L.A. Confidential (film)
LA Confidential is a 1997 feature film based on the 1990 crime fiction novel of the same title by James Ellroy, the third in his L.A. Quartet novel cycle. Both book and film tell the story about a group of Los Angeles police in the 1950s, and police corruption bumping up against Hollywood celebrity. The film adaptation was written, produced and directed by Curtis Hanson and co-written by Brian Helgeland and Hanson. At the time, both Australian actors Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce were unknowns in North America and one of the film's backers, Arnon Milchan was worried about the lack of movie stars in the lead roles. However, he supported Hanson's casting decisions and this gave the director the confidence to approach Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito and Kevin Spacey. When Hanson gave Spacey the script, he told him to think of Dean Martin while in the role.
Overall, the film scored very well with critics, presently sporting a 98% "certified" fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes with 59 out of 60 reviews positive. It was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won two, Basinger for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Hanson and Helgeland for Best Screenplay - Adapted.
Actor Role
Kevin Spacey Det. Sgt. Jack
Vincennes
Russell Crowe Officer Wendell "Bud" White
Guy Pearce
Det. Lt. Edmund Jennings "Ed" Exley
James Cromwell Capt. Dudley
Liam Smith
Kim Basinger Lynn Bracken
David Strathairn Pierce Morehouse
Patchett
Danny DeVito Sid Hudgens
Spoiler
Plot Summary
Set against the backdrop of the glitz, glamour, grit
and noir of early 1950s Los Angeles the film revolves around 3 LAPD officers who
are caught up in a mix of corruption, sex, lies, and murder following a mass killing
at the Nite Owl coffee shop. The story eventually encompasses organized crime,
political corruption, heroin, pornography, prostitution, tabloid journalism, institutional
racism, plastic surgery and Hollywood. The novel's title refers to the infamous
1950s scandal magazine Confidential, portrayed fictionally therein as Hush-Hush.
Detective Lieutenant Edmund Exley (Guy Pearce), the son of a legendary LAPD Inspector, is a brilliant detective in his own right determined to out do his father. Ed's intelligence, his education, his glasses, his insistence on following regulations, and his cold demeanor all contribute to his social isolation from other officers. He increases this resentment after testifying against other cops in a police brutality case (a fictional version of the Bloody Christmas incident) early on and reaps the benefit of promotion. He is motivated by justice and a sense of order.
Officer Wendell "Bud" White (Russell Crowe), the most feared man in the LAPD, is a six-foot tall muscle man. His partner, Dick Stensland, was convicted and expelled from the force following the "Bloody Christmas" scandal by Exley's testimony and Bud vows revenge. His ties to the Nite Owl case become personal after Stensland is one of the victims in the massacre. He has a violent obsession with woman-beaters, counterbalanced by his tenderness towards the victims. His temper often overpowers his thought. He is sought out by Capt. Dudley Smith for a black bag job intimidating outside mafia influence in Los Angeles.
Sergeant Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) is a slick and likable Hollywood cop who moonlights as the technical advisor of Badge of Honor, a popular Dragnet-like television show. Vincennes is connected with Sid Hudgeons and Hush-Hush magazine. He receives kickbacks for making orchestrated celebrity arrests, often involving narcotics, that will attract even more readers to the magazine -- and more fame to himself.
At different intervals the three men investigate the Nite Owl and concurrent events of the case which in turn begin to reveal deep tales of corruption with their own superiors. Ed Exley pursues absolute justice of the Nite Owl slayings all the while trying to live up to his family's prestigious name. Bud White pursues Nite Owl victim Susan Lefferts which leads him to Lynn Bracken, a call-girl with pivotal ties to the events he and Exley independently investigate. Meanwhile, Jack Vincennes follows up on a pornography case which in turn leads to ties to both the Nite Owl and Bracken's handler Pierce Patchett, operator of a call-girl service that runs prostitutes cut to look like movie stars. All three men's fate are thereby intertwined leading to a dramatic showdown with powerful and corrupt forces within the city's political leadership and the department itself.
Changes from novel to film
Helgeland and Hanson were forced to make major changes
to the plot to pare the story down to feature-length. Those sections notably missing
or shortened are Bud's subplot involving a serial killer who murders prostitutes;
Exley's father; Inez Soto's subplot, including Exley's romantic involvement with
her; and the Dieterling (Disney) subplot. Also omitted is nearly all of Vincennes'
back story and his marriage. Bud's partner loses his job and pension and is killed
at the Nite Owl in the film but is not imprisoned. In Exley's back story, the
role of his brother is replaced with an anecdote about his father, whose murder
by an unknown criminal dubbed "Rollo Tomasi", inspired his police career.
Also, Exley is a medal-winning veteran of World War II from the Pacific Theater,
moments of which he flashbacks to during the Bloody Christmas riot.
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