L.A. Confidential
1997 saw what many consider to be a travesty in the Best Picture Oscar race, with the award going to arguably the most bloated epic film of all time in Titanic, buoyed by its incredible popularity among females, an overdone FX budget that overwhelmed the screen to cosmic proportions, and a near messiah like adoration for its male lead in Leo DiCaprio despite his bland, hard to believe performance. As far as many who saw most of the nominees that year were concerned, the real Best Picture was this taut, tightly paced (at almost 2 ½ hours) and intrigue loaded period piece about LA cops in the fifties battling against the criminals and each other in a major case. Without a doubt, itâs the best gritty, pulpy detective story ever filmed, featuring equal elements of high drama, humor, action and stark, terrifying violence. The film centers around three lead character cops working both with and in opposition of each other as things start to heat up. First there is Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey), a slick, smooth talking fellow with an eye for the ladies who has literally forgotten why he became a cop in the first place, caring more instead about being a Hollywood Celebrity Cop who prefers busting movie stars and politicians and working as a technical advisor on a popular Dragnet like TV show than about serving and protecting the peace, but soon discovers that when the chips are down, heâs gotta do whatâs right even when it means actually risking his life. Then thereâs Bud White (Russell Crowe), a grunting brute who nonetheless has one Achilleâs Heel, that of becoming an almost primal, raging animal whenever he sees that thereâs a woman being abused, and Crowe certainly demonstrates those kind of bestial, animalistic qualities better than almost any actor on the planet (one wonders what he could have done with Wolverine instead of Jackman), as here he gets in on the deal seeking revenge for his murdered partner, all while being manipulated to work on some sort of LAPD âgoon squadâ beating criminals bloody and running them out of town while falling in love as well. Finally there is Ed Exley (Guy Pierce in his breakthrough role), the most strait laced yet most complex character of them all, following in the footsteps of his famous yet slain father and playing the politics game masterfully to rise through the ranks even while gaining a reputation among his fellow officers as a âsnitchâ who would be willing to turn other cops over for corruption, but yet really does keep his intentions of being a goody two shoes at all costs all the way through when it comes to catching bad guys and putting them away while still following the rules which seems to be such a foreign thing to so many cops on the force. These three carry the picture adeptly, all being fascinating yet unique in their flaws and attributes as the story goes on (although Spacey does see his screen time start to wan a bit). The plot is set in motion with a brutal mass murder at a coffee shop with the victims (including Croweâs partner) all being stacked up in a backroom. Things start to develop where it appears that Croweâs partner and some other ex cops were starting to move into the heroin business with the arrest of LA mob kingpin Mickey Cohen until it appears that SOMEONE is systematically wiping out all of Cohenâs people as well as their competition, and even more shockingly might be connected to the LAPD in a sad yet cynical statement on corruption in law enforcement even back then. Our three leads (each working on their own at first for their own reasons) suddenly find one roadblock after another put up in front of them, including the obvious framing of three black guys for the coffee shop murders, and the bumping off of several key figures connected to the entire consolidation of power taking place, breathtakingly complex yet easy to follow, and even more impressive when you consider that the original novel by James Ellroy was actually a lot more dense and had to be pared down by writer Brian Helgeland and director Curtis Hansen, even though the idea of a full fledged TV show with these characters is actually rather appealing. The rest of the cast includes Danny DeVito as an ultra slimy tabloid reporter who shamelessly hangs off of Spacey to deliver the exclusives to him on any âjuicy bustsâ that might take place, even as he starts to collect dirt in certain places he shouldnât; David Straithairn as a fancy, upper class pimp involved in the case whose stable features a collection of girls who have had their appearances altered (sometimes through plastic surgery) to resemble that of famous movie stars; Kim Basinger garnering an Oscar win for Best Supporting Actress as one of those prostitutes made up to look like Veronica Lake whom Crowe falls hard for in a big way mostly because he correctly pegs her as more attractive than the real Lake (which Basinger is) but soon Crowe must learn the hard lesson that dating a prostitute means that your girlfriend might actually be talking to other guys; James Cromwell essays the calm, cool police captain with various friendships and alliances to the three stars, and whom he himself might know more than heâs letting on; Ron Rifkin as the smug, cocky District Attorney whom DeVito targets for blackmail because of his homosexuality; and even very young future Mentalist star Simon Baker shows up as a gay, out of work, pretty boy actor used as the queer bait for Rifkin. As the case comes together and we find out that we are learning answers to the questions even as the shadowy perps are smart enough to use certain people to their advantage without ever letting them in on their master plans and always making a point to dispose of them when theyâre no longer useful. All of which rockets towards a big conclusion that as said, amongst the fireworks and shootouts, carries a cloud of cynicism about the all consuming nature of corruption without dragging everything down with a preachy attitude or abject moralizing, making this what it is, a first class creation when it comes to the production values and design, along with a hard edged, razor sharp bite and a still relevant message about law enforcement officers who take their job too far, all adding up to a film that embarrasses Titanic right out of the water in terms of quality or what more people will be watching and enjoying 100 years from nowâŚ
10/10