Movie Review: LA Confidential (1997)
“It’ll look like justice. That’s what the man got. Justice.”
Adapted from the 1990 novel of the same name by James Elroy, LA Confidential (#62 IMDb Top 250, 99% RT) is a period crime thriller set in 1950′s Los Angeles where Hollywood’s deceptive gloss is met with a deeply corrupted and dark underworld where even the cops are up to no good. If you haven’t seen the movie, I would recommend you to stop reading this review, as it contains slight spoilers, and run to the video store to buy or rent this gem!
Helmed by Curtis Hanson, this is the tale of three cops who are caught in the investigation of a grizzly shooting at a night dinner which progressively uncovers deeply entrenched and rampant corruption all around them. Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) is a homicide veteran, more interested in his cherished role as a TV show consultant than chasing real criminals. Vincennes, aka “Hollywood Jack” also routinely gets illicit cash hand-offs from Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito), the editor for the tabloid Hush Hush Magazine. In exchange for cash and notoriety, Vincennes busts and arrests public figures in the middle of embarrassing acts that Sid carefully sets up. Straight arrow Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) is a self-righteous cop who is willing to do anything to advance through the ranks of the LAPD. After receiving a promotion to Detective-Lieutenant for testifying against his fellow cops –almost causing Wendell “Bud” White (Russell Crowe) to lose his job– Exley becomes strongly isolated and resented by other cops. Finally, Bud White is a brutish, no-nonsense young police officer with a very short fuse and a seeping hate for anyone who beats women. He is unknowingly coerced and manipulated by Capt. Dudley Smith (James Cromwell) after the latter saves his job.
“Wendell – I’d like full and docile co-operation on every topic.”
Nominated for 9 Oscars including Best Picture, LA Confidential was overcome by the Titanic phenomenon but this is not to say it is the lesser film, quite the contrary in fact. Superbly written, the narrative is deeply involving, dense and twisted, never telegraphing the sometimes very violent outcomes of the movie. Although you will need to pay close attention all the way through to fully comprehend the movie, the numerous subplots and twist and turns never feel like they are not fully part of the overall story. From the first instant, you are immersed into the atmosphere of 1950′s Los Angeles: the looks, tone and soundtrack of the movie hit the perfect notes in acclimating the viewer to the moral depravity of the people inhabiting the story. The occasional narration by Danny DeVito gives the film a feeling of old-time as well as provide some dark humor and cynicism.
The characters of the film are fascinating and more than half a dozen of them are fully fleshed out. This is unlike the vast majority of movies that don’t even bother fully developing even one or two of the main characters. Here, you have characters that are all flawed and have complex and sometimes hidden motives. It doesn’t become clear for quite some time who the heroes and villains of LA Confidential are. Bud White, Ed Exley or Jack Vincennes could easily be stereotypical villains in other more conventional movies. When we finally figure it out, we realize that our heroes are flawed: they are selfish, practical, disillusioned, and bitter but at the same time, deep inside, they still want to believe in being decent and virtuous policemen. The movie is driven by the constantly palpable tension between Exley and White. This eventually unleashes a violent outburst when White learns of a brief affair between Exley and Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger), the woman White fell madly in love with.
The terrific ensemble cast is given substantial material to work with and every one of them delivers the goods. The casting of two then-unknown “Aussies” (Crowe is from New Zealand, Pearce from England) as the two leads was audacious and risky. It all worked out perfectly however as Russell Crowe pulls through an eye-opening performance as the brutish and self-loathing Bud White who strongly believes violence can fix anything. Guy Pearce is equally brilliant as Exley and he gives him that stuck-up boy-scout aloofness that we all find slightly unlikable. Kevin Spacey is his usual slick and smooth-talking self as Vincennes, a man who sees his own corruption scheme as a harmless game until someone dies because of it. The supporting cast is highlighted by the nuanced and ultimately creepy James Cromwell who is at his best as Captain Dudley Smith, Kim Bassinger, who won the Oscar for best supporting actress for her role in the movie as a high-end call-girl who looks like Veronica Lake, David Strathairn as her high-end pimp, and Danny DeVito as the sleazy journalist looking to uncover the next sensational headline.
A timeless and classy masterpiece of the nineties, LA Confidential is a troubling reminder of how captivating and intellectually satisfying a movie can be when a densely plotted narrative is flawlessly executed at every level.
A+
Lesson of the Day: “Hold up your badge, so they’ll know you’re a policeman.”
Notes: Rated R for strong violence and language, and for sexuality. 138 min.
35 Comments
Lovely. Weird, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it.
See it now. Now.
Seriously, why are you still reading this? See it now!
I’m kidding, but it’s very worth seeing.
This film doesn’t even get enough credit for how good it is… and people like it so that’s saying alot!
“Superbly written”… I believe it’s in the WGA’s top 100.
The craziest thing about this film is the writer Brian Helgeland. He has the strangest resume. Check it out:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001338/
He varies up and down from great films (like Mystic River) to horrible films (like the Postman).
And remember this is all off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush…
I kind of dig that it doesn’t get full credit for being great. It makes it a kind of secret handshake for movie folk who are on top of their required watching.
Yep, my newest pet peeve is film snobs who claim this movie is “overrated”. Very few non-hardcore film nerds are even really aware of it, so how can it be overrated?
I don’t want to take anything away from Helgeland as it definitely was a tough challenge to adapt a 500-page novel into this great movie but the original material already existed. Just saying
I agree with you. There is some kind of camaraderie for those of us that have the massive love and appeal for this flick, as damn good as it is.
This movie just oozes classic. I think most who watch it instantly feel that just raw intensity. Combining the modern need for big action with classical story telling, and a perfect spin on the cops and robbers tale, it just has it all. I really love it, and it’s one of those movies I can’t stop revisiting.
