L.A. Confidential ★★★★ 1997 (R) Hard-boiled, complicated crime drama based on James Ellroy's even more complex novel. Fifties Hollywood is ripe with corruption in many forms—politics, police, business, gangsters, racial tensions, and journalistic sleaze in the persona of Sid Hudgens (DeVito), editor of tabloid rag Hush-Hush. Sid's police contact is celebrity Sgt. Jack Vincennes (Spacey), who serves as an advisor to a TV cop show (think "Dragnet"). There's a bloodbath murder case that involves brutal-yet-tender cop Bud White (Crowe); the ruthlessly ambitious, college-educated neophyte Ed Exley (Pearce); and their veteran boss, Capt. Dudley Smith (Cromwell). There's also wealthy pimp/businessman Pierce Patchett (Strathairn) and his movie-star look-alike hookers, including world-weary Lynn (Basinger), who gets involved with Bud, who… Well, lets just say that Hanson does a masterful job tying up all the loose ends and still leaving you wanting more. 136m/C VHS, DVD, Wide. Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Danny DeVito, Kim Basinger, James Cromwell, David Strathairn, Ron Rifkin, Graham Beckel, Matt McCoy, Simon Baker, Paul Guilfoyle, Amber Smith, John Mahon, Paolo Seganti, Gwenda Deacon;
Director:
Curtis Hanson;
Writer:
Curtis Hanson, Brian Helgeland;
Writer:
Dante Spinotti;
Cameo:
Jerry Goldsmith. Oscars '97: Adapt. Screenplay, Support. Actress (Basinger); Australian Film Inst. '98: Foreign Film; British Acad. '97: Film Editing, Sound; Golden Globes '98: Support. Actress (Basinger); L.A. Film Critics '97: Cinematog., Director (Hanson), Film, Screenplay; Natl. Bd. of Review '97: Director (Hanson), Film; N.Y. Film Critics '97: Director (Hanson), Film, Screenplay; Natl. Soc. Film Critics '97: Director (Hanson), Film, Screenplay; Screen Actors Guild '97: Support. Actress (Basinger); Writers Guild '97: Adapt. Screenplay; Broadcast Film Critics '97: Adapt. Screenplay, Film.
