DVD 132 min. IMDB 8.4

In verzameling
#379

Crime

Kevin Spacey	Sgt. Jack Vincennes
Russell Crowe	Officer Wendell 'Bud' White
Guy Pearce	Det. Lt. Edmund Jennings Exley
Kim Basinger	Lynn Bracken
James Cromwell	Capt. Dudley Liam Smith
Danny DeVito	Sid Hudgens
David Strathairn	Pierce Morehouse Patchett
Ron Rifkin	Dist. Atty. Ellis Loew
Matt McCoy	Brett Chase
Paul Guilfoyle	Meyer Harris 'Mickey' Cohen

Regisseur	Curtis Hanson
Producent	Curtis Hanson; Arnon Milchan
Schrijver	James Ellroy; Brian Helgeland

In a time when it seems that every other movie makes some claim to being a film noir, LA Confidential is the real thing--a gritty, sordid tale of sex, scandal, betrayal and corruption of all sorts (police, political, press--and, of course, very personal) in 1940s Hollywood. The Oscar-winning screenplay is actually based on several titles in James Ellroy's series of chronological thriller novels (including the title volume, The Big Nowhere and White Jazz)--a compelling blend of LA history and pulp fiction that has earned it comparisons to the greatest of all Technicolour noir films, Chinatown.

Kim Basinger richly deserved her Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of a conflicted femme fatale; unfortunately, her male costars are so uniformly fine that they may have canceled each other out with the Academy voters: Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey and James Cromwell play LAPD officers of varying stripes. Pearce's character is a particularly intriguing study in Hollywood amorality and ambition, a strait-laced "hero" (and son of a departmental legend) whose career goals outweigh all other moral, ethical and legal considerations. If he's a good guy, it's only because he sees it as the quickest route to a promotion. --Jim Emerson