ĪL.A. Confidentialā mimics the whodunit with brilliance

By Dave Flomberg
The Metropolitan

They came off the buses in droves. Middle American girls-next-door with visions of becoming the next Veronica Lake or Betty Paige. With the boom of the entertainment industry, Hollywood would be handing out acting contracts at the bus station.

Los Angeles was again the site of a gold rush ÷ this time, the gold was on an Emmy or Oscar, and all you needed to pan for it was a nice dress, high heels, and a sharp tongue.

But behind the hype, underneath the bright lights and glamour, lay a city as entrenched in sin and lust and crime as any exploding metropolis.

Warner Bros.ā L.A. Confidential spins and dips us right into the midst of 1950s Hollywood. The Dukeās still swinging while corruption is seething, and everyone is either a cop, a crook, or dead.

Based on the James Ellroy novel, L.A. Confidential is an entertaining and refreshing spin on an old idea: the whodunit.

Thereās a murder to get the ball rolling, a whore to get the juices pumping and a soundtrack to keep the foot tapping. The mystery keeps you guessing while the actionās got you hopping.

Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito and Kim Basinger are the big names the audience will recognize. Spacey plays Jack

Vincennes, the smooth-talking, suave cop who loves the limelight. DeVito plays Sid Hudgens, a first-generation tabloid-and-checkbook journalist. Basinger plays Lynn Bracken, a prostitute who can be anything you desire.

Then thereās Russell Crowe, a relatively unknown Australian actor whose deep voice and curt manner bring a Jack Webb-like Bud White to life. Another unknown Aussie, Guy Pearce, plays the straight-arrow Ed Exley.

The plot launches with a police battering of a few Mexican prisoners in which White is involved. Exley drops a dime on him and his partner in turn for a promotion and the hatred of his fellow officers. Whiteās partner is offered up as a scapegoat. While awaiting sentencing, he is killed in an apparently random robbery.

Exley hunts down the killers and dispatches them in a violent shootout.

Meanwhile, Whiteās and Vicennesā independent investigations bring the unlikely trio together as they discover that the real killer is still loose, and the corruption they are surrounded by is much bigger than they ever imagined.

Every character changes throughout the course of the film. Your snap judgments on what each person is about are shattered by the time the film draws to a close. The person you hated becomes endearing; the person you loved becomes feared.

At the same time, the costumes and the cars bring elegance to the screen, and the soundtrack is the best since Kansas City.

Director Curtis Hanson (also known for The River Wild), outdoes himself this time. His vision of L.A. in the early ā50s is colorful and dark, mysterious and sparkling. The casting couldnāt have been any better. Spacey is exciting as always, and newcomers Crowe and Pearce demonstrate veteran talent.

On the downside, the mystery aspect of the film wasnāt too hard to figure out, and the ending is a little too tidy and, well, Hollywood.

Yet, in spite of these drawbacks, L.A. Confidential is still as jake as jake can be.