Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

garito-1 Watching this nearly 50 years after it was made, it is perhaps not surprising that the film is filled with stale ideas that have been used a million times since. The out-spoken, outlandish defence lawyer with a seemingly water- tight case against his clients. The culprits that you are made to love and hate at the same time - even down to the hot, stuffy court room. You have seen it all before and done better. As others has mentioned, Dean Stockwell turns in the best performance in the film (although that's not saying much) Welles plays the role that made him famous, but here he does so without much effort or, it seems, interest; just going through his tried and tested routine. All other characters inspire no real interest or sympathy from the audience. All in all, it misses the key drama points that would have made for a much sharper, compelling and gritty film even in the late 50s when it was made.

Peter Zullmmann I don't know why I'm so attracted to this vulnerable weirdos. From Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates in Psycho to Colin Firth as Adrian Leduc in Apartment Zero, darkness and a fragility that is part of the unbearable suspense. Maybe I'm in need of professional attention but I don't think so. What attracts me is by the undeniable innocence behind the horror and that has a lot, if not everything, to do with the actors playing them. Look at Anthony Perkins in Psycho! 57 years ago and it still looks and feels kind of revolutionary or Colin Firth in Apartment Zero, the character is so unique and real that you can see it a thousand times and always find some new extra something, then Dean Stockwell in Compulsion. He plays a monster, a sick, pathetic prince of a man. Yes all of that. The humanity of the actor makes the monster human and we can't dismiss him, he doesn't allow us. Orson Welles has a great entrance into the film and E.G Marshall is superb as per usual, it is the rest of the cast who seem a bit dated, specially when sharing the frame with the extraordinary Dean Stockwell

kapelusznik18 ***SPOILERS*** Highly fictionalized version, in order to protect the guilty, of what was then in 1924 called the "Crime of the Century" as the notorious L & L Boys Leopold & Loeb kidnapped and murdered 14 year old Bobby Franks for no other reason then to see if they can get away with it. That's to prove their superiority over the rest of the human race that they seemed to have total disdain for. Here we have what they call themselves Nietzshche style "Ubermenschen" or Supermen the spoiled and snotty Judd Steiner & Artie Strauss, Dean Stockwell & Bradford Dillman, in their hair brain plan and execution of the the perfect crime that they screwed up so badly, in not covering their tracks, that they were caught almost overnight and faced execution themselves.We never get to see the "Boys" or "Boychicks" in Yiddish going into action in their brutal kidnap and murder of little Paulie Kessler-The Bobby Franks character- but we do see them make, despite their super high intelligence, complete fools of themselves in murdering him. That in getting caught so easily by the Chicago Police in that even a 70 IQ moron would have done a better job and could have gotten away with it. It's the mosey and creepy looking Judd known as the "Birdman" or "Bird Watcher" who left all the clues, his glasses, that the police needed to catch and convict him and his boyfriend or master, Judd played the part of the slave, Artie-Known as "Crazy Artie" to his friends & family- of 1st degree murder. With defense attorney Jonathan Wilk, Orson Wells, taking on the case Pro Bono to defend the two spoiled and murderous brats he plans to use an insanity defense to get them off the hook or the hangman's rope by avoiding a jury trial that he felt he had no hope of winning. Wilk throws them at the mercy of the court or judge played by Voltaire Perkins, of divorce court fame, knowing that no jury will ever find the two of them innocent of their hideous crimes and vote for the death penalty after less then five minutes of deliberation!***SPOILERS**** Being an open and shut case right from the beginning in that the "Boys" willfully admitted and even boasted about their crimes it was now up to their lawyer Jonathan Wilk to throw a monkey wrench into the wheels of justice to get them off from at least being strung up by their scrawny necks. Pulling a ace out of his sleeve Wilk choose a bench not jury trail feeling that by putting pressure on the judge Voltire Perkins to send to "Boys" to the gallows he's got a far better chance then with a jury that like the entire city of Chicago is out for their blood. The insanity defense that Wilk used was really, in my opinion, nothing but grandstanding on his part to make the public think that the "Boys" had no idea, despite their over 180 IQ's, what they were doing and saw nothing wrong in it. It was really putting Judge Perkins on the spot or hot seat in him , being against the death penalty and opting to let the jury do it for him, being the one who'll end up sending the "Boys"-Judd & Artie-to their death that seemed to have done the trick in saving their lives.

jfarms1956 This movie, Compulsion, is for the over 30 crowd. Dean Stockwell and Bradford Dillman play very unlovable characters and do it very well. Of course, Orson Welles, who is always great, he too, plays his character well. This movie is not for a relaxed evening of movie watching. This movie leaves one and gives one a very disturbed feeling. Compulsion evoked a great deal of negative emotion from me. However, I think that was the point of the movie to evoke strong emotion from the viewer. So in that point, it succeeds. Orson wells does a masterful job in the courtroom. There is no need to bother with popcorn in this movie since you can't eat much of it anyways watching this move. I give Compulsion four thumbs up. I am just glad that the movie is over.