L.A. ConfidentialSome cops are soldiers in the war on crime--and for some it makes no difference what side they're on. L.A. Confidential is noir crime drama and action film adapted from the novel of the same name by James Ellroy. Like other entries from his "L.A. Quartet" of novels, L.A. Confidential is a detective story set amid the glamour and the grime of Los Angeles, circa 1953. It is the story of three very different police officers: the rough-and-ready Wendell "Bud" White (Russell Crowe), the ambitious and by-the-book Edmund "Ed" Exley (Guy Pearce), and the Hollywood hobnobber and television consultant, Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey). In L.A. Confidential, all three eventually end up caught in a web of intrigue and deception surrounding a brutal killing at a late-night diner called the Nite Owl.
|
|
L.A. Confidential begins shortly after the arrest of notorious gangster, Mickey Cohen, leaving a power vacuum for control of the young city's vice trade in its wake. This is alluded to in the opening montage, narrated by Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito), the publisher of a popular scandal rag known as "Hush-Hush", between footage of a star-studded and halcyon City of Angels. Sid's sardonic tone is like a verbal smirk at the audience, as he hints at the glitz and glamour being merely a front for the corruption at the core of a city that is anything but angelic. L.A. Confidential explores the symbiotic relationship between crime and the police, and how the boundaries are more blurred than they seem. Jack has an arrangement with Sid to make public arrests of high-profile celebrities to bolster the sleazy publisher's distribution, which also keeps Jack in the limelight. Jack takes (and offers) bribes--he calls them "gratuities"--but despite his questionable ethics, this is virtually as far as his abuse of authority goes. Bud makes it a personal crusade to defend battered women, and flourishes his fists like poets use sonnets to make the consequences clear to those who would hurt them. Yet Bud has what has become referred to as "anger management issues"; he is like an attack dog, easily coerced into losing his cool. When his partner, Richard Stensland (Graham Beckel), learns that a group of Mexicans were purported to have assaulted a couple of other cops, a grapevine effect causes the story to blow up out of proportion, and Stensland leads a drunken assault of his own on the suspects in custody. When Bud tries to intervene and pull his partner away, one of the victims of Stensland's brutality lashes out at Bud, who in turn repays the insult with violence, perpetuating a riot in the cell block that the press dubs "Bloody Christmas". Ed is unflinchingly rigid in his creed that justice cannot come at the expense of procedure--an ethos that disappoints his "old school" police captain, Dudley Smith (James Cromwell). He chides Ed about not having the "stomach" to make the hard decisions that he believes a hero detective (like his father) must possess to cut it as a cop. Ed is the watch commander during the ill-fated Christmas party, yet he is completely ineffectual in preventing the inebriated cops from their embarrassing violation of their prisoners' rights. Despite his "Boy Scout" exterior, Ed deftly leverages his testimony--which contributes to Stensland losing his job, and nearly Bud--into a promotion to Lieutenant Detective, proudly pointing out that he obtained the same rank as his father "three years" earlier.
It could be said that the three protagonists of L.A. Confidential represent three extreme interpretations of justice--even Jack. Bud is often believed to be stupid because of his reliance on brute force to put criminals in their place. Bud may lack the cunning of men like Jack and Ed, but he is logical and capable of reading people--when his vision isn't clouded by his perception of injustice. Before the Christmas party, Bud crosses paths with Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger) at a liquor store, later revealed to be a prostitute made up to resemble Hollywood actress, Veronica Lake. Bud reacts aggressively when he sees another woman--Susan Lefferts (Amber Smith)--in a car parked outside with a bandage over her nose, while in the company of a couple of dubious looking men. Because his default setting is violence, Bud is all too ready to exploit his position as a cop to defend the honor of someone he assumes is an abused woman, until Lynn emerges and clears up the misunderstanding. After the indictments for the jail riot, Dudley uses Bud's gun and badge to lure him into a series of secret rendezvous, where Dudley capitalizes on Bud's rage to dragoon several criminals from staying in his city. Bud quickly becomes disgusted with these events, and begins to reconsider his place in this spectrum of violence. Lynn remains a fixture in Bud's thoughts, and the two begin a relationship that appears independent of his investigations. Bud's perception of justice is more black and white than Ed and Jack's, evidenced when he tells Lynn about how his father beat his mother to death, and was never apprehended. Bud considers himself a crusader for the downtrodden, and sees Lynn this way because she is a "fallen" woman. After his trust is betrayed, his reactions are predictably explosive; despite his pain, his telling reaction is more like that of a heartbroken adolescent than a disciplined cop.
