1 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:20,280 Speaker 1: Put your phone on silent and pass the popcorn. It's 2 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:23,160 Speaker 1: time for another episode of the Screening Room, a weekly 3 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:26,240 Speaker 1: bonus feature here in your favorite movie history and true 4 00:00:26,239 --> 00:00:29,640 Speaker 1: crime podcast, Hollywood Land. This is the episode where we 5 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 1: distill a lot of the things we've been talking about 6 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:35,200 Speaker 1: all week thus far and funnel them into the framework 7 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:37,760 Speaker 1: of one film in particular, which I want to get 8 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:40,920 Speaker 1: into with all of you. The film this week is 9 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:45,199 Speaker 1: La Confidential, which was originally released in the United States 10 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:48,760 Speaker 1: back in September of nineteen ninety seven. This was directed 11 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 1: by Curtis Hanson, with a screenplay by Hanson and Brian 12 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:56,320 Speaker 1: Helgeland adapted from the nineteen ninety novel by the great 13 00:00:56,440 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: James Elroy. It stars Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey, 14 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:06,520 Speaker 1: Kim Bassinger, James Cromwell, David straighthand Danny DeVito, and many 15 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:10,039 Speaker 1: many others. This is a film which the critic David Dembi, 16 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:13,600 Speaker 1: writing at the time for New York Magazine called, quote, 17 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 1: not only the best American movie of the year thus far, 18 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:20,760 Speaker 1: but in some ways the only American movie of the 19 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 1: year unquote. Our fully scripted and sound design episode this 20 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 1: week back on Monday was all about the Black Dahlia 21 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:31,640 Speaker 1: aka Elizabeth Short. She was a young woman who moved 22 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:34,400 Speaker 1: from Massachusetts all the way out to California in the 23 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: nineteen forties, eventually making her way to Los Angeles, as 24 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:41,119 Speaker 1: many did before her, and many more did after her, 25 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:44,880 Speaker 1: and many still do to this day, maybe seeking something greater, 26 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:48,520 Speaker 1: some sort of fame or fortune, perhaps the glow of 27 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 1: the silver screen, the kind of elusive promise that only 28 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:54,360 Speaker 1: a place like the City of Angels can truly offer. 29 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:58,520 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Short did not find what she was looking for. Instead, 30 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 1: pure evil found her, after which her naked and severed 31 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 1: body was discovered on the street in early nineteen forty seven, 32 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:09,919 Speaker 1: and Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia, just twenty two years old, 33 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:13,679 Speaker 1: Her myth, her legend, instantly became woven into the tapestry 34 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:17,919 Speaker 1: of La Lore. This lore is marked by how unknowable 35 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:21,000 Speaker 1: it is. It is unsolvable. It moves forward at a 36 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 1: very intentional speed, with the dual guardrails of corruption and 37 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:27,880 Speaker 1: exploitation keeping it in check. And this, of course is 38 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:32,000 Speaker 1: the world in which La Confidential is set. Now there 39 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:34,560 Speaker 1: is a film from two thousand and six called The 40 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:37,680 Speaker 1: Black Dahlia, which is also based on a James Elroy 41 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:41,160 Speaker 1: novel and is actually about the still unsolved case of 42 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Schwart's murder. But I chose Eli Confidential over that, 43 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:47,800 Speaker 1: largely because I think Eli Confidential is the better film 44 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:50,239 Speaker 1: and more interesting to talk about. And you know, again, 45 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 1: the myth and legend of the Black Dahlia is never 46 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:56,480 Speaker 1: too far from the stories that James Elroy tells. They 47 00:02:56,520 --> 00:02:59,400 Speaker 1: are often set in the nineteen forties and nineteen fifties 48 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:04,239 Speaker 1: Los Angeles in this unknowable, unsolvable world, and even more profound, 49 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 1: James Elroy's own mother was murdered in the late fifties 50 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:09,600 Speaker 1: when he was just a kid, and like the Black Dahlia, 51 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:14,080 Speaker 1: her murder remains unsolved. So Ellie Confidential isn't a Black 52 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: Dahlia movie, but it's a movie about the world that 53 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:20,960 Speaker 1: created the story of the Black Dahlia. Elli Confidential is 54 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,320 Speaker 1: both a study of a system, a flawed, rotten system. 55 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:27,680 Speaker 1: It's a post mortem, and it's a film that understands 56 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: why some crimes never get solved. When the film was 57 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:35,480 Speaker 1: originally released in nineteen ninety seven, it felt different. I 58 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:38,080 Speaker 1: remember seeing this at a theater in Boston, probably the 59 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: Nickelodeon on Cumington Street, which ran that street runs parallel 60 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:46,080 Speaker 1: to commav On Bu's campus, and I very much remember 61 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:48,440 Speaker 1: how different and how new it felt, even if this 62 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: wasn't a new concept. One of my favorite films of 63 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:55,440 Speaker 1: all time, Chinatown exposed the corruption and rot that was 64 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:58,880 Speaker 1: just beneath LA's shining exterior over twenty years before this, 65 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 1: And if you go go back to some of the 66 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 1: classic film noirs of the Golden Age of Hollywood, a 67 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:06,320 Speaker 1: film like The Big Sleep, which came out in forty six, 68 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:09,440 Speaker 1: that had already introduced us to this idea of a 69 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:12,400 Speaker 1: corruption so deep that it didn't even matter who did water, 70 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:16,640 Speaker 1: who killed who. In the nineties, for detective films set 71 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 1: in La Circa at the time of La Confidential, you 72 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:23,360 Speaker 1: had the unlikely sequel to Chinatown, The Two Jakes, which 73 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:26,400 Speaker 1: came out in nineteen ninety. There was Devil in a 74 00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:29,400 Speaker 1: Blue Dress from ninety five that was the Carl Franklin 75 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:32,480 Speaker 1: film starring Denzel Washington and based on the novel by 76 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:35,960 Speaker 1: Walter Mosley. And then, perhaps more in concert with La 77 00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:39,280 Speaker 1: Confidential than those two, there was Mulholland Falls, which came 78 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:41,719 Speaker 1: out the year before in nineteen eighty six and focused 79 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:46,040 Speaker 1: on LAPD's notorious gangster squad. Moholland Drive is not as 80 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:49,719 Speaker 1: successful a film as La Confidential, I don't think, but 81 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:53,600 Speaker 1: it does give us cops who enforce secrets, not justice. 