Blog #2   L.A. Confidential

            L.A. Confidential isn’t a new movie, but has been around for over ten years.  It is just recently though, that I have watched it.   

            This movie, set in 1950’s L.A., is ruthless, smart, sexy, dangerous, and funny.  Its characters are tough and its plot is rivetingly awesome.  The corruption of the Los Angeles Police Department makes you wonder if some cops are still that way today, 60 years later.   

            There are two opposing forces in this movie and they are shown in Edmund Exley and Wendell Bud White.  Like opposing forces they eventually end up clashing, crashing angrily into each other.  The two have different motives but in the end come together and in my mind perfectly.

            Edmund Exley is straight shooter.  After a scandal in a police jail room he tells the truth about what happened, snitching on another cop.  He secured justice and did the right thing, but in some way I hated him.  With the rest of the cops on the force, I couldn’t believe he ratted out a fellow officer.  I also couldn’t believe the way I was thinking, hating someone for doing the right thing? 

            My favorite character is Bud White.  A short-tempered but driven man, Bud is a dangerous force to stand in the way of.  Along with Exley, these two emerge as some of the only cops that don’t abuse their power in the LAPD.  For this, they are both admirable.  Among the corruption and decay of a police force, these two stand alone as the heroes the movie needs.  My favorite scene is when the two finally collide and go at it in the police office.  After beating the crap out of Exley, White realizes what is actually going on in the force.  As the two unite, the next hour may be the greatest of tag-team copping in all of cinema. 

           

            I was stunned by the reality this movie portrayed, the undeniable and awful power that some cops assume over others made me furious.  I was disgusted by the LAPD.  Even more, this movie has made me curios of something: are cops still corrupt?  Obviously not to the point of drug deals and money laundering, but do some cops still assume too much power?  I sort of doubt it, although it is hard to look at someone fairly who pulls everyone over for driving five miles per hour over the speed limit

           

            The best movies always leave you wondering with questions.