A Little Too Hush Hush

It's interesting to note some of the "big" movies that came out over the years that no one ever talks about anymore. When a film is nominated for a bunch of awards, and even wins a couple of Oscars, you tend to expect it to stick around in the cultural consciousness. A movie is great, you would think, and doesn't stop being great just because we've moved onto another award season, right? And yet, sometimes these kinds of films just vanish. Mentioned once and then never brought up again because everyone has moved on to the next big thing.

One such film, apparently, is L.A. Confidential. Released in 1997, the film essentially acted as a counter to Titanic during awards season. Sure, everyone was raving about that film where the boat sank after a couple of people fell in love, but what about this other movie. You know, the one about dirty cops in L.A. during the 1950s. The one that had all the up-and-coming actors and told a serious story with solid production values. Apparently, despite bringing in a solid haul at the Box Office ($126 Mil against a $35 Mil budget), audiences only had eyes for one period piece in 1997, and the ship that sank sailed onwards for decades after.

Frankly, though, I don't think audiences were wrong in this case. In fairness to the film, L.A. Confidential is a lushly made, very handsome, well acted film. It fits itself nicely into its period and tells a wide, sprawling tale with lots of action, romance, and intrigue. All the same things can be said about Titanic, though, and while I'm not someone that goes out of my way to watch that James Cameron blockbuster (I don't think I've even watched the film since 1998), I do think it's the better period piece of the two. L.A. Confidential is too dark, too murky, too willing to wallow to really keep audiences hooked year after year. It's a film about L.A., so the Academy lapped it up, but what it really lacks is that hook that keeps you coming back for more.

The film focuses on three detectives. One, Detective Lieutenant Edmund Exley (Guy Pearce), is a young and brash up-and-comer in the department who has eyes on moving up the ranks as fast as he can. He quickly makes a name for himself battling other cops and their corruption, getting promoted to L.T. while getting a long-timer fired. He then makes, good, thought, when he helps solve the the murders at the Nite Owl coffee shop. A bloodbath ensued there, blamed on three Black men, and Exley eventually apprehends the three, mostly at the end of his shotgun (he's also the hero of this film, such as it has one).

Working from another angle is Detective Sergeant Bud White (Russell Crowe), a meaty guy who thinks with his fists. He was partners with the man Exley sent up the river, and when that ex-cop ends up dead at the Nite Owl, Bud wants in to investigate. He also helps bring down the guys supposedly responsible for the Nite Owl killings, but he starts to have doubts about who was really guilty. Doubts, it should be noted, Exley shares. Exley also talks to Detective Sergeant "Hollywood Jack" Vincennes (Kevin Spacey), a guy with his finger on the Hollywood pulse. Jack is just a little dirty, greasing the wheels over on cop drama Badge of Honor, and there's little Jack won't do for a buck. But when an actor he knows gets murdered, Jack gets sucked into this conspiracy as well, and it's a conspiracy that could go all the way to the top of the department.

The first issue holding L.A. Confidential back from being an instant classic is that it's a really long, sprawling film that isn't easy to summarize. I've watched it a couple of times and, frankly, trying to keep all the details straight (who did what, where, with whom, and for what reason) is difficult. There are so many twists and turns and double-crosses on this case that you won't really know who is in on anything until the full breadth is revealed (and all the bullets stop flying).

It doesn't help that the film never really settles down on the exact motivations for everything. The Nite Owl is a case apparently predicated on heroin, although it starts as a burglary gone wrong (we think). Then there's also a plot line about high priced call girls. This ties into a thread about black mail. It somehow links into the department, and a dirty newspaper, and some porn producers. There's a lot, with a lot of characters, and while it never truly becomes muddled, it's also not the easiest film to sink your teeth into and follow. I like complex, but this is almost one level of complexity too far at times.

Having three lead characters, each going in their own direction with storylines that don't always link up, certainly doesn't help matters. Is Bud a good guy or a bad guy? What about Hollywood Jack? Exley is the "cleanest" of the three and even he's dirty to a degree or two. You're never sure who you're rooting for, and then you aren't even sure if someone might be in on something or not. They're realistic characters in that respect, sure, but realistically muddied is still muddied in ways that keep audiences from fully connecting with their protagonists.

And, of course, we have to discuss the fact that Kevin Spacey is in the film. Spacey, accused of multiple counts of sexual assault with a side of pedophilia thrown in, is a pariah from Hollywood now, and most audiences tend to disregard everything he's been in. He managed to ruin an entire swath of films from the 19990s and 2000s just through his sheer presence in the movies, this film included. He's actually pretty good as an actor here (and his death in the film is amazing), but the whole time I'm watching it I didn't see "Hollywood Jack", I saw "accused pedophile Kevin Spacey", and it was hard to get invested in his character at all.

This isn't a feel good movie by any stretch. It's a dark and depressing drama where everyone fucks everyone else (sometimes literally) and barely anyone comes out of it smelling like roses. Arguably no one does, really. Sure, some of the bad guys pay, but not everyone, and it's hard to say that any real justice gets done in the end. It's a strong story, in its own way, but not something audiences are going to feel good about after they're done watching.

That's the reason, I think, this film didn't really have legs. It's a solid enough film, with a twisty story, but the fact that there isn't anyone or anything to cheer for means that, once you've watched the film you pretty well don't want to watch it again. It's a lush and gorgeously produced film that absolutely only needs to be seen once.