Merits Recognition As An All Time Classic

Rating: 10/10 (1 January 2010)

Curtis Hanson's magnificent evocation of Los Angeles in the early 1950s shows the city being promoted as a glamorous place where life is good and jobs are plentiful, however, the presence of its large scale, high profile organised crime network and a corrupt Police Department do nothing to enhance this well cultivated image. It's against this background that the events depicted in "L.A.Confidential" unfold to reveal an engrossing tale of crime, corruption, drugs, blackmail and politics in a way which incorporates humour, numerous twists, memorable characters and plenty of intrigue.
The story's main characters are three very different types of police officers. Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) is ambitious, honest and operates "by the book". He isn't prepared to condone any of the corruption and brutality which he sees around him and this trait predictably brings him into conflict with his fellow officers. Bud White (Russell Crowe) is a volatile thug who habitually ignores Departmental rules to dispense justice in a way which he regards as being effective. He also detests men who physically abuse women and takes pleasure in beating them up. Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) is witty, confident and smart and derives great satisfaction from being the technical adviser on a popular TV cop show called "Badge Of Honor". He's also on the take from Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito) who's the editor of a popular tabloid magazine called "Hush-Hush" and in return he sets up celebrity arrests which provide him with good publicity and Hudgens with good material for his "scandal sheet".
Following the arrest of a local mobster, the power struggle that ensues leads to wide scale violence and a series of well publicised murders and the adverse effect of this is heightened further when photographs of a massive brawl involving LAPD officers beating up a group of Mexicans appears in the newspapers. The need to show publicly that the Police Department is determined to stamp out this type of conduct leads to the dismissal of Bud's partner Dick Stensland (Graham Beckel) after Ed cooperates with the subsequent investigation. The impressive political skills he demonstrates during this process also lead to him being promoted.
A short time later, Stensland is one of the victims of a massacre at "The Night Owl" coffee shop and Ed, Bud and Jack all gradually become involved in the investigations that follow. Three black suspects are rapidly identified and Ed's interrogation techniques lead to the case being successfully closed. Ed, Bud and Jack share varying degrees of doubt about the case and their further unofficial investigations eventually lead to a massive web of corruption being uncovered in which city officials, a prostitution business, LAPD officers and drug dealing are all involved.
Early on in the story, Police Captain Dudley Smith (James Cromwell) tries to discourage Ed from following his ambition to become a detective and rightly identifies him as a political animal. In testing Ed's ambition, Smith asks him if he would be prepared to plant evidence or beat a confession out of a suspect or if necessary shoot one in the back. Ed is appalled by these practices and answers no to all three questions. Significantly, his attitude later changes as circumstances lead him to abandon his principles. Similarly, Bud finds himself in a situation where he does something he despises when he hits a woman and ironically the lives of all three detectives are put in their greatest danger by fellow LAPD officers.
The story contains a number of unusual allegiances as exemplified by Jack's extracurricular activities but it's also interesting to see the dynamic which develops when colleagues who hate each other actually decide to collaborate together.
The atmosphere of the period and the location in which the action takes place is beautifully recreated by expert use of colour, costumes, music, DeVito's marvellous narration and Dante Spinotti's wonderful cinematography. The story is lengthy and involved but remains totally coherent and riveting throughout. This is attributable in no small measure to the superb quality of the screenplay by Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland and also Hanson's direction which uses some unobtrusive techniques (like displaying the names of certain characters and inserting a miniaturised image of the Rita Hayworth lookalike) in order to avoid any confusion.
The quality of the acting is consistently first-rate with Pearce, Crowe and Spacey all providing outstanding performances. DeVito brings great enthusiasm, cynicism and humour to his role and Kim Basinger is convincing as the grounded and vulnerable Lynn Bracken. James Cromwell makes a very strong impact as a cunning and dangerous authority figure and David Strathairn as the story's most enigmatic character (Pierce Patchett), is also excellent.
In "L.A.Confidential" everyone is flawed, the LAPD don't live up to the image portrayed on "Badge Of Honor", the prostitutes who are cut to look like movie stars are involved in a tawdry pretence and the city itself also suffers from the same type of disconnect between image and reality.By contrast, this movie is the real thing, a great achievement and an immense credit to everyone who was involved in its making. It's a work of considerable substance and rare quality and surely merits recognition as an all time classic.