rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 1997
Directed by Curtis Hanson; produced by Curtis Hanson, Arnon Milchan, Michael Nathanson; written by Brian Helgeland, Curtis Hanson
Starring Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Kim Basinger, David Strathairn, Danny DeVito
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
'L.A. Confidential' is a terrific movie with an intriguing plot and
interesting characters. To explain the story, or even try it, would be
almost impossible. What I can tell that there a couple of smaller stories
that will come together in a way.
We meet officer Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey). He has a deal with Sid
Hudgens (Danny DeVito) who writes for Hush-Hush magazine. Sid knows where
Jack has to be to make an arrest, Jack does so for a little cash and Sid has
another story for his magazine. We also meet officer Bud White (Russell
Crowe). He, his partner Stensland (Graham Beckel) and Jack get in little
trouble on Christmas Eve. Bud loses his badge, his partner must leave the
force and Jack has to stop his connections with Sid for a while. All this is
because of a testimony from Edmund Exley (Guy Pearce), a cop who does
everything by the book and wants to make a great career.
After this there is a murder in a place called the Nite Owl and this event
is the reason Jack, Bud and Exley their stories have to come together.
Again, I will not reveal how. Other important characters are Lynn Bracken
(Kim Basinger), a prostitute who works for Pierce Patchett (David
Strathairn) and who probably falls in love with Bud. She looks like Veronica
Lake, he has made sure she does. The captain of the police force is Dudley
Smith (James Cromwell), who is more important than you might think at first.
I have told you some parts of the story and I have told you nothing. It is
great to see how it develops and although you can guess some parts of it the
complete picture is not very clear until the end. The direction by Curtis
Hanson is good and the performances from Spacey, Crowe before 'The Insider'
and Pearce before 'Memento' are terrific. Cromwell, DeVito and Basinger have
smaller parts but at least as good. This is one of the great movies of the
nineties.