82 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:56,240 Speaker 1: They are also enforcing the myth and the legend I 83 00:04:56,279 --> 00:04:59,840 Speaker 1: spoke of earlier, this complicated tapestry. And this is important 84 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,560 Speaker 1: because it sets us up for La Confidential in ninety seven, 85 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:05,279 Speaker 1: which takes all of these things from all these films 86 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:07,760 Speaker 1: that came before it and rolls it up into one organism. 87 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: The tabloids, police, pr celebrity culture, real estate, organized crime. 88 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 1: It's all one thing here. The cop, the detective, the protagonist. 89 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:20,039 Speaker 1: He is less of a hero and more of a 90 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 1: complicit participant in the myth. He is not seeking the 91 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:27,960 Speaker 1: truth so much as he's engaging in damage control. Guy 92 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:31,839 Speaker 1: Pierce's character, Ed Exley, He's seeking the truth at first, 93 00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:34,040 Speaker 1: but even he is powerless to the corruption that he's 94 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:36,599 Speaker 1: drowning in. At some point, you've got to give yourself 95 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:38,480 Speaker 1: over to it, do your part to keep your head 96 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:41,920 Speaker 1: above water, or else you drown. As David Demby put 97 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:45,479 Speaker 1: it in that New York Magazine review, the movie suggests 98 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:48,920 Speaker 1: a deep failability in even the best men, a bottomless 99 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:51,920 Speaker 1: deceit in the worst, and a wide range of honor 100 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:55,600 Speaker 1: and venality in everyone in between. This is a film 101 00:05:55,960 --> 00:05:59,280 Speaker 1: about that so called range, the old good cop bad 102 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:04,400 Speaker 1: cop routine about body doubles and night owls, hoods and hookers, 103 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:08,520 Speaker 1: all that off the record on the QT, very hush 104 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:11,480 Speaker 1: hush stuff, and we're going to get into it right 105 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 1: after this. It was Christmas Eve nineteen fifty one, Los Angeles. 106 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:46,920 Speaker 1: Late at Max Cone's bar on Riverside Drive. Seven men 107 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 1: were celebrating the impending holiday over a few years. They 108 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:53,880 Speaker 1: were letting loose and forgetting all their troubles for one night. 109 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:56,960 Speaker 1: That is, until the front door swon wide open and 110 00:06:57,080 --> 00:07:01,320 Speaker 1: in walked two officers from the LAPD. It was strange, 111 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:03,560 Speaker 1: two cops just barging in for no reason, but the 112 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:06,400 Speaker 1: men attempted to pay the cops no mind and continued 113 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 1: to down their pints as the Christmas spirit took over. 114 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:12,200 Speaker 1: The two officers, however, thought that the men were getting 115 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:14,880 Speaker 1: a little too holly jolly, and so they told them 116 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:17,880 Speaker 1: it was time to go home. Naturally, these men didn't 117 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:20,480 Speaker 1: like being told what to do, especially by the party 118 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:24,360 Speaker 1: poopers here and the LAPD but they begrudgingly followed orders 119 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:28,440 Speaker 1: and stumbled out onto the sidewalk. The cops followed, and 120 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:31,880 Speaker 1: that's when all hell broke loose. It's unclear who threw 121 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: the first punch, but within seconds the seven men were 122 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:37,920 Speaker 1: in a street fight with the two cops. The cops, 123 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:41,119 Speaker 1: being unnumbered, took a beating. One received a black eye 124 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:44,000 Speaker 1: and the other had his foreheads split open. But before 125 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:46,480 Speaker 1: any more damage was done, a resident from a house 126 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: nearby appeared, cocked the shotgun in his hand, and the 127 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:52,920 Speaker 1: fight quickly broke up. The seven men scattered off into 128 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:56,480 Speaker 1: the night. Two hours later, far more than two cops 129 00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:59,120 Speaker 1: were banging on the door of the home occupied by 130 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:02,920 Speaker 1: one of those seven men, twenty three year old Daniel Rodella, 131 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:07,560 Speaker 1: while his family watched in bleary eyed disbelief. The cops 132 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:10,280 Speaker 1: grabbed Rodella by his shirt collar and beat the shit 133 00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:12,800 Speaker 1: out of him with their bare hands. They cuffed him. 134 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:15,320 Speaker 1: One of the officers then grabbed a chunk of Rodella's 135 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:18,080 Speaker 1: hair and yanked him in the direction of the police cruiser, 136 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:22,920 Speaker 1: all while Rodella's family screamed in horror. The cops drove 137 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:25,760 Speaker 1: Rodella to a Lesian park, dragged him from the car, 138 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:28,640 Speaker 1: knocked him onto his knees there in the cold moonlight, 139 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:31,760 Speaker 1: and proceeded to beat him so badly that they broke 140 00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:35,200 Speaker 1: his nose and fractured multiple bones in his face. You 141 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:37,800 Speaker 1: better make your report good, Rodella heard one of the 142 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:40,680 Speaker 1: cops say to another, say that he resisted arrest, or 143 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:42,720 Speaker 1: that he assaulted you with a flower pot or something. 144 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:48,120 Speaker 1: Rodella's six friends were a little luckier for now. At least. 