TRUE CONFESSIONS—-false confusions, in a real letdown from 1981. Team two powerhouse actors, back them with peerless seconds in a provocative plot set during an era ripe for recreation. Then piddling it all away, enough that United Artists should have awarded rebates for seeing it through 108 minutes.

Robert De Niro plays an ambitious monsignor, bat-weaving his way through the maze of the Catholic hierarchy of late 40s Los Angeles. His brother (Robert Duvall) is a cop. When required, both have sold out to local corporate bigwigs.  A murder case linked to their respective arm-benders brings about a confrontation with warped ethics and disposable honor.

Alas, the pace set by director Ulu Grosbard is so glue-like that any chance at searing drama gets entombed before it can mature.  The script is hollow hot air, profane without punch; the motivations and ghosts that propel and shadow the brothers are only slightly less murky than the camerawork, so muted/grimy that everything has the visual tone of a fudgesicle.

The two stars do their expected solid work; for many, just watching them will suffice. Regrettably, nothing they’re given to say is gripping, exciting, funny, barely even pertinent. With Charles Durning, Ed Flanders, Burgess Meredith, Rose Gregorio, Cyril Cusack, Kenneth McMillan and Jeanette Nolan.