Date: Fri 03-Oct-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DONNAM

Quick Words:

Confidential-Playing-Spacek

Full Text:

(rev "L.A. Confidential" for Now Playing, 10/3/97)

Now Playing--

`L.A. Confidential' A Vivid Study Of Individual & Corporate Corruption

By Trey Paul Alexander III

Ya gotta love a movie whose plot defies a tidy one sentence summary. None of

this simplistic stuff that Hollywood typically doles out week after week. You

know what I'm saying. "Two cops, complete opposites, fight crime and learn to

like each other." "Girl meets boy, loses boy and then wins boy in the end."

One of my favorites, quoted from the poster of a Steven Seagal movie: "Two

good cops, one bad situation." Such lowest-common-denominator thinking is not

what you get with L.A. Confidential , a juicy flick whose labyrinthine plot,

rich characters and grim underbelly evoke fond memories of classically dense

film noir such as The Big Sleep .

Set in the early 1950s and based on a novel by James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential

tells of a time when scores of people were drawn to Los Angeles for its

mystique of glamorous superstars, lush orange groves and lure of success for

the common, working man. Yet this modern-day Camelot also had its dark side of

drug scandals, distrust in the law, and mob/underworld movement. This dim

facet was brought to lurid light by gossip columns and tabloid magazines,

including Hush-Hush , a rag penned by shady reporter Sid Hudgens (Danny

DeVito). However, the depravity written of by Hudgens only adds to the lure of

L.A., a town where the lines of news-making and news-reporting often cross and

the boundary of show business and law enforcement is blurred (this doesn't

sound too familiar or contemporary, does it?).

L.A. Confidential presents a vivid study of both institutionalized corruption

and corruption of the individual. One of the most telling lines in the film is

uttered by Det Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey), who, when asked why he became a

cop answers gravely and with grim surprise, "I don't remember."

The movie's intricate web of a plot revolves around three cops, each with

varied goals and motivations: Vincennes, a smooth operator who serves as

adviser to a "Dragnet"-like gumshoe TV show; officer bud White (Russell

Crowe), an intense, driven flat-foot who goes off in a fist-flurry of rage

whenever women are threatened with physical violence; and Lt Ed Exley (Guy

Pearce), a bespectacled rookie looking to follow in his father's storied

footsteps. The tale is set in motion by a flare-up between cops and prisoners

during Christmas Eve that puts Exley, who willingly serves as a witness

against fellow officers, at odds with the rest of the force. From there, the

film launches off into all areas of crime and scandal, including drug busts,

call girls and cop killings.

Any film dealing with such dicey propositions as high-class porn (an

oxymoron?) and pricey prostitutes "cut" to look like movie stars is bound to

cross into coarse territory. L.A. Confidential indeed has its moments of

vulgarity and, for my tastes, too many utterances of the F-word, but is

mesmerizing in its study of the effects of a shady society upon the integrity

of the individual trying to survive within it.

Director and co-screenwriter Curtis Hanson shows the sturdy hand he displayed

in the crowd-pleasers, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and The River Wild , but

surprises with this film's complexity and lavishly drawn characters (all

expertly played by a fine cast). Hanson's previous thrillers, though

effective, were mainly by-the-numbers exercises, but with L.A. Confidential he

exhibits a more nuanced touch, a keener eye for stylized storytelling and a

refusal to embrace the lowest common denominator.

L.A. Confidential is rated R. There is plenty of profanity to go with a

substantial amount of violence (mostly bloody gunplay) and sexual content.

Definitely not for youngsters.