March 22, 1995
L.A. CONFIDENTIAL
Screenplay by Brian Helgeland, Novel by James Ellroy
Synopsis by Brian Aldrich
On Christmas Eve, 1952, LAPD detective BUD WHITE is rounding up the liquor for his precinct's party. Meanwhile, on the set of TV cop show "Badge of Honor", SGT. JACK VINCENNES, technical advisor, makes a deal with tabloid publisher, SID HUDGEONS, to bust a studio contract player, MATT REYNOLDS, for smoking pot, so Sid can get the story. Outside the liquor store, Bud questions pimp PIERCE PATCHETT and his two movie star look-alike hookers LYNN BRACKEN (Veronica Lake) and SUSAN LEFFERTS (Rita Hayworth). Back at the station, three KIDNAPPING SUSPECTS are brought in for questioning. CAPTAIN MILLARD orders expert interrogator and ambitious, L.A. blue-blood cop SGT. EDMUND EXLEY (his father was once Chief cop) to find out where the kidnapped girl, KIMBERLY JOHNSON, is located. Exley tries to manipulate the suspects, but Bud can't stand to just watch. Bud pulls a gun on one of the suspects and forces him to tell the girl's location. Bud takes off to rescue the girl with his drunken partner, DICK STENSLAND, in the back seat. Jack grabs the media and takes off as well. Bud enters the house, finds the girl alive, kills the naked KIDNAPPER/RAPIST, and plants a gun on him. Meanwhile, Stensland gets spooked and kills an innocent NEIGHBOR.
To further his career, Exley seeks charges on Bud and Stens. Exley forces Jack to inform on them. Stens is fired. Bud is suspended. Jack is sent to Vice. Exley is promoted. Bud and Stens wear masks and beat up Exley. Stens tells Bud he's into something big. Machivellian veteran cop LT. DUDLEY SMITH uses his influence to get Bud assigned to him for a "special assignment" strong arming gangsters out of town. Meanwhile, gangster MICKEY COHEN is in jail when he learns his narcotics man, ABE TEITLEBAUM, has been killed and a cache of heroin has been stolen. The cops respond to a holdup turned massacre at the Hollywood Night Owl coffee shop. One of the six corpses turns out to be Stens. Jack's SNITCH leads the cops to three BLACK SUSPECTS. Exley tries to take them alive, but he and Jack wind up killing them. The suspect's girl, LUCY, says they are innocent. Exley is promoted to Captain. His father, PRESTON, is proud. One of the other corpses is the hooker Susan. Bud falls in love with the other hooker, Lynn. Sid sets up D.A. LOEW with gay lover Matt Reynolds. Jack finds Matt dead. Susan's mother identifies Stens as Susan's boyfriend. Jack finds the corpse of Stens old partner, MEEKS, under Susan's house. Jack goes to Dudley. Dudley kills Jack and covers it up. Trying to help Bud, Lynn allows Exley to seduce her. Sid photographs it. Bud figures Stens and Meeks killed Abe and took the heroin to sell it. Sid is found dead. Bud finds the photos and confronts Lynn. He hits her and leaves. Bud almost kills Exley until they realize Dudley is behind everything: the massacre, the murders, the heroin, even trying to get Bud to kill Exley. Pierce is found dead, a fake suicide. Lynn is put in protective custody. Exley confronts his father who confesses he is being blackmailed by Dudley as well. Preston kills himself before his son can arrest him. Bud and Exley are sent to the motel where gangsters are tortured to leave town. Dudley and his goons show up to kill them. Bud is wounded, but Exley kills Dudley. Exley is made Chief. Bud leaves town with Lynn.
Summary Criticism: The captivating plot is highly convoluted, but that is Ellroy's intention. The characters are engaging.
L.A. Confidential (1997) - imdb
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