Review of L.A. Confidential (1997) by William S — 31 Mar 2012

Three very different LA cops, a grisly murder at an all night diner, and a conspiracy that stretches farther and deeper than anyone could know; these are the materials from which great cop movies are mad. And make no mistake; LA Confidential is a great cop movie. Entertaining and surprisingly complex, this is not only a good movie in its own right, but a nostalgic tribute to cop shows and film noirs of old.

The plot of this film is first rate, which should come as no surprise seeing as the screenplay is adapted on the bestselling novel of the same name by James Ellroy. The story it tells of corruption, murder, and LA's seedy underbelly contains more twists, turns, and revelations than any other cop movie in recent memory. This is one of those films where for every answer there's another question, and every time a break is made, it only reveals another layer of mystery. Fortunately, it's still fairly easy to follow, thanks to screenwriter Brian Helgeland's decision to cut out large sections of the novel, leaving only material that directly relate to the three main characters.

This is also a wise choice because as important and well done as the story is, it's the characters that really drive LA Confidential. Bud White (Russell Crowe) is a hardworking, foul tempered patrol cop whose greatest pleasure in life is tearing into wife beaters. His physique, temperament, and recent involvement in the Bloody Christmas brutality scandal make him the department's go to guy for quietly roughing up suspects. He doesn't give a damn about things like rules and proper procedure, and after the murder of his partner, he's out for blood.

His opposite in nearly every respect, Edward Exley (Guy Pearce) is young, ambitious, and a master of department politics. He's one of the brightest men on the force, but he's also a stickler for the rules, and something of a self righteous prick, whose fixation on advancing his own career and willingness to testify against his fellow officers does little to endear him to old hands like White.

Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) is very much the public face of the LAPD. As the golden boy of the narcotics department, technical advisor to the hit TV series Badge of Honor, and number one inside source for Hush-Hush magazine, he relishes the fame and attention his job brings him. Now, stuck on the vice beat after being caught up in the Bloody Christmas scandal, he's desperate to make the big break that will get him back in the spotlight. The three don't have much in common, and don't particularly like each other, but as their cases begin to intertwine into something much larger, they form an unlikely alliance.

LA Confidential is unique among cop movies for how far it delves into each character's personality and motivations. From the beginning, we learn what makes these three tick. The film explores in great depth their differing philosophies of law enforcement, their relations with their fellow officers, their reasons for becoming cops in the first place, and their growing dissatisfaction and disillusionment with their jobs. It also probes just what it means to be a good cop. Is it the number of arrests an officer makes and the prestige that he brings to the department that makes him a good officer? His dedication to his duty and unwavering resolve not to compromise himself? Or is it his willingness to do whatever it takes to see justice done?

I also admired the attention paid to the dichotomy between the contemporary image of Los Angeles and the reality that lay beneath it. Nowhere is this better captured than in the opining narration by Danny DeVito, which starts out like one of those sappy promotional real estate videos from the fifties, then effortlessly pivots into a delicious take on muckraking tabloid journalism. Come to think of it, that's a pretty good description of DeVito's character, Hush Hush Magazine publisher Sid Hudgens. Cynical, amoral, and with an uncanny ability to sense a juicy story from a mile away, he has contacts throughout the department, and isn't above manufacturing a scandal when none presents itself. He's as sleazy as they come, and right from the start I couldn't help liking him.

The period touches were also done well, capturing the look and feel of 1950's Los Angeles and adding an occasionally humorous subtext without becoming distracting or overpowering. And of course there's a good deal of violence, all done with a gritty realism that evokes the noirs of old. Another parallel to classic noir is the film's moral ambiguity. Both Bud White and Jack Vincennes engage in behavior that is clearly illegal, but neither man is portrayed as dirty or corrupt for doing so. The movie's female lead (Kim Basinger) is a prostitute, yet she is perhaps the person viewers will feel the most sympathy for. And at the end, one of the main players makes a decision that is entirely contrary to the ideals he held at the beginning of the film, but which based on the results is undoubtedly the right thing to do.

LA Confidential is not a film that places its narrative in a simple frame of black and white. Nor is it a mindless celebration of blazing guns and blaring sirens. Rather it's a movie that embraces depth, complexity, and character development without slowing or losing its focus. It's hard hitting, exciting, often cerebral, and very dark. I feel justified in saying that LA Confidential is to the cop movie what Chinatown is to the private eye film; an homage to the genre, and a truly great movie.