L.A. Confidential

James Ellroy has always been a tough proposition for Hollywood, even though his hard-boiled crime novels are steeped in film noir mythology. Few anticipated that Curtis Hanson — up to then considered little more than a sound craftsman — would solve the problems in LA Confidential, a sprawling, complex and sordid book about Tinseltown sleaze and police graft in the 1950s.

Armed with a shrewdly condensed screenplay by Brian Helgeland, Hanson excelled himself: the movie emerged as a modern classic, a polished neo-noir probing the social (racial, sexual) hypocrisies festering in the city of dreams. That the movie came out just a few years after the Rodney King riots suggested that its portrait of endemic police brutality and corruption was still very much relevant. Featuring career-transforming performances from Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey and Guy Pierce, the movie picked up nine Oscar nominations.

An irresistible treat with enough narrative twists and memorable characters for a half-dozen films.

Todd McCarthy, Variety

Curtis Hanson’s resplendently wicked L.A. Confidential is a tough, gorgeous, vastly entertaining throwback to the Hollywood that did things right.

Janet Maslin, New York Times

Media Partner