Thursday 26 October 2023

Killers of the Flower Moon - The scoop and digest

Martin Scorsese co-writes screenplay with Eric Roth to adapt David Grann's nonfiction book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.

Leonardo DiCaprio - Ernest Burkhart
Robert De Niro - William King Hale
Lily Gladstone - Mollie Burkhart
Jesse Plemons - Tom White
Tantoo Cardinal - Lizzie Q
John Lithgow - Peter Leaward
Brendan Fraser - W.S. Hamilton

Summary

As Osage elders mourn their descendants assimilating into white American society, members of the tribe find oil erupting from the ground of Oklahoma reservation and become stinking rich.

Unfortunately for them, laws require white guardians to manage finances.

Ernest Burkhart returns home from World War I to his crime lord uncle William King Hale.

Knowing she owns oil headrights, Hale tells nephew to give special attention to Osage family member Mollie.

Before we know it, they're married with children.

Meanwhile, Hale has already put heinous get rich scheme into action, ordering the murders of several Osage, with Ernest also participating.

An extremely sick Mollie begs President Coolidge for help, and the Bureau of Investigation (forerunner to the FBI) sends Agent Tom White and his assistants to investigate.

Children of the Middle Waters

First off, is controversial running time a problem?

Apart from the first hour, not really.

But I suspect many will wait to stream epic on Apple TV+.

Oscar nominations beckon for DiCaprio and De Niro, but surprisingly - Lily Gladstone steals the show.

Towards the end, Ernest points out Hale in court, mirroring Ray Liotta's Henry doing the same to Jimmy (also played by De Niro) in Goodfellas.

Cute.

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