Ed lives in the shadow of his father, who was gunned down in the line of duty by an unknown crook. He shares this story with Jack to earn his trust, and tells him of how he gave the killer a name--"Rollo Tomasi"--which he uses to describe someone who "gets away with it". Ed knew that his father--like Dudley--would resort to unsavory methods to achieve his ends, and tells himself that he can do it without going to these lengths. But Ed has an uncommon gift at maneuvering events and manipulating his audience into getting his way, be they cop or criminal, or sometimes both. Ed doesn't rise up the ranks on his merit--it is a "payoff" for his complicity in his superiors' scheme to save face after the riot. After Dudley takes command of the Nite Owl shooting from Ed, he partners with Jack and trusts in his instincts to find the suspected shooters, instead of following protocol and interrogating the assigned suspects. Ed begins to understand a fundamental tenet of crime: smart criminals prosper when they can subvert the law and exploit situations where police adhere strictly to procedure. Like Bud before him, Ed crosses paths with a reserved yet insidious millionaire named Pierce Morehouse Patchett (David Strathairn), whose ventures range from land development to running an upscale prostitution and pornography ring called "Fleur-de-Lis". Ed begins to connect the victims of the shooting at the Nite Owl and Patchett's operations; but the more questions he asks, the more he finds he doesn't like the answers. Ed is initially intractable in his attitude about the law, and is willing to sacrifice camaraderie for honor without blinking. But Ed is faced with the reality that he needs people like Jack and even Bud to pull back the curtain on a larger evil at work in Los Angeles. A key moment in Ed's reevaluation of his interpretation of justice follows a conversation he has with a Mexican woman named Inez Soto (Marisol Padilla Sánchez), who had been beaten and raped by the three suspects in the Nite Owl shooting. He concludes that despite the horrors inflicted upon her, she catered her statement about the time they left to incriminate them in the shooting, leaving Ed with the moral paradox of what it means to be "guilty" or "innocent".
Jack is initially presented as an opportunist, whose work as a "technical consultant" on the popular cop show, "Badge of Honor", keeps him rubbing elbows with the stars. He relishes this lifestyle and the fame that comes with it--dressing with panache, and flirting with beautiful actresses; that Sid bribes him for his participation in his carefully timed arrests seems superfluous. But Jack isn't just a slick media hog--he actually has the skills and connections necessary to be a successful detective in Los Angeles, including being able to connect clues like a card he picks up for Fleur-de-Lis with something an actor comments about months later. Jack's conscience is resurrected after he conspires with Sid to stage a homosexual tryst between an aspiring actor named Matt Reynolds (Simon Baker)--who Jack had publicly arrested on marijuana charges--and the District Attorney, Ellis Loew (Ron Rifkin). After Jack tries to prevent the sting from taking place, he instead discovers Matt has been murdered, and feels responsible for leading the naive actor to an early grave. Jack's interpretation of "justice" had been one where by playing along with the narrative of Los Angeles as a "good" city--where even movie stars and jazz musicians can be picked up for doing drugs--that he was keeping the city's residents in a state of tranquility. Jack uses his connections and bribes mete out justice to the bigger fish--or so he tells himself. After Matt's death, Jack works outside of his comfort zone, and digs deeper into suspicious dealings of Stensland and his former partner, another infamously crooked cop named Leland "Buzz" Meeks (Darrell Sandeen). But Jack hasn't practiced this brand of investigative procedure in a while--something even Dudley teases him about. Jack's crisis of conscience and his subsequent partnership with Ed comes after the ranking officer asks him why he joined the force; all Jack can say is that he doesn't remember.
Recommended for: Fans of a detective story inspired by the noir classics of the 1940s, as well as conspiracy thrillers like Chinatown. L.A. Confidential is a character-driven mystery that explores themes like justice and honor through three different men, who are forced to reevaluate their definitions when confronted with hard choices and corruption.
It could be said that the three protagonists of L.A. Confidential represent three extreme interpretations of justice--even Jack. Bud is often believed to be stupid because of his reliance on brute force to put criminals in their place. Bud may lack the cunning of men like Jack and Ed, but he is logical and capable of reading people--when his vision isn't clouded by his perception of injustice. Before the Christmas party, Bud crosses paths with Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger) at a liquor store, later revealed to be a prostitute made up to resemble Hollywood actress, Veronica Lake. Bud reacts aggressively when he sees another woman--Susan Lefferts (Amber Smith)--in a car parked outside with a bandage over her nose, while in the company of a couple of dubious looking men. Because his default setting is violence, Bud is all too ready to exploit his position as a cop to defend the honor of someone he assumes is an abused woman, until Lynn emerges and clears up the misunderstanding. After the indictments for the jail riot, Dudley uses Bud's gun and badge to lure him into a series of secret rendezvous, where Dudley capitalizes on Bud's rage to dragoon several criminals from staying in his city. Bud quickly becomes disgusted with these events, and begins to reconsider his place in this spectrum of violence. Lynn remains a fixture in Bud's thoughts, and the two begin a relationship that appears independent of his investigations. Bud's perception of justice is more black and white than Ed and Jack's, evidenced when he tells Lynn about how his father beat his mother to death, and was never apprehended. Bud considers himself a crusader for the downtrodden, and sees Lynn this way because she is a "fallen" woman. After his trust is betrayed, his reactions are predictably explosive; despite his pain, his telling reaction is more like that of a heartbroken adolescent than a disciplined cop.