145 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:50,240 Speaker 1: They were all rounded up from their homes by the 146 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:53,200 Speaker 1: LAPD around two in the morning and taken to Central 147 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:56,400 Speaker 1: Station over on First Street, where roughly one hundred cops 148 00:08:56,440 --> 00:08:58,840 Speaker 1: had been getting in the holiday mood all night, drinking 149 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:02,560 Speaker 1: and carousing. It wasn't long before words spread through the 150 00:09:02,559 --> 00:09:05,600 Speaker 1: station all about the street fight that these six men 151 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:07,520 Speaker 1: now being held in lock up had been involved in 152 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 1: hours earlier. But like many stories that get passed from 153 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:13,760 Speaker 1: person to person, especially on a night as magical and 154 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:17,160 Speaker 1: drunken as Christmas Eve, the facts here were as loose 155 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:20,640 Speaker 1: as the cops were now tight with spiked eggnog, and 156 00:09:20,679 --> 00:09:23,360 Speaker 1: so word was the cop who had received a black 157 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:27,240 Speaker 1: eye was actually going to lose his eye. Didn't matter 158 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:29,840 Speaker 1: that this was false. It sent the one hundred or 159 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:32,600 Speaker 1: so cops into such a rage that they all walked 160 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:34,880 Speaker 1: down to the holding room, made the six men in 161 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:37,480 Speaker 1: custody line up against the wall, and then they did 162 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:40,120 Speaker 1: to those six men what some of their fellow officers 163 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:43,480 Speaker 1: had just done to Daniel Rodella over an allegian park. 164 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:48,200 Speaker 1: For over ninety minutes, the men were viciously punched, kicked, 165 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:52,280 Speaker 1: and throttled by LA's so called law enforcers, beaten so 166 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:54,920 Speaker 1: badly that the walls and the floors of the station 167 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:57,440 Speaker 1: were painted in blood by the time it was over. 168 00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:00,800 Speaker 1: While the men were covered from their injuries, Rodella, for one, 169 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:03,599 Speaker 1: required two blood transfusions and more than a month of 170 00:10:03,679 --> 00:10:07,160 Speaker 1: rest before he was able to return to work. LAPD 171 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:12,200 Speaker 1: Chief William Parker denied initially charges of police brutality, even 172 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:14,600 Speaker 1: speaking to local media about how it was all a 173 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:18,360 Speaker 1: smear campaign against his men. Of course, the truth finally 174 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:20,959 Speaker 1: came out, first in a two hundred and four page 175 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:25,240 Speaker 1: report which prompted Parker to transfer fifty four officers and 176 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:28,760 Speaker 1: suspend another thirty nine, and then in a trial in 177 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:32,480 Speaker 1: which a grand jury indicted eight officers. The first criminal 178 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:36,040 Speaker 1: convictions for use of excessive force that the LAPD had 179 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:41,320 Speaker 1: ever received. This really happened in Los Angeles in nineteen 180 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:45,560 Speaker 1: fifty one, forty years before Rodney King. It became known 181 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:48,520 Speaker 1: as Bloody Christmas in A retelling of this event is 182 00:10:48,559 --> 00:10:51,640 Speaker 1: what opens the film La Confidential, and it does so 183 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:54,920 Speaker 1: as a device to introduce us to our two main characters, 184 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:58,520 Speaker 1: the two driving forces of the film. The first's officer 185 00:10:58,559 --> 00:11:01,680 Speaker 1: Bud White, a burly veteran played by Russell Crowe with 186 00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:05,800 Speaker 1: this tamp down, internalized anger that smolders just beneath his 187 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:09,200 Speaker 1: high and tight crew cut. Bud's partner is the equally 188 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:12,679 Speaker 1: volcanic Dick Stenslin, who's been hauling off handles of liquor 189 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:14,960 Speaker 1: in the backseat of Bud's car since the top of 190 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:18,160 Speaker 1: the film. These guys are the way it's been done 191 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:22,560 Speaker 1: for years, guys, Capitol W, CAPITL, I, Capital B, Capital D, 192 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:25,920 Speaker 1: the way it's been done. They are the ones who 193 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:29,040 Speaker 1: do what they have to do to protect themselves, protect 194 00:11:29,080 --> 00:11:32,240 Speaker 1: their fellow cops, to protect the lie that they continued 195 00:11:32,280 --> 00:11:35,920 Speaker 1: to sell, the same lie that Chief William Parker sold 196 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:41,400 Speaker 1: in real life. Bud White doesn't enforce justice he enforces secrets. 197 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:44,480 Speaker 1: This reminds me a lot of John Ford's nineteen sixty 198 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:47,720 Speaker 1: two film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Bud White 199 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:50,840 Speaker 1: and his partner are like Lee Marvin's lawless gang in 200 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:53,800 Speaker 1: that movie, living outside the law and into this world 201 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:56,760 Speaker 1: comes Jimmy Stewart's character, who wants to take down Lee 202 00:11:56,840 --> 00:12:00,400 Speaker 1: Marvin's gang, not with the brute force they understand, but 203 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:04,079 Speaker 1: by the law by the book. The Jimmy Stewart character 204 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:08,560 Speaker 1: and Ellie Confidential is Sergeant ed Exley played by Guy Pearce, 205 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:11,959 Speaker 1: who is green and optimistic, a top of his class, 206 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:14,679 Speaker 1: goodie two shoes, who, much to the chagrin of the 207 00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:17,960 Speaker 1: Chief of Police, played here by James Cromwell, is determined 208 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:20,439 Speaker 1: to do everything strictly by the book, no matter how 209 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:23,200 Speaker 1: that makes him look. To his fellow cops, all of 210 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:26,679 Speaker 1: whom don't bat an eyelash at planting evidence or roughing 211 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:28,800 Speaker 1: up a suspect who may not have even been a 212 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:33,160 Speaker 1: suspect in the first place. As Chief Smith says to 213 00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:36,720 Speaker 1: Sergeant ed Exley, you have the eye for human weakness, 214 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:40,000 Speaker 1: but not the stomach. The movie doesn't shy away from 215 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:42,760 Speaker 1: showing the wickedness of the lapd in this moment, this 216 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:46,720 Speaker 1: throng of drunk cops wasted on eggnog laced with Stenslen's 217 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:49,280 Speaker 1: liquor and also drunk with their own power, and how 218 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:52,920 Speaker 1: they descend on these helpless men is so frightening to watch, 219 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:56,200 Speaker 1: even more so because Exley is the audience avatar. We 220 00:12:56,240 --> 00:12:59,000 Speaker 1: are watching this through his eyes as he follows the 221 00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:02,360 Speaker 1: men down a hallway, down the stairs, desperately trying to 222 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:05,240 Speaker 1: get them to listen, to reason, and to stop. But 223 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:08,080 Speaker 1: of course there is no reason no one is listening, 224 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:11,920 Speaker 1: especially not listening to some nerd who got good grades 225 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:15,000 Speaker 1: is telling them how to do their job. And this, 226 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:18,400 Speaker 1: in a