Film Screening & Discussion - "Compulsion"

Bold, absorbing, and cerebral, Compulsion delves with a skillful eye into the fascinating and shocking events of the infamous Leopold and Loeb case. 

Watch it unfold in the Scott Room with a screening and discussion of the 1959 crime drama Compulsion. Directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Orson Welles, Dean Stockwell, Bradford Dillman, and Martin Milner, the is based on the 1956 novel of the same name by Meyer Levin. Compulsion was the first film produced by Richard D. Zanuck.

Close friends and brilliant law students Judd Steiner (Stockwell) and Artie Straus (Dillman) consider themselves cleverer than "inferior" people and above the law. Seeking to prove their superiority, the two engage in increasingly criminal acts, culminating in killing their neighbor Paulie Kessler as part of a "perfect crime" and demonstrating that they can outwit the police. During the investigation of Kessler's death, Judd and Artie's deceptions gradually unravel and they are arrested. Famed attorney Jonathan Wilik (played by Welles and based on real life lawyer Clarence Darrow) takes their case and saves them from hanging after making an impassioned case against capital punishment. Just as in the real life case of Leopold and Loeb, Judd and Artie receive a sentence of life in prison instead.

Welles, Stockwell, and Straus shared the award for Best Actor at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival.

Please note, while not graphic, Compulsion deals with themes of murder and criminal mischief.

This film is part of our celebration of Pride Month, showcasing queer stories and the LGBT actors and screenwriters, historical and contemporary, who contributed to American cinema.