L.A. Confidential – Colorful Noir

A confession: I love that genre of movie called “film noir”. They were mostly movies made on modest budgets from the mid 1940’s and into the early 1950’s. They were called “noir” not just because they were all filmed in black and white, but also because of the dark plots that often took an average guy into a downward swirl that usually ended with either death or prison.

Few modern movies have been successful in replicating that formula. Was it because color photography changed the atmosphere? Because later generations of filmmakers are no longer subject to the strict rules of the old Hayes Code, thus offering more freedom turn up the sex and gore that were only hinted at in the old days? Or is it just that later generations of audiences have moved on and want to see other things? Whatever the reason, most examples of film noir remind us that “they don’t make them like they used to.” But very rarely, the old noir formula is dusted off and brought back to the big screen in a most spectacular fashion. This is the case with the 1997 movie, “L.A. Confidential”.

I have watched literally hundreds of examples of classic film noir, and the best of them are films I can watch over and over again. “Double Indemnity” (1944), “The Big Sleep” (1946) and “Out Of The Past” (1947) are movies that I have seen many times, and am almost always ready to experience again. Whether it is the complex plot, the memorable performances or just that certain classic look, if I get exposed to the first 3 minutes of a good noir, I am hooked for the duration.

I had the same reaction the first time I watched “L.A. Confidential” from 1997. I was probably too busy with family life to watch it in the theater, but saw it on video several years later. I remember that I felt compelled to watch it again the very next day, such was its pull on me. So you can imagine what happened when I saw it offered as part of my subscription to Amazon Prime. Yes, I watched it again, for probably the 5th or 6th time.

For those who have not seen it, the story takes place in the Los Angeles of 1953, and plops itself into the crossroads of organized crime, dirty cops and the seamy world they inhabited amongst the glitter of mid-twentieth century L.A. It is an intricately woven story that really begins with a late-night multiple murder at a diner. Only as the plot progresses do we learn how the murders tie in with the mob, drugs, and a prostitution and porno operation that features girls who resemble movie stars. As for how that complicated plot plays out, I am not even going to try to describe it.

L-R: Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey as Los Angeles Police Detectives Edmund Exley, Wendell “Bud” White and Jack Vincennes

Three of the main characters are L. A. police detectives, who are unlikeable, each for his own reasons. There is Wendell “Bud” White (Russell Crowe), a violent man with a soft spot for abused women. Sgt. Edmund Exley (Guy Pearce) is an idealistic Boy Scout of a cop, but one who can scheme and manipulate as well as anyone his senior. And perhaps the most memorable is Sgt. Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey). Vincennes is called “Hollywood Jack”. The nickname is partly because of his contacts in the entertainment world, and partly from his high profile drug busts that are set up by the sleazy operator of a gossip magazine (Danny DeVito) and which are, of course, prominently featured (complete with lots of photos) in the publication.

Most movies set in earlier eras make an attempt to re-create those times, but are not always successful. L.A. Confidential does it magnificently. Director Curtis Hanson instructed set designers to pay meticulous attention to detail, and then put it all in the background. The houses, the cars, the restaurants, and even the seedy neighborhoods immerse you in what the Los Angeles of 1953 surely looked like. And then there are the characters whose clothing, hair, makeup and mannerisms are so reminiscent of the great characters from the old noir movies. This even goes for the sole featured female character, Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger), a high-end prostitute who is still a small-town girl at heart, and who falls for Officer White.

I will confess that Marianne was less enamored of the movie than am I. She is not alone – the author of the source novel, James Ellroy, has disparaged the movie as “a turkey” (1). I can attribute the second to an author’s pride and the first – well, I can concede that L.A. Confidential is probably more of a “guy movie” than one with broad appeal to women. It was, however, nominated for 9 Academy Awards and won 2 of them – Kim Basinger as Best Supporting Actress and for the best screenplay adapted from another source.

I am on record as calling the 1990’s as a modern-day golden era for Hollywood. It seemed to me like the period where the movies finally settled into their groove after losing their moorings after the end of the old production code in the mid 1960’s. Once the self-censorship of the code went away, film directors were like musicians who had discovered heroin and cocaine – they could still make great films, but too often they reveled in sex and gore because they could, and not necessarily because they made the movie better. Story-telling was back in style in the 90’s, and L.A. Confidential tells a great story with surprisingly little nudity (especially given its subject). And it does an excellent job of developing complex characters in the progression of a plot that upends their lives.

In the world of Hollywood movies, sometimes there are great popcorn flicks that are entertaining in spite of their, well, casual level of craftsmanship. There are also exceedingly well-made films that are more art project than entertainment. L.A. Confidential is a movie that combines the best of both camps. It is an engrossing movie that is as entertaining as it is well-made so as to appeal simultaneously to film snobs and those of us just looking for some entertainment. It does those things yet today, holding up beautifully almost 30 years after it first hit the screen. I found it a great way to spend 2 hours and 18 minutes.