nutshell, is the struggle that actually finds himself 227 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:20,440 Speaker 1: up against in the film. He's trying to tame this 228 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:23,520 Speaker 1: beast that has run feral for so long. You've got 229 00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:26,560 Speaker 1: Bud White and his cohort of thugs. You've got Sergeant 230 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:29,679 Speaker 1: Jack Vincennes played by Kevin Spacey, who is more concerned 231 00:13:29,679 --> 00:13:31,600 Speaker 1: with his own image than he is the law. He 232 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:34,840 Speaker 1: allegedly is the cop who famously busted Robert Mitcham for Reefer, 233 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:37,640 Speaker 1: and he's the on set advisor for a popular TV 234 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:41,720 Speaker 1: cop show called Badge of Honor. Vincenz often works in 235 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:45,079 Speaker 1: tandem with Sid Hutchins, played with relish by Danny DeVito, 236 00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:48,600 Speaker 1: this tabloid reporter who runs a scandal rag called Hush Hush. 237 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:52,800 Speaker 1: Together they set up unsuspecting characters on lame drug or 238 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:55,240 Speaker 1: sex busts, and they do it in this performative manner 239 00:13:55,559 --> 00:13:57,600 Speaker 1: so that Hudgins gets the photos and the story for 240 00:13:57,640 --> 00:14:00,880 Speaker 1: his rag, and Vincennes keeps his own mundu and reputation 241 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:04,480 Speaker 1: fresh in the minds of Los Angelinos because, just like 242 00:14:04,520 --> 00:14:08,599 Speaker 1: Elizabeth short Jack, Vincennes is here in La in Hollywood 243 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:11,520 Speaker 1: for a reason, for the fame, for the fortune, to 244 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:14,800 Speaker 1: do what he wants, and to enjoy the spoils. Unlike 245 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:18,800 Speaker 1: Elizabeth short Jack, Vincenz made it work, or it'll work, 246 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:20,760 Speaker 1: at least for as long as it takes for the 247 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:23,680 Speaker 1: rot to eat through the floorboards entirely in the bottom 248 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:27,080 Speaker 1: just drops out, which eventually happens for Vincennes and for 249 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:30,000 Speaker 1: Sid Hudgens, for just about everyone, even the goody two 250 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:32,600 Speaker 1: shoes at Exley, who can't help but become corrupted in 251 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:35,440 Speaker 1: some ways by the world he is living and working in, 252 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:39,360 Speaker 1: also living and working in this world is Lynn Bracken, 253 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:42,760 Speaker 1: played by Kim Bassinger, who bears a striking resemblance to 254 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:46,080 Speaker 1: the actress Veronica Lake. Bracken is one of the many 255 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:49,440 Speaker 1: high end sex workers who were employed by a clandestine 256 00:14:49,480 --> 00:14:52,560 Speaker 1: agency called Fleur de Lee, operating in the shadows by 257 00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:56,240 Speaker 1: real estate mogul Pierce Patchet played by the great character 258 00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:59,560 Speaker 1: actor David Strahan. Some of these women have been given 259 00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:01,920 Speaker 1: extend It's a plastic surgery to make them look more 260 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:05,640 Speaker 1: like screen icons, like you know, Marilyn Monroe, Lana Turner, 261 00:15:06,200 --> 00:15:09,080 Speaker 1: which reminds me. There's one hilarious scene in which Sergeant 262 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:14,160 Speaker 1: Exley confronts Johnny Stompinado, Mickey Cohen's notorious bagman at a restaurant. 263 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:16,680 Speaker 1: He's there with a woman who looks just like Lana Turner, 264 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:19,640 Speaker 1: so actually says a horror cut to look like Lana 265 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:22,760 Speaker 1: Turner is still just a whore, to which Jack Vincenz 266 00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:26,360 Speaker 1: tells him that is Lana Turner, and then Lana Turner 267 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:30,440 Speaker 1: tosses her drink in Exley's face. It's great, great stuff, 268 00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:34,000 Speaker 1: but this illegal activity at the core of the Florida 269 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:37,320 Speaker 1: Lee operation is the rotten heart of this film. It's 270 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:39,560 Speaker 1: where All the things I talked about earlier come together 271 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:42,720 Speaker 1: in the dark in the underworld, the tabloids, police, pr 272 00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:46,640 Speaker 1: celebrity culture, real estate, organized crime. It's also this great 273 00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:51,000 Speaker 1: metaphor for the false allure of Hollywood, all those broken promises. 274 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:54,040 Speaker 1: David Cross had this great line in one of his 275 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:57,240 Speaker 1: old stand up albums about watching the parade of delusion 276 00:15:57,360 --> 00:16:00,680 Speaker 1: walking down Hollywood Boulevard. You know, the history is right 277 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:03,360 Speaker 1: there in front of your eyes. The names are permanently 278 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:06,080 Speaker 1: etched into the sidewalk, The wax figures are on display 279 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:09,520 Speaker 1: for all eternity at Madame Tussode's Yet, as one struggling 280 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:12,280 Speaker 1: actor says to Jack Vincennes at one point, and keep 281 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:15,600 Speaker 1: in mind, this struggling actor is a struggling in part 282 00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:18,520 Speaker 1: because vincenz busted him earlier in one of those opportunistic 283 00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:22,680 Speaker 1: traps set in league with Sid Hutchin's tabloid rag, and 284 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:25,600 Speaker 1: now that struggling actor is being used by that same 285 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:28,720 Speaker 1: pair to blackmail the DA. At any rate, this actor 286 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:30,920 Speaker 1: says to Vincennes, when I came out to LA, this 287 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:33,640 Speaker 1: isn't exactly where I saw myself ending up, to which 288 00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:38,600 Speaker 1: Vincenzes replies, yeah, well get in line. Speaking of Vincennes, 289 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:40,600 Speaker 1: it may be hard to see in our current moment, 290 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:44,280 Speaker 1: one where Kevin Spacey has seemingly bottomed out following years 291 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:46,160 Speaker 1: of scandal, which I'm not going to get into here, 292 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:49,040 Speaker 1: but back in nineteen eighty seven, this was peak Kevin 293 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:51,680 Speaker 1: Spacey time. He had just come off of The Usual 294 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:54,960 Speaker 1: Suspects and Seven, both from nineteen ninety five, and he 295 00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:57,880 Speaker 1: was just two years out from American Beauty, for which 296 00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:00,560 Speaker 1: he would win Best Actor at the Academy Awards. And 297 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:03,760 Speaker 1: then there's James Cromwell, who, after years of acting credits 298 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:06,119 Speaker 1: up to this point, was just coming off the hugely 299 00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:10,000 Speaker 1: successful movie Babe. Kim Bassinger, I guess you could call 300 00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:13,199 Speaker 1: it a comeback, but maybe more appropriately, it was an 301 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:16,240 Speaker 1: opportunity for her to reframe who she was in Hollywood. 