Stick Up at The Nite Owl

Rating: 10/10 (3 January 2010)

Director Curtis Hanson takes you on a crime and corruption roller-coaster ride through 1950s Hollywood - with brutal Officer Russell Crowe (as Wendell "Bud" White), aspiring Lieutenant Guy Pearce (as Edmund "Ed" Exley), starry Sergeant Kevin Spacey (as Jack Vincennes), their veteran Captain James Cromwell (as Dudley Smith), busty prostitute Kim Basinger (as Lynn Bracken), "Hush-Hush" tabloid reporter Danny DeVito (as Sid Hudgens), and sleazy millionaire David Strathairn (as Pierce Patchett).
"L.A. Confidential" isn't just the "Best Picture" of 1997 - it's one of the best plotted, best produced, best paced, and best performed films of the 1990s. It was nominated for nine "Academy Awards", but only won for "Best Supporting Actress" (Basinger) and "Best Adapted Screenplay" (Brian Helgeland and Hanson). Strangely, neither Mr. Crowe nor Mr. Pearce were nominated for "Best Actor" (granted, the "leading" male role is blurred). Other organizations made up the difference. This one's the winner.
Rollo Tomasi.
********** L.A. Confidential (5/14/97) Curtis Hanson ~ Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger