L.A. Confidential movie review (1997)
But Hanson and his co-writer, Brian Helgeland, do pull the strands together, and along the way there's an unlikely alliance between two cops who begin as enemies. The film's assumption is that although there's small harm in free booze and a little graft, there are some things a police officer simply cannot do and look himself in the mirror in the morning.
The film is steeped in L.A. lore; Ellroy is a student of the city's mean streets. It captures the town just at that postwar moment when it was beginning to become self-conscious about its myth. Joseph Wambaugh writes in one of his books that he is constantly amazed by the hidden threads that connect the high to the low, the royalty to the vermin, in Los Angeles--where a hooker is only a role from stardom, and vice, as they say, versa.
One of the best scenes takes place in the Formosa Cafe, a restaurant much frequented in the 1940s by unlikely boothfellows. Cops turn up to question Johnny Stompanato, a hood who may know something about the Cohen killings. His date gives them some lip. "A hooker cut to look like Lana Turner is still a hooker,'' Exley tells her, but Jack Vincennes knows better: "She is Lana Turner,'' he says with vast amusement.
One of the reasons "L.A. Confidential'' is so good, why is deserves to be mentioned with "Chinatown," is that it's not just plot and atmosphere. There are convincing characters here, not least Kim Basinger's hooker, whose quiet line, "I thought I was helping you,'' is one of the movie's most revealing moments. Russell Crowe ("Virtuosity" and "Romper Stomper'') and Guy Pearce ("The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert") are two Australian actors who here move convincingly into star-making roles, and Kevin Spacey uses perfect timing to suggest his character's ability to move between two worlds while betraying both (he has a wonderful scene where he refuses to cooperate with a department investigation--until they threaten his job on the TV show).
Behind everything, setting the moral tone and pulling a lot of the plot threads, is the angular captain, seemingly so helpful. James Cromwell, who was the kindly farmer in "Babe,'' has the same benevolent smile in this role, but the eyes are cold, and in his values can be seen, perhaps, the road ahead to Rodney King. "L.A. Confidential'' is seductive and beautiful, cynical and twisted, and one of the best films of the year.
