L.A. Confidential (1997)
Directed by: Curtis Hanson
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe
Based upon the novel by James Ellroy
Everything is suspect...
Everyone is for sale...
And nothing is what it seems.
Last year, I posted my first entry in a feature I entitled Unseen Cinema (it was on Zodiac, for those new to the blog). As I'm hoping to blog more in 2016, I plan on keeping that feature ongoing, hopefully being able to do at least one entry a month.
As with Zodiac, I ignored L.A. Confidential mainly due to the cast. I've never really been a fan of Spacey or Crowe, and so I've tended to just gloss over this film. Thankfully (once again to friends on Twitter), I decided to give this film a shot, as it was recommended to me by multiple people. And I'm very glad I did, as I loved it.
Based loosely on the 1990 James Ellroy novel, L.A. Confidential follows 3 police officers of the LAPD during the early '50s and shows how the limelight of Hollywood and the corruption of the police intersected.
The three main officers we follow are Detective Sergeant Jack Vincennes (Spacey), whose claim to fame is being the technical advisor to Badge of Honor, a popular police procedural show of the time, Officer Bud White (Crowe), an officer who gets used mostly for muscle work, and newly appointed Detective Lieutenant Ed Exley (Pearce), an officer who is trying to live up to his police officer father, whose unsolved murder in the line of duty fuels his ambition, and is willing to make enemies to get to where he wants.
The Nite Owl murders is the investigation that brings our trio of characters together, and as they investigate it, a bigger mystery begins to unravel.
Going to stop there plot-wise, as I don't want to venture into spoiler territory. I will say that the movie plays at a brisk pace and as the investigation continues, some twist and turns take place as the road darkens.
The story is great, and I really want to watch it again soon. There is not one role that is out of place, and the supporting cast is phenomenal. Kim Basinger won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award as Lynn Bracken. Rounding out the cast are James Cromwell, Danny DeVito, and David Strathairn.
The movie is quite phenomenal, and I'm sad I put off watching it for so long. Being a fan of film noir and crime drama, this is the modern day pinnacle, even with it being almost 20 years old. If you haven't seen it, I would highly recommend it.
Don't be like me, and judge a movie by the cast. I've now visited two films that are modern classics that I didn't want to see because of the cast. Sometimes you need to look past that. I'm glad I did. 5/5
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