Los Angeles, 1 9 5 3. Police Seargent Ed Exley is an idealistic, "by the book" kind of guy. When several police officers take justice into their own hands and beat up Mexican prisoners suspected of assailing police officers, Ed is the only one willing to testify against officer Stensland, who is thus removed from police force. This angers officer Bud White. When Stensland is found among a dozen corpses mysteriously shot in a bar called "Nite Owl", Ed and Bud investigate together with their boss, Captain Dudley. Intially, they arrest three African-Americans, but all are later killed in a shootout. However, Ed thinks something is not right about the case and investigates further. He finds out about a web of corruption that leads all the way to Dudley, who wanted to take over the drug market racket, and used prostitutes who look like Hollywood actresses, including Lynn, to make photos of Councilmen having sex with them, and then later blackmail these politicians into his biding. In a shootout, Ed manages to kill Dudley, and survives together with Bud.
One of the most critically recognized movies of the 90s, already proclaimed a modern classic at the time of its release, "L.A. Confidential" is the closest modern Hollywood came to distilling a modern version of a film noir from its 'golden age'. Director and screenwriter Curtis Hanson even deliberately tried to avoid modern cinematic techniques and a more complicated visual style in order to give the experience of a thoroughbred, juicy, 'old school' example of a crime film that relies only on its characters and intelligent story, similarly like film noirs did in the 40s and 50s of the 20th century. The movie is remarkably well done: it starts out slow, yet builds up speed, and thus engages the viewers to such an extent that they won't even notice that two hours have already passed. It owes this a lot to some brilliant dialogues which instill awe. In one example, officer Bud knocks at the door of prostitute Lynn, but she is with some cocky man in underwear. Bud tells the man to beat it, but the man brushes off: "Maybe I will, maybe I won't". Finally, Bud shows his police badge: "LAPD, shitbird. Get outta here or I'll call your wife to come get you!" The man then hurriedly picks up his stuff and walks away out in his underwear, but not before a final, polite exchange with Bud ("Officer." - "Councilman").
When Bud and Lynn talk, the dialogue already foreshadows a progress in their relationship ("You're the first man in five years who didn't tell me I look like Veronica Lake inside of a minute." - "You look better than Veronica Lake"). It also follows the theme of the end of idealism: at first, Ed insist on being an honest cop, insisting it is his duty to follow the law, but as practice quickly shows, he finds himself killing a suspect in an elevator, and having to compromise to get the job done. Bud is brutal, but at least idealistically believes he is doing it for a greater good, to protect women from abusers, until this reaches a full circle when he, in an act of rage, slaps Lynn himself. However, the said episode is one of the flaws of the movie, since it is a cliche of a hero becoming what he was fighting against. Another flaw is the too convoluted storyline which is at times hard to follow, leading to a conventional resolution of a bad guys motivation (he just wanted more money), whereas Kim Basinger's character Lynn could have been developed in a richer way. Still, the cast is incredible, including even Danny DeVito as a sleazy reporter who goes in a symbiotic relationship with a cop, and the narrative tight and dense, delivering an excellent little film.
Grade:+++
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