302 00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:18,760 Speaker 1: She was known as a sex symbol in the silver 303 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:21,240 Speaker 1: screen for years in the eighties. She was a part 304 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:23,320 Speaker 1: of movies like Nine and a Half Weeks in Batman. 305 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:26,720 Speaker 1: But here she's playing a sex symbol from a different time, 306 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:29,640 Speaker 1: and she's able to lock into a different gear where 307 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:32,920 Speaker 1: it's about much more than just glamour, and by doing 308 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:36,560 Speaker 1: so it won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. 309 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:41,240 Speaker 1: But I think the biggest revelation here in ninety seven 310 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:45,320 Speaker 1: were the performances by Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce. At 311 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:48,879 Speaker 1: this point, Russell Crowe was a known quantity in his 312 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:51,399 Speaker 1: native Australia, where he'd been acting for a few years, 313 00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:55,159 Speaker 1: most notably his performance as a neo Nazi skinhead in 314 00:17:55,160 --> 00:17:58,360 Speaker 1: the nineteen ninety two film Romper Stomper, which got him 315 00:17:58,359 --> 00:18:01,639 Speaker 1: noticed down under in the States. You know, he was 316 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:04,080 Speaker 1: in Sam Raimi's The Quick and the Dead. He's also 317 00:18:04,119 --> 00:18:07,880 Speaker 1: co starred in Virtuosity, which featured Denzel Washington. But Eli 318 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:11,840 Speaker 1: Confidential gave him his true breakout starring role. And I 319 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:14,359 Speaker 1: think I can speak for everyone who saw this film 320 00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:18,400 Speaker 1: at the time. In theaters, we were just like, the 321 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:23,119 Speaker 1: fuck is this guy? He had that great brando as Kowalsky, energy, 322 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:27,720 Speaker 1: super magnetic, handsome, seemingly lived by an honorable code, but 323 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:30,840 Speaker 1: he was also shockingly violent at his core. You know, 324 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:34,160 Speaker 1: Warner Brothers wanted a bigger actor for this role. In fact, 325 00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:38,080 Speaker 1: they were pushing for another Australian, Mel Gibson, but director 326 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:41,439 Speaker 1: Curtis Hanson was so taken by Crowe's performance in Robert 327 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:45,080 Speaker 1: Stomper that he knew that Crowe was his Bud White. 328 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:47,840 Speaker 1: In the end, Hanson got what he wanted, and for 329 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:51,080 Speaker 1: preparation he told Russell Crow to go watch Stanley Kubrick's 330 00:18:51,119 --> 00:18:54,679 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty six film The Killing and advised him to 331 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:57,640 Speaker 1: use Sterling Hayden's performance in that film as his north star. 332 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:01,480 Speaker 1: Now what's crazy is that Hanson got a virtually unknown 333 00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:03,719 Speaker 1: Russell Crow to play one of the film's leads, but 334 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:07,040 Speaker 1: that he got two virtually unknown actress to play both leads. 335 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:09,920 Speaker 1: Similar to Crow, Guy Pierce had been acting for a 336 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:13,040 Speaker 1: little while, also mainly in Australian films, and it should 337 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:15,520 Speaker 1: be noted Pierce was born in England, but he was 338 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:18,439 Speaker 1: raised in Australia. I remember what I think was his 339 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:22,000 Speaker 1: biggest film from this period indie film when it came out. 340 00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:25,480 Speaker 1: This movie called The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, 341 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:27,720 Speaker 1: this indie film that came out in ninety four. It 342 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:31,200 Speaker 1: was a road movie set in the Australian outback. Had 343 00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:36,199 Speaker 1: this soundtrack that featured the likes of Abba and the 344 00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:40,160 Speaker 1: village people, stuff like that from the seventies. I think 345 00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:42,720 Speaker 1: based on its reception at the cann Film Festival that year. 346 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:45,119 Speaker 1: He got a lot of buzz, as many indies did 347 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:46,920 Speaker 1: at the time. I mean, ninety four was a huge 348 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:50,080 Speaker 1: year for indie films, for movies off the beaten path. 349 00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:53,760 Speaker 1: That's the year of pulp fiction, Spanking The Monkey, Go Fish, 350 00:19:54,119 --> 00:19:57,640 Speaker 1: The Last Seduction, Little Odessa, the list goes on and on. 351 00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:02,520 Speaker 1: Casting Guy Pierce as Ed Exley alongside Russell Crowe speaks 352 00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:06,200 Speaker 1: a lot to Curtis Hansen's instincts as a director. Using 353 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:08,720 Speaker 1: some well known Hollywood stars here would have loaded us 354 00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:11,840 Speaker 1: as an audience with expectations. It would have stacked the 355 00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:14,840 Speaker 1: deck against the movie for working as well as it does. 356 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:17,320 Speaker 1: The way it was cast with these two unknowns at 357 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:21,040 Speaker 1: the center really helped the film feel unexpected and different 358 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:22,800 Speaker 1: at the time, as I mentioned before, and I think 359 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:26,240 Speaker 1: it still does, because you weren't exactly sure how either 360 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:28,840 Speaker 1: of these guys were going to act or react because 361 00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:31,080 Speaker 1: you hadn't really seen them do it before, and neither 362 00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:33,680 Speaker 1: of them had the baggage of fame or being typecast 363 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:35,880 Speaker 1: to hold them back or weigh them down. And that's 364 00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:38,360 Speaker 1: what I say by I think even today you can 365 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:42,119 Speaker 1: feel that in the performances. What they did have was 366 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:46,040 Speaker 1: great dialogue, which came from the incredible source material James 367 00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:50,280 Speaker 1: Elroy's nineteen ninety novel. Let's get into the el royness 368 00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:52,800 Speaker 1: of it all, shall we. We'll do that right after 369 00:20:52,840 --> 00:21:22,600 Speaker 1: a quick break. Okay, So, James Elroy, the demon dog 370 00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:26,479 Speaker 1: of American crime fiction. Elroy is a huge source of 371 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:29,600 Speaker 1: inspiration here at Double Elvis. When I think of writers 372 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:33,480 Speaker 1: that have informed how Jake and I write from the 373 00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:36,159 Speaker 1: start and continue to inform us how we tell a story, 374 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:39,040 Speaker 1: the kind of language that we use, I think of 375 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:42,760 Speaker 1: James Elroy. I think of Nick Tooshis. I think personally 376 00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:46,000 Speaker 1: for me. I can't speak for Jake, but Joan Diddion 377 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:49,160 Speaker 1: as well, but James Elroy and Nick Toshis are sort 378 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:53,000 Speaker 1: of like these two north Stars for us. James Elroy, 379 00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:56,159 Speaker 1: of course, has a style all his own. He's he 380 00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:58,720 Speaker 1: writes like he's shooting bullets right out of a gun. 381 00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:01,000 Speaker 1: You know. To borrow the title of an old Michelle 382 00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:04,400 Speaker 1: Shocked album, it's short sharp shocked. It's full of slang. 