Masterfully directed and co-written by Curtis Hanson, L.A. Confidential (1997) cruises across the screen seamlessly, in a stylish homage to the Film Noir Classics. Where the film differs from it's predecessors, however, is in aesthetics. Shot in vibrant color with mostly with available light, the film has a more naturalistic tone than the typical, dramatically photographed black-and-white Noir. The casting in L.A. Confidential was daring as well, with Hanson choosing two Australian actors, Russell Crowe and Guy Pierce, who were relatively unknown in the U.S. at that time, for the lead roles. It all worked out and a wonderful supporting cast joined on, including Kevin Spacey, James Cromwell, Dany DeVito, David Strathairn... and Kim Basinger, who won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role as a Veronica Lake look-a-like prostitute.
The story concerns the era of police corruption in the LAPD, intertwined with Hollywood celebrity after the incarceration of gangster Mickey Cohen left a vacancy in organized crime in Los Angeles in 1953. We meet several key characters:
including Detective Sgt. Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey), who has teamed with tabloid reporter Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito), for some tips and pay-offs, and headline-grabbing fame...
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| L.A. Confidential. 1997 |
straight-as-an-arrow, ambitious cop Lt. Edmund Exley (Guy Pierce)...
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| L.A. Confidential. 1997 |
the volatile Officer Wendell "Bud" White (Russell Crowe)...
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| L.A. Confidential. 1997: Russell Crowe |
and Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger), a hooker from a Hollywood stable of prostitutes designed to look like movie stars. Lynn is Veronica Lake...
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| L.A. Confidential. 1997: Kim Basinger |
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| L.A. Confidential. 1997: Kim Basinger |
and she applies her trade well...
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| L.A. Confidential. 1997: Kim Basinger |
tensions rise...
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| L.A. Confidential. 1997 |
mistrust and suspicion grows...
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| L.A. Confidential. 1997 |
in this powerful Neo-Noir tale...
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| L.A. Confidential. 1997: Kim Basinger |
