 The murders at the beginning of the film evoke the 1959 murders of  Kansas farmer Herb Clutter, his wife and their two teenage children.  This case was later documented in Truman Capote (qv)s book "In  Cold Blood", which in turn was made into a film  (_In Cold Blood (1967)_ (qv)) starring Scott Wilson (I) (qv) and  Robert Blake (I) (qv) as the two killers. Wilson appears in this  film in the role of Arliss employee.