383 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:08,840 Speaker 1: It's profane, it's violent. It's so electrically charged that it provokes, 384 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:12,639 Speaker 1: it offends anyone and everyone, and it's often soaked through 385 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:16,480 Speaker 1: with this manic pessimism, like you are inside the head 386 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:19,159 Speaker 1: of one of the amoral cops or gangsters he's writing about. 387 00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:22,040 Speaker 1: As Elroy once said it himself, his style is quote 388 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:25,040 Speaker 1: declarative and ugly and rate there punching you in the 389 00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:29,640 Speaker 1: nrds unquote. And so as such, it seems downright impossible 390 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:32,199 Speaker 1: as you read a James Elroy book to adapt it 391 00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:34,399 Speaker 1: for a movie. Do you often hear people say the 392 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:37,040 Speaker 1: book was better? And I think James Elroy is is 393 00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:39,440 Speaker 1: a great example of this line of thinking, because whether 394 00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:42,280 Speaker 1: it's this book, Elie Confidential, or it's The Cold six 395 00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:45,920 Speaker 1: thousand or White Jazz or Perfidia, you have a singular 396 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:49,520 Speaker 1: experience reading these books that you know as you as 397 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:52,640 Speaker 1: you're tearing through the pages could never be replicated anywhere else. 398 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:54,479 Speaker 1: So let me just let me set the scene here, 399 00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:56,520 Speaker 1: just for an example for those who have not read 400 00:22:56,600 --> 00:22:58,720 Speaker 1: Elroy before, I gotta be careful with what I select 401 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:02,080 Speaker 1: here for an excerpt. Let me read a brief excerpt 402 00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:04,320 Speaker 1: here from Elie Confidential. I'm just going to go straight 403 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:06,560 Speaker 1: for the start. Here. This is the beginning, This is 404 00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:10,560 Speaker 1: the prologue of the book. Okay, this is Ellie Confidential 405 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:14,320 Speaker 1: by James Elroight. Okay. Hang on an abandoned auto court 406 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:18,119 Speaker 1: in the San Burdu Foothills. Buzz Meeks checked in with 407 00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:21,600 Speaker 1: ninety four thousand dollars, eighteen pounds of high grade heroin, 408 00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:24,960 Speaker 1: a ten gauge pump, a thirty eight special, a forty 409 00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:27,520 Speaker 1: five automatic, and a switchblade he bought off up a 410 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:30,240 Speaker 1: Chuco at the border right before he spotted the car 411 00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:33,800 Speaker 1: parked across the line. Mickey Cohen goons and an lapd 412 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:37,320 Speaker 1: unmarked Tijuana cops standing by a bootjack a piece of 413 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:40,440 Speaker 1: his goodies dump his body in the Sanya Sedro River. 414 00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:43,879 Speaker 1: He'd been running all week. He'd spent fifty six grand 415 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:47,359 Speaker 1: staying alive. Cars hideouts at four and five thousand a 416 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:50,680 Speaker 1: night risk rates. The innkeepers knew Mickey se was after 417 00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:53,560 Speaker 1: him for hoisting his dope summit and his woman. The 418 00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:56,000 Speaker 1: LA police wanted him for killing one of their own. 419 00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:59,760 Speaker 1: The Cohen contract cabashed and outright dope sale. Nobody could 420 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:02,679 Speaker 1: move for fear of reprisals. The best he could do 421 00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:06,400 Speaker 1: was lay it off with Doc Engelkling's sons. Doc would 422 00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:08,959 Speaker 1: freeze it, package it, sell it later and get him 423 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:11,960 Speaker 1: his percentage. Doc used to work with Mickey, and he 424 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:14,119 Speaker 1: had the smarts to be afraid of the prick. The 425 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:17,240 Speaker 1: brothers charging fifteen grand sent him to the El Serano 426 00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:20,439 Speaker 1: hotel and were setting up his escape. Tonight at dusk. 427 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:23,199 Speaker 1: Two men would drive him to a beanfield, shoot him 428 00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:26,280 Speaker 1: to Guatemala City via white powder airlines. He'd have twenty 429 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:29,080 Speaker 1: five pounds of big age working for him stateside if 430 00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:32,919 Speaker 1: he could trust Doc's boys and they could trust the runners. Okay, 431 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:35,680 Speaker 1: that was just a little selection there of James l 432 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:38,960 Speaker 1: Roy's La Confidential. The language and I'm not even getting 433 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:42,119 Speaker 1: into the problematic language in this book and a lot 434 00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:46,560 Speaker 1: of his books. Again very a specific point of view 435 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,520 Speaker 1: narration that he has here, but the way the narrator 436 00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:52,359 Speaker 1: speaks like an unfiltered disc jockey being read off a 437 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:55,399 Speaker 1: telegram where a condensed speech is king and you have 438 00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:59,000 Speaker 1: to get to the point real fucking quick. It's tooy generous. 