Hush hush

Movie review time again, this time I've picked another one of my favourite films, L.A. Confidential, which is a modern noir classic, although if you look at the timeline its more a tribute to noir as its set in the 1950s, not the 1940s, but its along the same lines.  So here's a bit more about it.

The film begins on Christmas Eve 1952, where the hot headed, thuggish police officer Wendell "Bud" White (Russell Crowe) stops a violent domestic dispute between a married couple, Bud himself has a thing for not tolerating women beaters.  After that, Bud and his partner Dick Stensland (Graham Beckel) go back to the police station, where six Mexican suspects are brought into the station who apparently attacked two of the station's officers.  In a vengeful mood, Stensland goes down to the cells and beats up on one of the Mexicans, and before you know the whole place erupts into a riot, with the press labelling the riot as "Bloody Christmas".  In the aftermath of the event, Bud refuses to testify against his partner Stensland, and is suspended from duty, meanwhile one of the officers Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) who was witness to the attacks, is more than happy to testify against Stensland the other officers who attacked the Mexicans.  At his insistance, in order to play ball, Exley requests that he be made detective lieutenant, something which his late father Preston Exley once held the mantel of.  However in snitching against the other officers, Exley soon makes himself very unpopluar with the other officers.  But the police captain Dudley Smith (James Cromwell) re-instates Bud, and uses him in his scheme as one of his muscle men to beat up and intimidate any criminals who try to make a name for themselves in LA.

But the crux of the film comes when Bud's ex-partner Stensland, is found murdered in a coffee shop, the Nite Owl, with some other people, among them was a female associate of the millionaire, Pierce Patchett (David Strathairn).  The LA police dept then arranges a full man-hunt to try and catch the killers, and soon find three young black men as prime suspects for killings.  On interrogating the men, Exley finds out they actually are holding a young Mexican woman hostage in a house, who has been raped and beaten.  On the scene of the crime, Bud sneaks into the house and kills the black man in the house.  Later on the young suspects escape the station, but Exley soon tracks them down and kills them, which finally garners him some respect from his fellow officers at the station.  But something doesn't sit right with Exley about the negros being the killers, as he investigates further, he receives help from local cop celebrity Sergeant Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) who has a sideline in acting as a technical advisor on the show Badge of Honor, as well providing some hot press collars for local sleazy newspaper journalist Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito).  Likewise Bud also thinks something is strange about the suspect negros, and also investigates, meanwhile he dates Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger) who is a movie star look-a-like of Veronica Lake.  As the film progresses, the three men start to uncover the police corruption behind the Nite Owl murders.

L.A. Confidential is without a great film, and one of the best films of the 1990s.  Curtis Hanson who after directing some fairly pedestrian thrillers such as The Hand that Rocks the Cradle and The River Wild, arrived as a terrific filmmaker here.  The film itself is of course based on the same titled novel by James Elroy, and the book features many more characters and detail which isn't in the film, but what the film presents is surely a great representation of the book.

And its the characters in L.A. Confidential that make this film work so well, and if you look at it, there actually isn't a morally decent character in the film, everyone is essentially a sleazeball in one way or another, but they are all something of a dichotomy as well.  Exley, may appear to be a stand-up cop with integrity, who refuses to get his hands dirty with planting evidence or beating up suspects, however he does ruthelessly rat on members of the police force, in order to further his own career.  Bud on the other hand, appears to be as Exley puts it a "mindless thug" but he does have another side to him, as ultimately he wants to be a detective also working cases, but his temper and violent streak threaten to alienate him from the audience at times, but behind it all is a guy who wants to escape it all.  Jack Vincennes is also corrupt character in that he gladly takes money from Sid Hudgens, the local Hush Hush magazine reporter, as he sets up arrests and the suspects get unwanted publicity in Sid's mag, but again behind that, Jack starts to feel guilty about his activities and questions himself as the film goes on.

The film also has several excellent supporting characters, particularly Dudley Smith, as the slight yet intimidating police captain who has another agenda, while he looks after the men under his command, he also ironically has a line in corruption and tampering with evidence as well as police brutality.  And Pierce Patchett, the mysterious millionaire, who while he hosts high class sex parties, and makes pornographic films, he has ambitions beyond that to invest in freeway construction.  And there's Lynn Bracken, meanwhile she isn't the most interesting character in the film, she is also another one who is wishing to escape from her sleazy lifestyle, as a wannabe film actress, who is engaging in Patchett's sexual enterpises.

Overall the film's performances are great, particularly the three main leads are very strong, with Guy Pearce, who prior to this was in Priscilla, the queen of the desert, as a transvestite and playing Mike from Neighbours, playing the part of the ice cool Exley to perfection, and his best scene is where Dudley asks him if he has heard of a known associate which alarms him but in a way in which he tries not to show it, and in this moment we see Guy give a very subtle reaction with his eyes.  Its a very subtle deft moment in his performance.  Russell Crowe, is also excellent as the explosive Bud White, two thirds heavy, one third sensitive, and he provides some of the film's highlights with Bud's brutal and volatile behaviour, some of which feature his scene where he faces off against Exley near the end of the film, and another where he dangles the DA Ellis Loewe (Ron Rifkin) out the window of his high up office.  Another amusing scene as a result of Bud's violent streak is after he beats in succession Lynn and Exley, after Exley and Bud make amends, Exley goes to visit Lynn at the station, they both carry the scars of their encounters with Bud, and Exley asks "Are you ok?" to which Lynn says "Are you ok?".

Kevin Spacey who is usually superb, certainly doesn't let the side down, and provides some great moments as Vincennes, one of his best being when Exley asks him "why did you become a cop?" to which Vincennes looks lost for an answer and quietly says "I don't remember".  James Cromwell, also a brilliant actor, before this was in some light hearted fluffy stuff such as Babe, arrived as a great dramatic performer, playing Dudley Smith superbly.  David Strathairn similarly is great as Pierce Patchett, and while his role is somewhat smaller, he definitely makes an impression here.  Kim Basinger, despite the fact, she was awarded an Oscar for her performance in this film, gives a decent account of herself, but it is hardly spectacular stuff, and not what I would quite call Academy award material.  Finally of course, there is Danny DeVito, who actually to be honest plays the film's most irritating character, Sid Hudgens, mainly because he talks such utter bollocks for the most part in the film using phrases you have no idea of what they mean unless you look them up!  

And another great feature of the film is of course the score written by Jerry Goldsmith, one of the all time great composers in American cinema.  Goldsmith's score provides the perfect mixture of sleaze, menace and moodiness to capture the time of the film and the events.  Strangely enough the score also resembles Goldsmith's score for Chinatown, in fact you could almost swear at times that's what you were listening to if you kept your eyes closed.  Overall its a great one.  

So L.A. Confidential is a terrific film and if you haven't seen it, go rent it, buy it or wait for it to come on the box and gie yourself a treat and watch one of the best tributes to film noir in recent years.