Director:  Curtis Hanson		Released:  September 1997
Writer:  Brian Helgeland, from James Ellroy's novel		MPAA Rating:  R
Players:  Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger, James Cromwell, Danny DeVito, David Strathairn		Running time:  138 minutes

L.A. Confidential is one hell of a film.  It's a "Hollywood Movie" in every positive sense of the phrase.  It would be hard for me to imagine a person who wouldn't enjoy it, and I certainly would not want to have drinks with that person.  The story is smart, and I mean really smart, Guy Pearce's brainy cop is a different breed of go-getter, and James Cromwell's wise police captain keeps you guessing as to his political motivations.  To offset these smarty-pants characters, Russell Crowe plays a bruiser of a cop who thinks more with his temper and his fists than anything else.  All of the actors perform at a very high level, motivated by the first-rate material the script provides.

All of the ideas that are part of the story are fascinating.  A pimp who rents out girls that look like movie stars.  A cop who tips off a tabloid reporter so that the reporter gets his story and the cop gets his fame.  I have no doubts about the underlying truth behind these notions of 1950's Los Angeles.

The characters are distinct and memorable.  The action is intense and real.  The dialog is sharp and witty.  And the theme of corruption within the Los Angeles police department weighs heavily on our shoulders and is prominent in today's headlines, let alone 50 years ago.  Who is more corrupt, the cop who breaks the rules or the cop who uses the rules for political gain?

- crocoPuffs

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