Cop vs. Cop

Rating: 9/10 (20 June 2014)

"Come to Los Angeles. The sun shines bright, the beaches are wide and inviting, and the orange groves stretch as far as the eye can see. There are jobs aplenty, and land is cheap. Every working man can have his own house, and inside every house, a happy all-American family. You can have all this, and who knows? You can even be discovered. Become a movie star, or at least be one. Life is good in Los Angeles. It's paradise on earth . . . (laughs) . . . That's what they tell you anyway. That's because they're selling an image . . ." So speaks Walter Winchell sound-alike Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito) while we see sparkling images of LA life (and catch glimpses of movie stars like Marilyn, Frank Sinatra, and Deborah Kerr).
Hudgens produces "HUSH-HUSH" magazine, a Hollywood scandal tabloid. Behind all of the glamor there is the seamy side of LA, and Hudgens continues his narrative: Mickey Cohen (by the way, a real person) had taken over the Hollywood crime rackets. His associate is Johnny Stompanato, Lana Turner's love interest (also in real life). But Cohen is soon arrested and imprisoned for income tax evasion. The control of the rackets is thus left open, and hit squads are knocking off the top lieutenants. Sarcastically pointed out are the LA police, who are not against planting evidence and grabbing a few bucks and administering beatings (and, as we soon discover, are not averse to using ethnic slurs, such as wop, jig, and spic). The focus of the movie is an exposé of the LAPD, warts and all.
The tale – and it is a serpentine one – is about the intertwining paths of three separate police officers who maintain the peace by their own separate actions: Edmund Exley (Guy Pearce), Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey), and Wendell "Bud" White (Russell Crowe). Exley is squeaky clean, while Vincennes is compromising and likes to keep his hands unsoiled. White uses brutal methods, to say the least. Despite their differing tactics, and the fact that they may clash with each other (and how!), these three are all basically respectable policemen. At an inquest, Detective White is termed a "thug" by DA Ellis Loew (Ron Rifkin), who has his own demons (see what happens to him!). White's partner is Dick Stensland (Graham Beckel), a loose canon if there ever was one. Exley was first in his class (out of 123) and chose the detective bureau against the advice of Captain Dudley Smith (James Cromwell). Exley also disagrees with the stiff and sordid Smith, who uses extreme methods that are quite frankly illegal. Exley believes in following the code of honor to the letter. Meanwhile narcotics detective Vincennes works on the side as a technical adviser on "Badge of Honor," a TV police show like "Dragnet." As a publicity guy he is also involved in publisher Hudgen's scoops, such as setting up celebrities in compromising situations.
The three cops are involved with unraveling the pervasive LA corruption like peeling layers on an onion. There are a series of events that initially do not seem to be tied in. But they are all related to the twisted plot. To mention a few incidents: A parole violator beats up his wife on Christmas night, Mexican suspects are arrested and beaten in jail (they had supposedly killed a cop), White meets prostitute Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger) at a liquor store, an ex-cop driver by the name of Leland "Buzz" Meeks is shaken up by White, a corpse rots in a crawl space under a porch, and homosexual actor Matt Reynolds is found dead with his throat cut. But the main occurrence that sets the ball rolling is the massacre of six people (including two waitresses) at the Nite Owl Café, where a recently dismissed cop (scapegoat?) was also murdered. Now the investigation begins in earnest. Several Negroes are conveniently implicated in the carnage; they have records (they know something about the kidnapping and continuous rape of a Mexican woman). Later Stompanato reveals to White about a missing heroin cache of 25 pounds. Meanwhile slimy rich pimp Pierce Morehouse Patchett (David Strathaim), owner of the "Fleur-de-Lis" prostitution ring, has "cut girls" (call girls who have plastic surgery to resemble the likenesses of Hollywood actresses, like Veronica Lake and Rita Hayworth). As the film progresses key characters show up dead. Then there is a shocking revelation at the one-hundredth minute mark when even a major lead is murdered (although there are red herrings). Stick with this one until its riveting climax at the Victory Motel!
The atmosphere of the movie feels like it is late December 1953 or January 1954: the cars, the clothing, and the hairstyles. The film does not need popular music of the 1950s to generate the feel of the period. Note that except for Kay Starr's "Wheel of Fortune" (1952), most of the rather modest soundtrack comes from the 1930s and 1940s. Now one may complain that the unfurling of so many characters causes some confusion. But the story – tense and suspenseful all the way – does unfold quite neatly. And such excellent character development is often not seen enough in motion pictures. The performances of the leads are all at a high level (Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, and others) although Jack Nicholson did win the Oscar for Best Actor. Although her part was small, Kim Basinger won both the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. "L.A. Confidential" did garner the Oscar for Best Writing and also was nominated for quite a number of other Oscars, including that of Best Picture, Director, and Cinematography. It is indeed refreshing to see a big-budget feature that delivers. Roger Ebert placed this one into his top ten films listing of 1997. Some folks believe that it just might be the best movie of that year! It is certainly one of the best features of the 1990s decade!