439 00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:01,000 Speaker 1: You know. This film, and I don't mean this in 440 00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:03,960 Speaker 1: a pejorative way, but this film La Confidential proves the 441 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:07,200 Speaker 1: point that you cannot xerox copy a James Elroy novel 442 00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:12,040 Speaker 1: into a movie. There is something so misanthropic about Elroy's 443 00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:14,040 Speaker 1: books that if you put that all on the screen, 444 00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:16,800 Speaker 1: warts and all will be a turnoff. And honestly, you 445 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:19,240 Speaker 1: probably couldn't even put it all on the screen. What 446 00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:21,760 Speaker 1: Curtis Hansen did here, what this movie wants to do 447 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:23,959 Speaker 1: is to have it both ways, and I think it 448 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:26,320 Speaker 1: gets it both ways. I think it earns those both ways. 449 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:29,480 Speaker 1: It wants to show you the underbelly of what is 450 00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:33,000 Speaker 1: seen as this sparkly, shiny exterior that blinds you like 451 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:37,080 Speaker 1: light gleaming off a gold Oscar statuette. But it also 452 00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:39,119 Speaker 1: wants to be in conversation with some of the greatest 453 00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:42,560 Speaker 1: Hollywood films of all time, films about this Town, about Hollywood, 454 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:46,400 Speaker 1: about la about the cops, the detectives, the thieves, the mysteries, 455 00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:49,080 Speaker 1: the secrets, and the corruption. So is this a one 456 00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:53,359 Speaker 1: for one replica of James Elroy's novel. Absolutely not, that 457 00:25:53,359 --> 00:25:55,800 Speaker 1: will be impossible to do. But what Hanson does here 458 00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:59,640 Speaker 1: is find a middle ground. Now we've seen police corruption 459 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:03,000 Speaker 1: in films before, it's there. On the French Connection, William 460 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:06,320 Speaker 1: Freakin's brilliant thriller from nineteen seventy one with Popeye Doyle 461 00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:09,200 Speaker 1: bending the law to get what he wants. It's there 462 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:12,360 Speaker 1: a decade later in nineteen eighty one in Sydney Lumette's 463 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:15,040 Speaker 1: Prince of the City, and then in the early nineties 464 00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:18,600 Speaker 1: It's Everywhere Bad Lieutenant, Internal Affairs Q and A all 465 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:23,159 Speaker 1: kinds of films. But corruption feels like such a contemporary issue, 466 00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:26,640 Speaker 1: like a post Watergate, post Vietnam issue. So to see 467 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:29,320 Speaker 1: it at every level of government and media the way 468 00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:32,920 Speaker 1: it's shown in La Confidential in the early nineteen fifties, 469 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:37,560 Speaker 1: and to see perhaps this expected sentimentality or nostalgia for 470 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:40,880 Speaker 1: a quote unquote simpler or quote unquote more innocent way 471 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:43,600 Speaker 1: of life, more innocent time, to see that ripped apart 472 00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:47,840 Speaker 1: and exposed for what it truly was, truly is. This 473 00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:51,040 Speaker 1: may not be James Elroy's vision, but it's a riveting 474 00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:56,919 Speaker 1: vision nonetheless. So what did James Elroy himself think about 475 00:26:56,960 --> 00:27:00,960 Speaker 1: the movie La Confidential? He was, first of all, he 476 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:03,720 Speaker 1: was actually involved in the production early on. He provided 477 00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:07,040 Speaker 1: some input to Curtis Hansen and to his co screenwriter 478 00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:10,800 Speaker 1: Brian Helgeland in terms of getting the details right, and 479 00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:15,200 Speaker 1: when Curtis Hansen died in twenty sixteen, James Elroy actually 480 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:18,879 Speaker 1: wrote an article for a variety in which he said, quote, 481 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:22,119 Speaker 1: his film of my novel Eli Confidential was a signature 482 00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:25,960 Speaker 1: moment of my life. The signature was his more than 483 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:29,159 Speaker 1: mine unquote. And then after he goes on praising Curtis 484 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:32,880 Speaker 1: Hanson's abilities as a filmmaker, he continues with this quote, 485 00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:37,159 Speaker 1: Curtis treated me deferentially and respectfully at all times. I 486 00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:39,720 Speaker 1: responded in kind and did not meddle in the making 487 00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:42,560 Speaker 1: of the film itself. Eli Confidential went on to be 488 00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:45,959 Speaker 1: grandly praised and honored, and as properly viewed as the 489 00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:49,439 Speaker 1: finest American crime movie of the era. I find the 490 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:54,119 Speaker 1: film problematic and emblematic of the Curtis Hansen disjuncture. What 491 00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:57,399 Speaker 1: I failed to feel I admired what I lost an 492 00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:00,480 Speaker 1: emotional pop I gained in a rush of breath taking 493 00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:04,399 Speaker 1: craftsmanship unquote. And then he basically admits, look, I'm not 494 00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:07,560 Speaker 1: a filmmaker. Curtis Hansen is on a novelist right. So 495 00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:10,440 Speaker 1: while James Elroy can admire the movie for what it is, 496 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:13,480 Speaker 1: so much so that he called it the finest American 497 00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:16,399 Speaker 1: crime movie of its era, he can still acknowledge that 498 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:19,480 Speaker 1: it didn't get his novel one hundred percent correct. But then, 499 00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:23,480 Speaker 1: and this is curious. Years later, in twenty twenty three, 500 00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:26,159 Speaker 1: Elroy was speaking to the La Times and he just 501 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:29,560 Speaker 1: went full scorched earth on the whole thing. He said, 502 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:33,000 Speaker 1: the LA Confidential quote is a turkey of the highest form. 503 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:36,479 Speaker 1: I think Russell Crowe and Kim Bassinger are impotent. The 504 00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:40,920 Speaker 1: director died, so now I can disparage the movie unquote. Wow. 505 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:44,840 Speaker 1: Kind of goes without saying that James Elroy the man 506 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:47,800 Speaker 1: can be as prickly and misanthropic and pessimistic as one 507 00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:50,680 Speaker 1: of his narrators, and perhaps as the years have gone on, 508 00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:54,040 Speaker 1: his view of the film has continued to deteriorate. You know, 509 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:58,360 Speaker 1: I think of Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining, which, 510 00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:01,280 Speaker 1: like LA Confidential, is widely regarded as one of the 511 00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:03,480 Speaker 1: best of its kind, but is also one which King 512 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:07,280 Speaker 1: has been on the record about actively disliking. So what 513 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:09,080 Speaker 1: could have been done to make this movie better in 514 00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:11,840 Speaker 1: James l Roy's eyes? Who knows the answer to that 515 00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:14,880 Speaker 1: question just might be buried with all the other secrets 516 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:18,640 Speaker 1: in the LA Confidential story. Off the record on the 517 00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:22,600 Speaker 1: QT and very Hush, hush. I'll be right back with 518 00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:38,600 Speaker 1: more right after this break. Hey, everybody, we're back here 519 00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:41,040 