The only downside to this movie, is the countless crooked cop films that have so desperately tried to mimic over the last 13 years.
I’ve always felt that Captain Dudley Smithe is one of the best villains ever. Top five movie villains of all time.
Yea, it comes from pretty much out of nowhere when he shoots Jack Vincennes.
“Rollo Tomasi”… just one of the words that stay with me from this fantastic film. Kai, I like that one you mentioned also. I agree Castor, this is by no means lesser than Titanic at all, most of the time the Academy has no clue what ‘quality’ films mean if it hit ‘em in the face! The script is wonderful, but most of all the performances, especially the two then-unknown Aussies playing American cops! I’d have loved to see either Crowe or Pearce got Oscar noms instead of Bassinger, but I guess amongst other work in her resume, this was one of her best. Another Aussie Simon Baker also had a pretty memorable cameo as the murdered male escort. I gotta re-watch this again one of these days.
Dude, that WAS the Mentalist!!!
You just blew my mind! hahaha
Proud recipient of a space on my desert island list, this film is the very definition of a modern classic. No matter what Russell Crowe does with his personal or professional life, he will always have Bud White in his repertoire.
I mentioned somewhere before that the DVD has a “music only” mode that you should check out – no dialogue at all. That’s a testament to the carefully built atmosphere.
I don’t think Curtis Hanson will ever top this film, but I will never tire of watching him try.
Check out the Mentalist as the struggling bisexual actor. Another “Aussie”?
lol I was wondering for a long time who he was, it’s The Mentalist!!! Obviously Russell Crowe has done really well since this movie but it’s odd to see that aside from the awesome Memento, Guy Pearce hasn’t really capitalized on this fantastic performance.
Hey, great review. I can’t really add anything that everyone else already hasn’t. This is just a great movie. It recalls a time when movies were about stories and characters and sex and suspense and not effects and explosions. I totally need to sit down with this movie again sometime soon. I also really liked Hanson’s underrated Lucky Numbers which explores the same themes as this and his other movies but of course within a different genre. Keep up the good work.
Exactly Mike. Enough of the cheap entertainment already. Make some great movies and watch the money and accolade fly…
Thanks Mike and Welcome!
This is truly one of the most compelling and most thoroughly enjoyable crime thrillers to have come along in the past decade.
I have not seen this film in some time but I don’t remember at fervently as you do. It certainly is good, but I don’t love it much. I’m not too fond of Elroy’s novel, though, so that probably accounts for something. It’s a film that reminds me of Magnolia in a way. All the parts are individually good – acting, costumes, direction, cinematographer. But when it’s all put together, I’m not crazy about it.
Is it my imagination, or does this blog looks more and more like Cool Awesome Movies everyday in design? (except for lack of boobs)
I’m following the way of my masters
Just another example of Russel Crowe’s inability to make a bad movie! Now you get Crowe, Spacey and Pierce! Great MOVIE!
While I would hate to say I have my own personal problems with “your favorite movie”, but I still don’t love the film. I admit, the writing was stellar and there’s some of the best acting talent and performances of the decade in this one film, but I felt some of the narration was a little lacking and a longer way to get to the end result. However that’s just me.
The movie does clock in over 2 hours but for such a densely plotted movie, personally, time flew by
Now I want to see this again.
As if I needed a reason.
Easily in my favorite films of all time, but would also fall into my list of “best” films of all time, and those two lists don’t necessarily runneth over on a regular basis. From the writing, to the acting, to the cinematography, this film hits it’s mark and then some on every end of the spectrum. I’m with Darren. Now I feel like watching it again.
Ahhh, the fabled A+ I’ve been waiting so long for. I gotta see this again, awesome movie and still the best thing Crowe’s ever done IMHO. Well done, good sir.
Okay, I’m sorry. I hate doing this and I debated if I even should….first, I agree with everything you say. This is a great review and it is a good movie….until the end. The end, by which I mean the SECOND end, just ruined it for me. Imagine if in “Chinatown” it turned out that Evelyn Mulwray had lived. That’s what it was like for me when Bud White turned up alive. Plus, they had to have Exley sit down and explain everything? Why? It’s end of “Psycho”-lite. They HAD the perfect shot to end it (Exley with his badge raised) and couldn’t leave perfect alone.
This might just be me. I apologize to all who I’ve angered. I’m honestly sorry.
The “second” end was a bit too Hollywood neat but given how much of a great time I had until then, it didn’t bother me one bit. Sure, they could have left it out right after Exley raises his badge but I wouldn’t let the last 5 minutes ruin this great movie! Thanks for comment Nicholas
I am the 1% on RT that just cannot abide LA Conf. I was sooo bored, and I think that Kim Basinger is dead inside…..so dead
This movie is so damn great. Hanson at his best.
*shakes his fist at James Cameron and “Titanic”*
Great performances from Crowe, Pearce, Spacey and Cromwell. Excellent casting.
I wasn’t very big into Spacey when he was in pretty much everything at the time. But looking back at his films giving once overs and second looks, I am more and more impressed. Though people love him (as do I) in The Usual Suspects, it’s far from his best. But as a side character in L.A. he was at the top of his game. I was floored when he got adios’ed. But wow, Spacey is just solid!
I can’t buy Dudley as a top 5 villian all time. I might agree with Heather on the top 100 all time, personally. We actually sat down and watched it last nite after having read this… my wife didn’t remember it. She was making sounds throughout the whole movie, reacting to the scenes… true sign of a well crafted film!
Best film of the 90′s. Hands down. It’s flawless.
One of my favorite films of all time!
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