L.A. Confidential (1997)

Directed by: Curtis Hanson | 138 minutes | drama, thriller, crime | Actors: Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito, David Strathairn, Ron Rifkin, Matt McCoy, Paul Guilfoyle, Paolo Seganti, Elisabeth Granli, Sandra Taylor, Steve Rankin, Graham Beckel, Allan Graf, Precious Chong, Symba Smith, Bob Clendenin, Lennie Loftin, Will Zahrn, Amber Smith, Darrell Sandeen, Michael Warwick, Simon Baker, Shawnee Free Jones, Matthew Allen Bretz, Thomas Rosales Jr., Shane Dixon, Norman Howell, Brian Lally Don Pulford Chris Short, John Mahon, Tomas Arana, Michael McCleery, George Yager, Jack Conley, Ginger Slaughter, Jack Knight, John H. Evans, Gene Wolande, Brian Bossetta, Michael Chieffo, Gwenda Deacon, Mike Kennedy, Ingo Neuhaus, Robert Harrison Jim Metzler, Robert Barry Fleming, Jeremiah Birkett, Salim Grant, Karreem Washington, Noel Evangelisti, Marisol Padilla Sánchez, Jeff Sanders, Steven Lambert, Jordan Marder, Gregory White, April Breneman, Lisa Worthy, Beverly Sharpe, Colin Mitchell, John Slade , Brenda Bakke

Anyone who thinks that the sun-drenched heyday of 1950s Hollywood was all about glitz and glamour, is soon disappointed in ‘LA Confidential’, when it turns out that beneath the glossy polished surface and the fanatically maintained facade is one big cesspool of corruption, prostitution, drug trafficking and murder. With a strong, cynical monologue, Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito), the publisher of the scandal “Hush-Hush”, introduces the film. The ideal picture of healthy, loving families, orange trees, cheap housing and the dream factory of Hollywood is punctuated with authentic film shots, in which various stars make their appearance. But then the tone of the commentary changes and the dark side of Hollywood is shown: mob boss Mickey Cohen and his accomplices, who seem to have a firm grip on organized crime in Los Angeles. But when Cohen (Paul Guilfoyle) goes to jail for tax evasion and his lieutenants are killed one by one, it turns out that there are more hijackers on the coast, eager to steal some of the lucrative and illegal trade. This is the background and the beginning of the film, which seamlessly blends fact and fiction (Cohen actually existed, for example).

That mixture of reality and fantasy is well suited to thriller author James Ellroy, who wrote the book of the same name on which the film is based. Screenwriter Brian Helgeland edited the nearly 500-page novel together with director Hanson – and with great success. The complicated plot of the book is admittedly somewhat simplified, but the duo knows how to present the various, apparently separate storylines with a lot of bravado and conviction. The result is an intelligent and exciting thriller, which makes the viewer actively think along and at the same time keep them on the edge of their seat. After introducing the main characters (all beautifully written scenes), the film picks up steam when a mass murder takes place in the “Nite Owl”, a dingy cafeteria.

One of the victims is the newly fired officer Dick Stensland (Graham Beckel). Three police officers, each for their own reasons, dive into the case, which is more mysterious than it appears at first: Ed Exley, Bud White and Jack Vincennes. From that moment it becomes clear that ‘LA Confidential’ is a film of an exceptionally high class, which can compete with the greatest classics. The then virtually unknown Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe looked at the opportunity of a lifetime with beautiful and well-balanced roles. Pearce plays the ambitious and dutiful Edmund Exley, son of a renowned police officer, who is hated for his pushy behavior, his cold arrogance and his refusal to go outside the box. Crowe is more or less his polar opposite as the hot-tempered cop Wendell “Bud” White, who sometimes plays in his own right to protect battered women and is used as a jack-of-all-trades by his supervisor, Inspector Dudley Smith (James Cromwell). The trio of agents is complemented by Kevin Spacey as the slightly seedy detective Jack Vincennes. He is the technical advisor for the fictional TV show “Badge of Honor” (obviously based on the existing “Dragnet”), but at the same time acts as Sid Hudgens’ tipster and bribable partner in order to trap Hollywood actors with all kinds of drugs.

The plot expands further when it turns out that the mysterious millionaire and financier Pierce Patchett (David Straithairn) also seems to have ties with one of the victims. Through him, Bud White ends up with luxury call girl Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger), who works for a company that employs call girls who look like movie stars. For example, Bracken resembles Veronica Lake and there are many others like her. Exley, meanwhile, can’t shake the feeling that there’s more to the case, and Vincennes tries to correct a mistake made, which has dire consequences for aspiring actor Matt Reynolds (Simon Baker). All these storylines appear to be connected in one way or another, creating a very richly woven tapestry of human frailties and a variety of crimes. Everything about the film is right: the story is brilliant, the actors are all in top form, the decoration and the film noir setting are beautifully executed. Director Hanson manages to capture even the smallest moments in just the right way and veteran Dante Spinotti’s camera work captures the 1950s in his lenses.

LA Confidential was nominated for nine Oscars in 1998. Kim Basinger won a (deserved) Oscar for Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards. Helgeland and Hanson also went home with a statuette for “best screenplay, based on previously existing material”. Unfortunately, it stayed with these two Oscars. All the other seven nominations were not cashed in: they went to that other film from 1997 about that boat and that iceberg. Whether ‘LA Confidential’ was thereby robbed has been debated by film historians, connoisseurs and aficionados since the award itself. Not to mention that none of the male actors even got a nomination. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that there are so many supporting and supporting male roles in the film. Award-winning or not, ‘LA Confidential’ is a film that is right on all levels and it is not for nothing that it is high on the lists of favorite films of connoisseurs. Not to be missed and a “must see” for every self-respecting film lover.