazenda
Recommendations
- 100
The New York Times
Marvelously well-acted...Quite simply it's one of the most entertaining, most intelligent and most thoroughly satisfying commercial American films in a very long time. - 100
TV Guide Magazine
The period detail is letter-perfect, the cast is uniformly excellent, and Delerue's score is haunting and evocative. TRUE CONFESSIONS is a thoughtful but deeply disturbing film, and its frank portrayal of corruption and murder makes it for adults only. - 100
Newsweek
De Niro's exquisite underacting seems partly designed as a foil for Duvall's special ability to express repressed rage and explosive anxiety. They develop a complex and riveting relationship that's one of the most brilliant brother acts in screen history. [28 Sept 1981, p.87] - 80
Washington Post
Between the splendid cast and the unsavoriness of the period details, True Confessions generates so much absorbing human interest and persuasive texture that the miscalculated plot seems a minor letdown. - 75
Chicago Sun-Times
True Confessions contains scenes that are just about as good as scenes can be. Then why does the movie leave us disoriented and disappointed, and why does the ending fail dismally? Perhaps because the attentions of the filmmakers were concentrated so fiercely on individual moments that nobody ever stood back to ask what the story was about. - 60
Chicago Reader
The film looks like an attempt to make a Martin Scorsese movie without Martin Scorsese. - 50
Time Out
The two Roberts (Duvall as cop, De Niro as priest) turn in potentially great performances, but are given precious little to work with. - 50
Variety
Comes off as relatively mild fare which fails to pack a dramatic or emotional wallop.
