L.A. Confidential

Confidential was a magazine of the 1950s, a monthly that sold millions of copies with its unpleasant articles of celebrity drugs and erotic material. Roger Ebert admitted, “I found it on my dad’s night table and read it breathlessly, the stories of reefer parties, multiple divorces, wife-swapping and “leading men” who liked to wear frilly undergarments. The magazine sank in a sea of lawsuits, but it created a genre; the trash tabloids are its direct descendants.”

Ebert continued, “Watching “L.A. Confidential,” I felt some of the same insider thrill that “Confidential” provided: The movie, like the magazine, is based on the belief that there are a million stories in the city, and all of them will raise your eyebrows and curl your hair.” The beginning is narrated by Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito), who publishes Hush-Hush magazine and bribes a cop named Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) to arrest celebrities. Ebert noted, “Jack is photographed with his luckless victims, and is famous as the guy who caught Robert Mitchum smoking marijuana.”

It's Christmas Eve in 1953 and Bing Crosby is playing on the radio as cops pick up cases of free alcohol for their holiday parties. Back at the headquarters, there are three officers who, in their mind, represent the future decisions for the LAPD. Ebert said, “Vincennes, star-struck, lives for his job as technical adviser to “Badge of Honor,” a “Dragnet”-style television show.” Bud White, played by Russell Crowe, is an aggressive young cop who is willing to accommodate the department’s relaxed methods. Ed Exley, played by Guy Pearce, is the straight man, his glasses making him look like a strong accountant – one who might work for the FBI.

Ed is an ambitious man who wants to do everything by the book. His captain, Dudley Smith, played by James Cromwell, kindly explain that an officer must be prepared to lie, cheat, and steal – obviously in the name of being sure the guilty get arrested. Captain Smith likes to call his men “good lads,” and looks wise we can almost believe him as he does little quizzes and explains that advancement depends on being prepared to give the “right answers.” “L.A. Confidential,” released in 1997, has the atmosphere and tradition of film noir, but it doesn’t look like a period picture – it believes its noir values and isn’t just using them for decoration. Ebert said, “It’s based on a novel by James Ellroy, that lanky, sardonic poet of Los Angeles sleaze. Its director, Curtis Hanson (“Bad Influence,” “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle”), weaves a labyrinthine plot, but the twists are always clear because the characters are so sharply drawn; we don’t know who’s guilty or innocent, but we know who should be.”

The story is about a series of crimes that occurred during the beginning of 1997. Associates of Mickey Cohen, the L.A. mob boss, become victims of the type of gang executions. There’s a massacre at an all-night coffee shot. One of the victims is a twisted cop, and three black youths are immediately made as suspects, despite there’s thought that someone else is behind the crime.

We meet a millionaire adult filmmaker named Pierce Patchett, played by David Strathairn. He runs a top-notch call girl operation where aspiring young actresses are given plastic surgery to make them resemble movie stars. One of the them is Lynn Bracken, played by Kim Basinger, who, it is said, has been “cut” to look like Veronica Lake. Bud White finds her, thinking she’ll be able to tell about the coffee-shop massacre. (“You’re the first man in months who hasn’t told me I look just like Veronica Lake.”) Ebert admitted, “At this point, perhaps an hour into the movie, I felt inside a Raymond Chandler novel: not only because of the atmosphere and the dialogue, but also because there seemed to be no way all of these characters and events could be drawn together into a plot that made sense. Not that I would have cared; I enjoy film noir for the journey as much as the destination.”

However, Hanson and his co-writer, Brian Helgeland, have everything come together, and as the film goes on, there’s an unlikely camaraderie between two cops who start off as enemies. The film’s thought that despite it being miniscule in free booze and a little fix, there are some things a police officer just can’t do and look himself in the mirror in the morning.

The film is filled in L.A. folklore. Ellroy is a student of the city’s tough streets. It focuses on the town just at that postwar time when it was beginning to become self-conscious about the story. Ebert said, “Joseph Wambaugh writes in one of his books that he is constantly amazed by the hidden threads that connect the high to the low, the royalty to the vermin, in Los Angeles–where a hooker is only a role from stardom, and vice, as they say, versa.”

Ebert said, “One of the best scenes takes place in the Formosa Cafe, a restaurant much frequented in the 1940s by unlikely boothfellows.” Cops arrive to question Johnny Stompanato, a thug who may know something about the Cohen killings. His date tears him apart. “A hooker cut to look like Lana Turner is still a hooker,” Exley tells her, but Jack Vincennes knows better: “She is Lana Turner,” he says with such amusement.

One of the reasons “L.A. Confidential” is so good, why it deserves to be mentioned with “Chinatown,” it that it’s not just plot and atmosphere. There are believable characters here, not least Kim Basinger’s prostitute, whose silent line, “I thought I was helping you,” is one of the movie’s most revealing moments. Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce are two Australian actors who here move believably into star-making roles, and Kevin Spacey uses perfect timing to suggest his character’s ability to move between two worlds while betraying both (he has a wonderful scene where he refuses to cooperate with a department investigation – until they threaten his job on the TV show).

Behind everything, setting the moral tone and pulling a lot of the storylines, is the sharp captain, appearing so helpful. Ebert said, “James Cromwell, who was the kindly farmer in “Babe,” has the same benevolent smile in this role, but the eyes are cold, and in his values can be seen, perhaps, the road ahead to Rodney King.” “L.A. Confidential” is charming and beautiful, sarcastic and twisting, and one of the best films of 1997.

I had heard about this movie for quite some time and I must have been thinking about seeing it for some time now. Then, while I was exercising a few months back, I saw this film on Hulu. The film is not on there anymore. You would have to buy it off of Amazon. However, it is one of those films that you have to see because it is amazing. You will love the crime thrillers of this film because it is just edge of your seat. Check it out and have a great time watching it.

Next week, I will be looking at a film that is quite a strange film that will have you wondering about what they were thinking, but it’s still a good film, in “Kevin Spacey Month.”