Speaker 1: in the screening room, your weekly deep dive into one 520 00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:44,080 Speaker 1: film in particular. I hope you enjoyed this episode on 521 00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:47,840 Speaker 1: LA Confidential. Maybe it will inspire you to go back 522 00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:49,800 Speaker 1: and rewatch this, or maybe you're gonna watch it for 523 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:52,640 Speaker 1: the first time. So many great movies about the LAPD 524 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:55,480 Speaker 1: out there. I'm wondering what some of your favorites are. 525 00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:58,440 Speaker 1: Off the top of my head, I'm thinking about Colors, 526 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:05,560 Speaker 1: the Dennis Hopper film with Sean Penn, thinking about Training Day, Incredible, 527 00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:11,000 Speaker 1: Ethan Hawke, Denzel Washington, Chemistry, The Leaf, the Weapons series, Dragnet. Hey, 528 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:14,000 Speaker 1: what about Dragnet? Not the old TV show, but the 529 00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:16,440 Speaker 1: eighties reboot with Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd. You know, 530 00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:19,600 Speaker 1: the one where they infiltrate Pagan's you know, People Against 531 00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:24,360 Speaker 1: Goodness and Normality. Sorry, that's one of my favorites. The 532 00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:26,040 Speaker 1: movie not so. I don't think the movie has really 533 00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:29,120 Speaker 1: stood up very well. But I love that People Against 534 00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:31,400 Speaker 1: Goodness and Normality. I use that all the time. I 535 00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:34,800 Speaker 1: should program an LAPD movie marathon in my house. At 536 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:37,880 Speaker 1: some point we are right in the middle. Actually a 537 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:40,040 Speaker 1: little inside baseball here, we're right in the middle of 538 00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:43,480 Speaker 1: a fast car movie marathon at my house. So we 539 00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:47,880 Speaker 1: just recently rewatched Baby Driver, and coming up in our programming, 540 00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:51,280 Speaker 1: we've got Ford v. Ferrari, We've got f one, and 541 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:56,000 Speaker 1: also the film Drive starring Ryan Gosling. I should probably 542 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:57,840 Speaker 1: throw in there, what is it The Driver, the late 543 00:30:57,880 --> 00:30:59,720 Speaker 1: seventies film with Ryan O'Neil. I was probably put that 544 00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:02,280 Speaker 1: one in there to hit me up if I need 545 00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:04,480 Speaker 1: to add You've got a favorite fast car movie that 546 00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:06,480 Speaker 1: I need to add in here. And I just saw 547 00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:09,600 Speaker 1: two Lane Blacktop and I'm not including that in the programming, 548 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:13,400 Speaker 1: so you can skip mentioned that one. Okay. Coming next 549 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:16,440 Speaker 1: week on Monday, to continue our month of La Nightmares, 550 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:20,160 Speaker 1: we've got our fully scripted sound design episode on Robert Blake, 551 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:22,520 Speaker 1: the actor who was arrested for the two thousand and 552 00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:25,520 Speaker 1: one murder of his wife at the time, Bonnie Lee Backley, 553 00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:27,640 Speaker 1: and then we're going to pair that with the screening 554 00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:31,360 Speaker 1: Room episode next Friday on in Cold Blood, the nineteen 555 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:35,120 Speaker 1: sixty seven Richard Brooks adaptation of the Truman Capoti nonfiction 556 00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:38,080 Speaker 1: novel with Robert Blake, starring as one of the two 557 00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:41,400 Speaker 1: men who brutally murdered a family in Kansas, which got 558 00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:43,560 Speaker 1: me thinking for the question of the Week next week, 559 00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:46,160 Speaker 1: which we'll get into on Wednesday and the Rap Party. 560 00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:49,880 Speaker 1: The words based on a true story have been used 561 00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:54,080 Speaker 1: by major studio marketing departments for decades to get butts 562 00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:57,160 Speaker 1: and seats, something about the truth being stranger than fiction 563 00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:01,000 Speaker 1: and all that. So what is your favorite film based 564 00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:03,600 Speaker 1: on a true story? Is it in Cold Blood? Or 565 00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:06,040 Speaker 1: is it something else? Let me know? Call me or 566 00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:09,000 Speaker 1: text me at six one seven nine oh six six 567 00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:12,800 Speaker 1: six three eight. You can email me at disgracelampod at 568 00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:17,080 Speaker 1: gmail dot com, hit me up on the socials at disgracelampod, 569 00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:20,200 Speaker 1: or if you're an All Access member over on Patreon, 570 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:22,520 Speaker 1: just go ahead and jump in the chat and let 571 00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:25,080 Speaker 1: me know there. Maybe your answer will be read or 572 00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:28,880 Speaker 1: played on the Wrap Party next week. By the way, 573 00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:31,520 Speaker 1: speaking there of Disgraceland All Access, if you were not 574 00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:34,120 Speaker 1: a member and you want the opportunity to chat with 575 00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:37,440 Speaker 1: fellow music, movie and true crime obsessives, do you want 576 00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:40,600 Speaker 1: to listen to ad free episodes of Disgraceland and Hollywoodland 577 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:42,800 Speaker 1: And if you want to check out my brand new 578 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:46,280 Speaker 1: video podcast with Jake Brennan called This Film Should Be 579 00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:50,520 Speaker 1: Played Loud, which is available exclusively on Patreon. Just go 580 00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:53,880 Speaker 1: to disgracelampod dot com for all the details and to 581 00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:57,760 Speaker 1: sign up. Okay, until next week. Here's what America was 582 00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:00,760 Speaker 1: watching at the movies in September of night ten ninety seven, 583 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:06,840 Speaker 1: the month that Ellie Confidential was released in theaters. Number 584 00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:12,000 Speaker 1: one Eli Confidential directed by Curtis Hansen. Number two In 585 00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:16,600 Speaker 1: and Out directed by Frank Oz. Number three The Game 586 00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:21,040 Speaker 1: directed by David Fincher. Number number number four Full Monty 587 00:33:21,280 --> 00:33:25,880 Speaker 1: Defender directed by Peter Catana. The number five directed Soul 588 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:30,200 Speaker 1: Food Got directed by George Tillman, Juniors, Number six, The 589 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:34,160 Speaker 1: Peacemaker directed by Mimi Later, Number six, the number seven, 590 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:38,400 Speaker 1: The Edge directed by Lee Tami horry Us and Ate 591 00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:44,320 Speaker 1: five Quit Talking and start mixing.