**** (out of ****)
Starring Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito, David Straithairn, and Ron Rifkin.
Directed by Curtis Hanson, written for the screen by Hanson & Paul Helgeland, from the novel by James Ellroy, & photographed by Dante Spinotti.
1997 R
The structure of “L.A. Confidential” can best be described as Shakespearean: it’s well known that the Bard did not invent many of his plots or storylines, but borrowed them from histories or from other plays. What sets him apart from his influences is that Shakespeare developed his characters so incredibly well; their motivations and fears were rendered abundantly clear or deliciously ambigious, but always intriguing. “L.A. Confidential” follows a similar format: the plot and many of the story elements may be familiar, but the film is so masterful in showing us the complexity of its main characters that what is familiar—a noir mystery of murder, police corruption, prostitutes and gangsters—becomes new again.
“L.A. Confidential” tells the story of four cops in the 1950s, each of them corrupt in some way. Sergeant Jack Vincennes (Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey of “American Beauty” and “The Usual Suspects”), also known as Hollywood Jack or simply Sergeant Jack, is a narcotics cop. But his real rackets are taking bribes from a tabloid reporter (an epicly-sleazy Danny DeVito) to bust celebrities on small-time drug charges, and acting as a technical advisor for a cop show, “Badge of Honor,” clearly intended to be “Dragnet.” Officer Bud White (Oscar-winner Russell Crowe of “The Insider” and “Gladiator”) may look like a detective, but all he’s ever used for is muscle-work, pounding suspects and breaking down doors. Although certainly not a shining star of civil liberties, on a totally animal level he hates men who abuse women, and in the course of this hatred will beat an abusive husband in his own yard, use a suspect for Russian roulette, and break innumerable chairs and doors.
Sergeant Edmond Exley (Guy Pearce of “Memento”), a college graduate soon to be made lieutenant, is untouchable when it comes to bribes or bending the rules. But he is so power-hungry and spiteful towards the more lax officers who mock his code, that he snitches on his fellows and willingly becomes “loathed within the department.” Lastly, there’s Captain Dudley Smith (Oscar-nominee James Cromwell of “Babe”), a veteran Irish cop who is both fatherly toward his officers and Machiavellian. In his opening scene, when Exley is requesting to become a detective, Smith warns him, are you willing to plant evidence, shoot a man in the back, or give false testimony, just because you are certain the suspect is guilty? When Exley says no, Smith tells him, like a father might, not to become a detective. Exley doesn’t listen. (With his tall, thin face and grey-white hair, Smith reminds me a little of my father-in-law, if my father-in-law were an Irish cop, which is kind of spooky.)