Word: exley
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Confidential," a sumptuous bit of film noir set in 1950's Los Angeles. The movie features a cast of crime lords, dope dealers, tabloid photographers, wife-beaters, crooked cops, movie stars, and prostitutes. Navigating this menagerie of colorful filth are three police detectives, Bud White, Jack Vincennes, and Ed Exley. As we watch them attempt to solve a mysterious mass murder, we unexpectedly gain insight into the recent tragedy in Brooklyn...
...opens with Bud White watching a drunken husband attack his wife. White approaches the house and proceeds to beat the drunk senseless. Next, we see Jack Vincennes dancing at a glitzy celebrity party with a beautiful girl, boasting of his movie star friends, followed by the presentation of Ed Exley, the by-the-book watch commander, manning the station and posing for a newspaper crew on hand to write a story. Only later do we learn that Exley is a conniving politician who is ever-ready to exploit the rules for his own career advancement...
...cops are the backbone of "L.A. Confidential." Their jobs demand that they be mired in filth and degradation, and they have not escaped untarnished. White sees violence against women and turns to a brutal brand of justice. Vincennes busts celebrity drug users and comes to seek the spotlight himself. Exley is enamored with the established system and is seduced by the power that it wields. All three men have been infected by the underworld in which they must exist...
...what separates the movie from any other white-knight special is the palpable, big-screen reality of the characters: that is, while we know they're all blown up or simplified as necessary, we still can't wait to watch what happens when the upright Exley locks horns with Smith or goes to talk with prettyboy Vincennes whom we've up to then only known from more public appearances. People make mistakes or people shock us with coldly inhuman decisions, but things never subside into a predictable formula...
...hyped, dirty-real crime writing (some chapters consist of fictional headlines and news clippings) into a solid flick even a little sleeker than the original. Where the gritty could have turned grating, the dark places of "L.A. Confidential" hold up.Photo courtesy of Regency EntertainmentQUITE THE MORAL GUY: Ed Exley (GUY PEARCE) takes his search for crime off the street and into his own department...