Ed lives in the shadow of his father, who was gunned down in the line of duty by an unknown crook. He shares this story with Jack to earn his trust, and tells him of how he gave the killer a name--"Rollo Tomasi"--which he uses to describe someone who "gets away with it". Ed knew that his father--like Dudley--would resort to unsavory methods to achieve his ends, and tells himself that he can do it without going to these lengths. But Ed has an uncommon gift at maneuvering events and manipulating his audience into getting his way, be they cop or criminal, or sometimes both. Ed doesn't rise up the ranks on his merit--it is a "payoff" for his complicity in his superiors' scheme to save face after the riot. After Dudley takes command of the Nite Owl shooting from Ed, he partners with Jack and trusts in his instincts to find the suspected shooters, instead of following protocol and interrogating the assigned suspects. Ed begins to understand a fundamental tenet of crime: smart criminals prosper when they can subvert the law and exploit situations where police adhere strictly to procedure. Like Bud before him, Ed crosses paths with a reserved yet insidious millionaire named Pierce Morehouse Patchett (David Strathairn), whose ventures range from land development to running an upscale prostitution and pornography ring called "Fleur-de-Lis". Ed begins to connect the victims of the shooting at the Nite Owl and Patchett's operations; but the more questions he asks, the more he finds he doesn't like the answers. Ed is initially intractable in his attitude about the law, and is willing to sacrifice camaraderie for honor without blinking. But Ed is faced with the reality that he needs people like Jack and even Bud to pull back the curtain on a larger evil at work in Los Angeles. A key moment in Ed's reevaluation of his interpretation of justice follows a conversation he has with a Mexican woman named Inez Soto (Marisol Padilla Sánchez), who had been beaten and raped by the three suspects in the Nite Owl shooting. He concludes that despite the horrors inflicted upon her, she catered her statement about the time they left to incriminate them in the shooting, leaving Ed with the moral paradox of what it means to be "guilty" or "innocent".
Jack is initially presented as an opportunist, whose work as a "technical consultant" on the popular cop show, "Badge of Honor", keeps him rubbing elbows with the stars. He relishes this lifestyle and the fame that comes with it--dressing with panache, and flirting with beautiful actresses; that Sid bribes him for his participation in his carefully timed arrests seems superfluous. But Jack isn't just a slick media hog--he actually has the skills and connections necessary to be a successful detective in Los Angeles, including being able to connect clues like a card he picks up for Fleur-de-Lis with something an actor comments about months later. Jack's conscience is resurrected after he conspires with Sid to stage a homosexual tryst between an aspiring actor named Matt Reynolds (Simon Baker)--who Jack had publicly arrested on marijuana charges--and the District Attorney, Ellis Loew (Ron Rifkin). After Jack tries to prevent the sting from taking place, he instead discovers Matt has been murdered, and feels responsible for leading the naive actor to an early grave. Jack's interpretation of "justice" had been one where by playing along with the narrative of Los Angeles as a "good" city--where even movie stars and jazz musicians can be picked up for doing drugs--that he was keeping the city's residents in a state of tranquility. Jack uses his connections and bribes mete out justice to the bigger fish--or so he tells himself. After Matt's death, Jack works outside of his comfort zone, and digs deeper into suspicious dealings of Stensland and his former partner, another infamously crooked cop named Leland "Buzz" Meeks (Darrell Sandeen). But Jack hasn't practiced this brand of investigative procedure in a while--something even Dudley teases him about. Jack's crisis of conscience and his subsequent partnership with Ed comes after the ranking officer asks him why he joined the force; all Jack can say is that he doesn't remember.
Recommended for: Fans of a detective story inspired by the noir classics of the 1940s, as well as conspiracy thrillers like Chinatown. L.A. Confidential is a character-driven mystery that explores themes like justice and honor through three different men, who are forced to reevaluate their definitions when confronted with hard choices and corruption.