L.A. Confidential (Two-Disc Special
Edition) starring Kevin Spacey,
Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kim
Basinger, James Cromwell
Classic Film Noir - For The Modern Era
In a time when it seems that every other movie makes some claim to being
a film noir, L.A. Confidential is the real thing--a gritty, sordid tale of sex,
scandal, betrayal, and corruption of all sorts (police, political, press--and, of
course, very personal) in 1940s Hollywood. The Oscar-winning screenplay
is actually based on several titles in James Ellroys series of chronological
thriller novels (including the title volume, The Big Nowhere, and White
Jazz)--a compelling blend of L.A. history and pulp fiction that has earned it
comparisons to the greatest of all Technicolor noir films, Chinatown. Kim
Basinger richly deserved her Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of
a conflicted femme fatale; unfortunately, her male costars are so uniformly
fine that they may have canceled each other out with the Academy voters:

Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey, and James Cromwell play
LAPD officers of varying stripes. Pearces character is a particularly
intriguing study in Hollywood amorality and ambition, a strait-laced hero
(and son of a departmental legend) whose career goals outweigh all other
moral, ethical, and legal considerations. If hes a good guy, its only
because he sees it as the quickest route to a promotion. --Jim Emerson
Personal Review: L.A. Confidential (Two-Disc Special Edition)
starring Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kim
Basinger, James Cromwell
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Brett Chase: Excuse me, ma'am; just the facts.
==================================
L.A. Confidential is based on the novel by James Ellroy. Known for his
short, staccato prose style--called telegraphic--like the tap, tap, tapping of
a telegram sent in Morse code, Ellroy wrote 4 books set in Los Angeles; all
sharing similar time frames and some of the same characters. Beginning
with 1987's The Black Dahlia, the series is called The Los Angeles Quartet
(not to be confused with Felix Slatkin's Los Angeles String Quartet).
Screenwriter Brian Helgeland and Director/screenwriter Curtis Hanson
loved the material and had a vision for how it would translate to a great
film. With the right attention to period detail, the right soundtrack, and the
right feel for the film noir style, they would really have something. The
soundtrack, with songs by Johnny Mercer, George and Ira Gershwin,
Jerome Kern, Sammy Cahn, Harry Warren, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart,
Cole Porter, and Harold Arlen; sung by Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Kay
Starr, Betty Hutton, and Lee Wiley; or performed by Chet Baker and Gerry
Mulligan showed their exquisite taste. How could they go wrong?
Casting Russell Crowe as sensitive brute detective Bud White sealed the
deal. He would later win an Oscar for The Gladiator, but here is where
Crowe first showed his huge potential to be at once tough and tender. His
cop was hard and brutal, but he had a soft spot when it came to females in
peril:
---------------
[Dick Stensland arrives with liquor for a party]
Officer: What took you, Stensland?
Dick Stensland: My partner stopped to help a damsel in distress. He's got
his priorities all screwed up.
========================
Russell! Put the phone down! Step away from the phone, Mr. Crowe!
I count three flavors of corruption here:
1.) L.A. Police Dept.
2.) Los Angeles

3.) Hollywood
There is corruption within the L.A.P.D. One scene, based on a real event,
has them going on a drunken rampage and beating Latino prisoners on
Christmas Eve. Besides racism, there is also a goon squad that attacks
mobsters from out of town who try to establish the mob in L.A. Mickey
Cohen is a prime example. Though they are stamping out crime, could it
be that they are just trying to eliminate competition for their own criminal
enterprises? Ask Captain Dudley Smith (James Cromwell) about that.
The City of Los Angeles is also infected with corruption, with land
development deals and zoning decided in ways that favor men such as
Pierce Patchett (David Straithairn). Not only does Pierce have a stake in
such things, he also runs drugs and has a brothel of prostitutes who
resemble movie stars. To get his way on the land deals he gets dirt on
politicians and D.A. Ellis Loew (Ron Rifkin).
Helping Patchett gather and spread the dirt is Sid Hudgens (Danny
DeVito). Hudgens has found a gold mine in the scandals and scrapes of
Movie Stars in Tinsel town, and the public's endless appetite for salacious
gossip. DeVito might have been the weakest choice in casting, just
because he is a little bit too familiar (what is Louie DePalma doing away
from the Taxi dispatch?), but he kind of grows on you--like a fungous.
---------------------
Sid Hudgens: He's on a night train to the big adios.
=============================
It is interesting how the three kinds of corruption are all intertwined and
intermingled:
----------------------------------
Captain Dudley Smith: [interrogation at the Victory Motel] Reciprocity, Mr.
Hudgens, is the key to every relationship.
=============================================
At the time this movie was made the OJ Trial was all the rage, and
therefore the theme of how scandal and tabloid journalism was such a
huge industry, casting a distorting rather than revealing spotlight on truth
and justice, really resonated. Prescient it was, too. It came out just before
the Monica Lewinsky/Bill Clinton affair almost brought down a President.
The magazine that Hudgens ran was called Hush-Hush, but it was based
on the real life magazine Confidential, perhaps the precursor to all the
TMZs, Matt Drudges, and Perez Hiltons of today.
Seemingly at odds with Bud White and the rest of the L.A.P.D. is Detective
Ed Exley (Guy Pearce). He goes against the grain, doing everything by the
book, but rubbing the cops the wrong way. Though his father was a legend
in the L.A.P.D., his son is barely tolerated; yet he is such a skillful player of

police politics that he rises through the ranks. He is held in scorn for
wearing glasses, yet proves to be a tough cop after all. Guy Pearce does a
good job with the role, in spite of the fact that he is British and had
previously distinguished himself by playing a drag queen in an Australian
film, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. With Russell Crowe
being from New Zealand, you had two non-Americans in the lead roles,
playing L.A. cops. Not for an instant did I doubt either one:
-----------------------
Bud White: The Nite Owl case made you. Do you want to tear all that
down?
Ed Exley: With a wrecking ball... You want to help me swing it?
=======================================
Sgt. Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) also stood out at the intersection of
Hollywood and Vice. His claim to fame was that he worked as a technical
advisor for Badge of Honor, a show based on Jack Webb's Dragnet. Brett
Chase is Badge of Honor's Webb:
----------------------
Jack Vincennes: I'm the technical advisor. I teach Brett Chase how to walk
and talk like a cop.
Jack's Dancing Partner: Brett Chase doesn't walk and talk like you.
Jack Vincennes: Well, that's 'cause he's the television version. America
isn't ready for the real me.
==========================
Vincennes also works hand-in-hand with Sid Hudgens--at least until his
glimmer of remorse moment. He takes pity on actor Matt Reynolds (Simon
Baker) who is being used to blackmail D.A. Ellis Loew (by the way, Simon
Baker is now the title character in the hit show The Mentalist; and Ron
Rifkin, who plays the D.A., is on Television program Brothers and Sisters).
Yes, Sgt. Vincennes finally tries to do the right thing. Too bad no good
deed goes unpunished:
--------------------------------
Captain Dudley Smith: Have you a valediction, boyo?
Jack Vincennes: [gasping out a name] ... Rollo Tamasi.
===============================================
What? Rollo Tamasi? Like "Rosebud" in Citizen Kane, you'll just have to
watch L.A. Confidential to see what significance Rollo Tamasi holds.
Last but not least, Kim Basinger as Veronica Lake Look-a
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