Amazon doesn’t say how long L.A. Confidential will be offered as part of a Prime subscription, so I don’t know how long it will be available for a re-view. So I had better get a move on, because after writing this, I am in the mood to watch it again.

All photos are either promotional artwork or screenshots from the 1997 film L.A. Confidential

(1) https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2023/4/fuv1wpo93c2dhmdk6n1hor33ykjp9u

23 thoughts on “L.A. Confidential – Colorful Noir”

  1. This is one of my favorite movies too. I don’t have Amazon Prime, but have looked for it on there before. I think I did see this one in the theater, and probably had it on DVD once. I read the book a couple of times too.

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    • I am sure I have seen Devil In A Blue Dress, but it has been a long time. With your recommendation, I will have to look for it again. I have discovered that the older I get, the more I search out really good movies I have seen before for re-watching over experiencing new ones that are almost certainly not as well done.

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      • Hope you enjoy the rewatch. I wish they had adapted more of the books it is based on for the screen. It had a good Blu-ray release recently from the Indicator label.

        It’s always fun to revisit films and see if you still feel the same way about it years later.

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  3. Yep, L.A. Confidential is a fabulous “neo” version of film noir, and in color! When it first came out, I couldn’t believe they could make a “noir” in color and have it be successful, but they did it. I should have known, as China Town was also a killer modern made noir in the old style, and in color; great soundtrack too. As CFATVC says above, Devil in a Blue Dress is also a fav, and shows up on regular broadcast TV every once and a while. For modern made stuff, you might as well add the 1996 film Kansas City to the list, plus there’s a killer jazz soundtrack on that.

    Those poor people like me, on a fixed income in retirement, and don’t have streaming services, hopefully are living in a broadcast area that has the Movies! channel (over-the-air broadcast 49.2 in my area). You can check on their website for a broadcast channel in your area. They run Film Noir all day Thursday, and on Sunday nights, and generally are showing Maltese Falcon, Lady in the Lake, Big Sleep, and other noirs, including some weird old ones I’ve never seen. They also have specialty days: this Saturday, they’re running all the Thin Man films, back to back, from 10:00 am Central.

    Still haven’t had your fill? I’ve taken to listening to the free stream from Antioch Broadcast Network (in northern Illinois), every day between 10:00 am Central and 3:00 pm. They are a vintage radio programming station, and during these time periods are running old radio broadcasts of Suspense, The Whistler, Detective shows like Johnny Dollar, Nero Wolfe, Phillip Marlowe, Richard Diamond, Philo Vance, Broadway is My Beat, as well as many others. Great to listen to while you’re doing other things around the house.

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  4. You’ve piqued my curiosity. I’ve never seen this movie, but now I want to watch it. One detail – Basinger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, not Best Actress.

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  5. I think I saw “L.A. Confidential” also by renting a video as I’ve not been to the show in many years. I did just put it on my watchlist at Amazon as your post and the trailer didn’t jog my memory, although I bought a Nicholas Sparks book recently as I enjoy his books. The summary on the back cover meant nothing and on page 20 a bell dinged as I knew I’d read it before. I did keep a list at one time as I was an avid reader, both of paperbacks purchased and library books borrowed, plus a co-worker was in a Doubleday Book Club, so it was difficult to remember all those books/authors to not make an unnecessary purchase.

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    • Plus one for Geoff’s point here. I’d only seen Maltese Falcon on TV from a VHS or DVD format, and pre video tape, on a 16mm print in a college film class. A number of years ago, an old theater locally was showing vintage films when they could get them, and showed a new “strike” of Maltese Falcon, on the big screen, a pristine copy! I couldn’t believe all the stuff going on, on the screen, I never remembered seeing before! Biggest screen I’d ever seen it on!

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  7. You are correct about good films during the 1990s; everything today is a remake, it seems. LA Confidential is one of three movies I remember seeing at the theatre in 1997; for comparison, I have been to a first run movie theatre twice in the last fifteen years.

    While I don’t remember the basic premise of LA Confidential, I do remember it pulling me in immediately.

    For quite a while, we have had a Roku for streaming. One of the channels with older films has a whole category of film noir. I’ve watched one or two but don’t think they were peak noir as I cannot remember their titles!

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    • There were so many of the old ones, and a lot of them were enjoyable for watching then quickly forgettable.

      There is an amazing variety of streaming options!

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  8. I’m with Marianne……I remember seeing it and wondering what all the fuss was about? Especially Kim Basinger getting that Oscar for her role of what like 2 minutes on the screen as per my recollection it wasn’t much of a role? Russell Crowe looks very young there – I had forgotten he was in it. Casablanca is my type of old movie…..or Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn.

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    • I can see how it might not be your thing, and acknowledge that this might be another example of a male author better at creating male characters than female characters.

      Casablanca and Roman Holiday are certainly excellent choices!

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