QWhy did Wilk/Darrow change the plea from insanity to guilty?
AA plea of insanity required a jury trial. Darrow/Wilk knew his clients would be convicted by a jury due to overwhelming evidence (including confessions) and would get the death penalty. By changing the plea to guilty at the last moment, he circumvented a jury trial and hoped to get the judge to consider psychological evidence in mitigation before sentencing. Darrow opposed capital punishment and hoped this evidence would spare his clients from the gallows. The judge decided to give the killers life in prison because they were under 21 years old.
QAre there any other movies about Leopold/Loeb?
AAlfred Hitchcock's 1948 film Rope, Tom Kalin's 1992 film Swoon, and Murder by Numbers (2002) are all based on the Leopold/Loeb case, although they emphasize different aspects of the story. Hitchcock's film highlights their belief in their own intellectual superiority and Kalin's emphasizes the sexual aspect of their relationhip; this film focuses on the way their "thrill" crime unravelled and the innovative approach Clarence Darrow (renamed for this film as Jonathan Wilk) took to their defence.. The TV movie Darrow also deals in part with Clarence Darrow's involvement in the Leopold/Loeb trial.
QHow closely does this movie follow the real story about Leopold and Loeb?
AThose who have seen the movie and are familiar with the case of Leopold and Loeb say that the movie is extremely accurate in its portrayal of the real story. Some events may be simplified and/or skipped over, but watching the movie is like reading a detailed account of the case. Only the names have been changed. Leopold's autobiography, Life Plus 99 Years (1974), may give further insight into the case from Leopold's point-of-view.
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