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| L. A. Confidential |
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  (8/10)
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Runtime: 138 |
| Public Rating: 8.14 (139 votes) |
Director: Curtis Hanson |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Film Noir |
Year: 1997 |
| Writer(s): Brian Helgeland and Hanson from James Ellroy's novel |
| Distributor: 1 |
| Reviewed by: Aaron Graham |
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In one of my favorite genres, film noir, director Curtis Hanson takes us into the dark streets of Los Angeles in a film that's worthy in the same breath as Chinatown. It was written by Hanson and Brian Helgeland from the novel by master noirist James Ellroy. Catchy music by Jerry Goldsmith in which the theme appears a few times in the film. Photographed by Dante Spinotti (The Insider) whose usually spectacular work is diminished here as the story takes center stage.
It circles around Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito), a sleazy pre-tabloid reporter who always sets celebs up with Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey). Vincennes is a cop who has lost his way (this is cemented when Guy Pearce asks him why he became a cop and he states he forgets) who now is 'technical advisor' on a Dragnet-style tv series, he was famous for being the one who caught Robert Mitchum smoking marijuana. These two characters are very juicy, with Spacey (influence on role was Dean Martin) coming off very differently in a character he could have played his old usualy sarcastic way. He is very dapper yet sleazy but you can still see goodness in his eyes. DeVito is great at going around always catching a scoop but his character goes stale after the first half hour.
Next came Ed Exley (Guy Pearce), a by-the-book cop who has just started being a detective even after his boss Dudley Morehouse Smith (James Cromwell) ill-advised him. After a night where Bud White (Russell Crowe), Exley, Vincenne, Pierce Patchett (David Strathairn), a millionaire who doesn't keep his hands clean and Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger in her best supporting actress oscar role as a made-to look-like Veronica Lake prostitute, in a celebrity prostitute ring set up by Patchett) all cross paths, mostly for the first time. White's partner goes bonkers and beats up a prisoner. He is later fired from the force and murdered in the movie's best plot point, the nite owl murders which took place in the nite owl cafe. You see some people are murdered and White's partner is involved. There is a setup with three black youths as the murderer. They had raped a Mexican woman and are setup as the murderers. In a twist, Dudley Smith and his co. (like White's partner, and Patchett's ex-chauffeur) are actually involved in the nite owl murders. Along the way Smith becomes involved with Lynn, Vincenne and Exley try to solve the murders, enemies Smith and Exley must join forces to bring the case down (a cliche but well used here) and many of the characters are murdered by the film's climax. Ron Rifkin is also in the film and there are some other great characters like my favorite - Simon Baker Denny as Matt Reynolds, a caught -badboy actor who looked very much like a Kirk Douglas-Burt Lancaster actor of the day.
There were two particular favorite scenes: the popular "a hooker cut up to look like Lana Turner is still a hooker" - the real Lana Turner mixup which involved Exley and Vincennes. And the interrogation scene with Exley.
The film weaves real life (gangster Mickey Cohen, Hollywood stars) and fiction seamlessly. The music is great with Dean Martin, Chet Baker and flawless classics from others. Some great nuances (there was a moment where Spacey was perfectly framed with The Bad And The Beautiful on a marquee behind him.
Some flaws were the cinematography (which now that i think about was pretty great), and too many characters because there is a lot of dialogue. All of the different characters are hard to remember and to know what they did and how they fit into the story.
Some influences were Hitchcock, though a very un-Hitchcockian story (more like a Raymond Chandler tale) I could see traces of the master. (IE: the end interrogation scene with Guy Pearce reminded me of the end of Psycho). Indeed director Hanson has a thing for Hitch's films. He appeared in a documentary about the legend (Dial "H" For Hitchcock: The Master Behind The Showman). Ellroy appeared in Hanson's next film Wonderboys.
The acting was great with Simon Denny (though only in a handful of scenes), Guy Pearce and, of course, Spacey being the standouts for me.
I could never weave a story quite like this. So delicate and flawless, I guess most classic film noir are taken from literature. (Just think- Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Mickey Spillane, David Goodis, Elmore Leonard and, in this case, James Ellroy.) with the exception of Chinatown, which is one of the top 5 greatest scripts ever written. The film, you could say, is a little on the long side but it is adapted from a novel and therefore the director probably wanted to keep a lot intact.
Overall, some flaws in the story but that's got to be understandable in a genre that is so damn hard to write. Everything else is perfect. It was a far greater task to write this then what won best picture this year, the dreadful lame Titanic.
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