erroneous information--goof

Rating: 7/10 (25 March 2006)

In case you haven't seen the film:
The following contains ethnic information regarding one of the characters portrayed in this film and erroneous dialogue supporting an inaccuracy.
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I want to point out some inaccuracies in the film and in Capote's writing (perhaps you already know). Capote said that Smith was Cherokee because he thought that more of the general public would be familiar with the tribal name (giving Cherokee a bad rep didn't seem to matter much). The film has Smith saying he was Cherokee when by all written accounts that claim never occurred. Regardless, Smith was perhaps just less than half Shoshone (half white and some Hispanic; no Cherokee lineage whatsoever). There are some Nevada archive sites available to demonstrate the actual family make-up.
Place Perry Edward Smith and Nevada into a web search to locate relative materials from the state archives.