L.A. Confidential
(Region 1 NTSC DVD)
(1997)
review by Suicide Blonde

Someday I’d like to sit down with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and ask what the HELL they were thinking when they handed out some Oscars. And being the voice of reason that I am, surely I could persuade them to revise some awards and give that statue of the naked golden guy to the movies that deserve it.

(Of course I’d also love to end world hunger, invent a clean, renewable energy source, and be able to eat all the Reese’s peanut butter cups I want without gaining weight. And a pony, I’d like that too.)

One of the awards I’d like the Academy to reconsider is the Oscar for Best Picture of 1997. This award went to Titanic. I liked Titanic fine at the time, but it hasn’t aged well, and I’ve never had the urge to watch it again. The movie that should have received the Oscar? L. A. Confidential.

Based on the brutal, epic novel by James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential is set in 1953 and focuses on three very different Los Angeles policemen. Bud White (Russell Crowe, looking great in a wifebeater T-shirt) is violence-prone and somewhat thuggish but has a soft spot for damsels in distress. Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey, looking great in some very snappy clothes) is a narcotics detective who is the technical advisor on the “Badge of Honor” TV show (a thinly disguised “Dragnet”) and who gets additional fame and monetary kickbacks from a tabloid magazine by busting movie stars for dope. Ed Exley (Guy Pearce, looking great in glasses) is a young detective precariously balancing his desire for justice against his considerable ambition.

The three are brought together first by a police brutality scandal, then by a multiple slaying at a diner. The diner massacre seems to be an open-and-shut case but soon is revealed as something much bigger, leading to a web of police and political corruption that includes organized crime, heroin, prostitution, blackmail. Oh yes, and violence and murder as well – every character we meet in the movie’s first 15 minutes will be beaten up, shot, dead, or some combination of those, by the time the end credits roll.

To say more would spoil the many surprises of L.A. Confidential – suffice to say that nothing is quite what it seems. What lifts the story above the usual “evil hiding behind the good” scenario is that good is often found hiding in the unlikeliest places. Badly behaving, amoral men can find the will to work for justice instead of serving their own ambitions and needs (though the price they pay can be high).

Director Curtis Hanson and his co-screenwriter Brian Helgeland have done a remarkable job of capturing Los Angeles in the 1950s – if your concept of the 1950s is based off “Happy Days” and “Leave it to Beaver”, think again. Jerry Goldsmith’s score is note-perfect, as is the selection of songs from the time that grace the soundtrack.

Hanson’s and Helgeland’s adaptation of Ellroy’s novel is one of the best book-to-film translations I’ve seen. It was no easy task condensing a 500-page book that spans seven years and has enough plot for three books into a two-hour movie, but Hanson and Helgeland succeeded admirably, focusing on the main plot and condensing characters. The result is that you can enjoy both book and movie on their own terms, or in conjunction with each other (which I heartily recommend you do).

One thing that really makes L. A. Confidential a joy to watch is the acting. Spacey, Crowe, and Pearce are all magnificent, telling you more with their eyes and their body language than a lesser actor could do in pages of dialogue. The supporting cast is also good: Danny DeVito as an unscrupulous tabloid reporter, Kim Basinger as a Veronica Lake look-alike prostitute, David Strathairn as a decadent businessman (and Basinger’s pimp), and James Cromwell as police chief Dudley Smith. Those of you who only know Cromwell from the movie about the talking pig are in for a real treat.

The DVD comes with a decent set of extras: 3 documentary features (one of which showcases the cast and crew, and Mr. Demon Dog himself, James Ellroy), trailers and TV spots, and a music-only track. Sadly, no director commentary.

Go ahead and treat yourself to some fine crime drama. Off the record, on the QT and very…hush hush.