L. A. Confidential

L. A. Confidential is, in my eyes, only a hair's breadth from being the perfect neo-noir. The film is set in 1950s L.A., where the city's gangster boss Mickey Cohen has just been put behind bars. The battle for power and millions begins, with one bloodbath after another as a result. The murder of a suspended officer, Dick Stensland, which is initially pinned on three young black petty criminals who are shot while trying to escape, is connected to the Mafia. Two officers sniff this out. One is the super-ambitious and equally principled Ed Exley, whose razor-sharp intelligence has already won him a promotion. The other is Bud White, who acts before he thinks but hides a sensitive soul behind his uncompromising exterior. Exley makes himself unpopular with White on several occasions, so it is only towards the end, as the net tightens, that they begin to cooperate.

The smooth and slick Jack Vincennes is the film's third male lead. A sideline as technical adviser on a popular TV police series makes him the star of the force, and he earns extra cash by arresting budding stars in embarrassing situations on false evidence for the ultimate gossip rag Hush-Hush. Vincennes agrees to help Exley if Exley in return promises to help him with another case. Both cases, of course, turn out to be connected to the Mafia. Several leads point to the mysterious millionaire Pierce Patchett, who turns out also to be dealing in luxury call girls who look like film stars. One of them is the Veronica Lake lookalike Lynn Bracken, with whom White falls in love.

Besides an insanely well-crafted plot, the film digs into the corrupt mentality that prevailed in the 50s, not least in the police force, where no means were considered too dirty. The precise and atmospheric period picture is established as early as the opening credits, in which Hush-Hush's editor Sid Hudgens tells of L.A.'s family idyll, which turns out to be pure facade. The characterisation is complex, and the contrast between the three male leads is very effective.