IMDB 8.3
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Jack's Rating :
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1950's L.A. and Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey), Bud White (Russel Crowe), and Ed Exley (Guy Pierce) all work for the LA Police Department.
Jack is the technical advice to a TV show called Badge of Honor. Jack had arrested Robert Mitchum. He's kind of sleazy.
Bud stops on his way to rough a guy who was giving his wife a hard time. He enjoys roughing him up.
Sgt. Ed Exely is the son of a heroic cop. He is straight laced and goes by the book,
When Lynn Bracken walks in to the liquor store Bud is in, he falls for her after one look. Bud sees a girl with bandages and walks over to the car. Lynn walks over and tells Bud it's not what he thinks.
Jack tries to give Ed a payoff from a magazine, but Ed refuses it. Later a fight breaks out between the drunken police and some prisoners and the press is there to report on it. Jack and Bud are in trouble, and Ed won't talk if he gets promoted. Jack has to snitch, but only on guys who are retiring. Captain Dudley Smith gets Bud out of trouble, but now Bud must do a job for him.
No one likes the snitch, who is now Lt. Ed Exely.
A homicide call comes in from the Nite Owl coffee shop and Ed goes to investigate. Ed walks in to a massacre. One of the victims is Bud's partner, who was just forced to retire due to the inmate fight. Another victim is the girl Bud saw in the car with bandages. The girl had been made up to look like Rita Hayworth.
Bud starts investigating and ends up out at Pierce Patchett's house. Pierce had been with Lynn and the murdered girl, Sue Lefferts. Pierce tells Bud that Sue was bandaged because she was operated on to look like Rita Hayworth. Lynn is his Veronica Lake. Patchett keeps a stable of high end hookers.
Bud goes to see Lynn and they have flirt and spar at the same time.
Ed and Jack team up and arrest three black kids as the Nite Owl murderers. But Ed and Bud find they were guilty of beating up and kidnapping a girl, but not of the Nite Owl murders, They find the girl roughed up but alive. Bud kills the guy at the house, and makes it look like the guy shot at him first. Bud has issues with anyone roughing up women. Ed and Jack want to get ahead, but Bud wants to hurt the bad guys.
When the Nite Owl suspects escape Ed grabs a cop and goes over to where their dealer is. A gun battle breaks out and shotgun Ed shoots down the suspects, although his partner is killed. Ed becomes a hero.
Meanwhile, Pierce blackmails a councilman, who is one of his patrons, to get some zoning passed in his favor.
Bud begins a relationship with Lynn. We then find out why Bud hates men who abuse women.
Lynn Bracken: Where'd this come from?
Bud White: When I was twelve, my old man went after my mother with a bottle. I got in the way.
Lynn Bracken: You saved her.
Bud White: ...Not for long.
Lynn Bracken: I'm sorry, Bud, it's none of my...
Bud White: He tied me to the radiator. I watched him beat my mother to death with a tire iron. Then he left us there. Three days before a truant officer found us... They never found the old man.
Lynn Bracken: Was that why you became a cop? To get even?
Bud White: ...Maybe.
Bud goes over to check Sue Lefferts mother's house and finds some bodies under it, including Pierce Patchett's old bodyguard.
Jack is the technical advice to a TV show called Badge of Honor. Jack had arrested Robert Mitchum. He's kind of sleazy.
Bud stops on his way to rough a guy who was giving his wife a hard time. He enjoys roughing him up.
Sgt. Ed Exely is the son of a heroic cop. He is straight laced and goes by the book,
When Lynn Bracken walks in to the liquor store Bud is in, he falls for her after one look. Bud sees a girl with bandages and walks over to the car. Lynn walks over and tells Bud it's not what he thinks.
Jack tries to give Ed a payoff from a magazine, but Ed refuses it. Later a fight breaks out between the drunken police and some prisoners and the press is there to report on it. Jack and Bud are in trouble, and Ed won't talk if he gets promoted. Jack has to snitch, but only on guys who are retiring. Captain Dudley Smith gets Bud out of trouble, but now Bud must do a job for him.
No one likes the snitch, who is now Lt. Ed Exely.
A homicide call comes in from the Nite Owl coffee shop and Ed goes to investigate. Ed walks in to a massacre. One of the victims is Bud's partner, who was just forced to retire due to the inmate fight. Another victim is the girl Bud saw in the car with bandages. The girl had been made up to look like Rita Hayworth.
Bud starts investigating and ends up out at Pierce Patchett's house. Pierce had been with Lynn and the murdered girl, Sue Lefferts. Pierce tells Bud that Sue was bandaged because she was operated on to look like Rita Hayworth. Lynn is his Veronica Lake. Patchett keeps a stable of high end hookers.
Bud goes to see Lynn and they have flirt and spar at the same time.
Ed and Jack team up and arrest three black kids as the Nite Owl murderers. But Ed and Bud find they were guilty of beating up and kidnapping a girl, but not of the Nite Owl murders, They find the girl roughed up but alive. Bud kills the guy at the house, and makes it look like the guy shot at him first. Bud has issues with anyone roughing up women. Ed and Jack want to get ahead, but Bud wants to hurt the bad guys.
When the Nite Owl suspects escape Ed grabs a cop and goes over to where their dealer is. A gun battle breaks out and shotgun Ed shoots down the suspects, although his partner is killed. Ed becomes a hero.
Meanwhile, Pierce blackmails a councilman, who is one of his patrons, to get some zoning passed in his favor.
Bud begins a relationship with Lynn. We then find out why Bud hates men who abuse women.
Lynn Bracken: Where'd this come from?
Bud White: When I was twelve, my old man went after my mother with a bottle. I got in the way.
Lynn Bracken: You saved her.
Bud White: ...Not for long.
Lynn Bracken: I'm sorry, Bud, it's none of my...
Bud White: He tied me to the radiator. I watched him beat my mother to death with a tire iron. Then he left us there. Three days before a truant officer found us... They never found the old man.
Lynn Bracken: Was that why you became a cop? To get even?
Bud White: ...Maybe.
Bud goes over to check Sue Lefferts mother's house and finds some bodies under it, including Pierce Patchett's old bodyguard.
Ed and Bud both know that the Nite Owl case isn't as it appeared. Ed tells Jack about how a purse snatcher, who his father saw off duty, shot his father six times and killed him. That is why he became a cop. To catch guys who think they can get away with crime.
Ed and Jack work together and Ed confronts a hood and a girl who he thinks is "cut' to look like Lana Turner, and he call her a cheap whore. She throws a drink in his face and Jack tells him that she really was Lana Turner.
Jack finds out something about an old murder that was covered up, and Captain Dudley Smith and Pierce Patchett might have been involved in. When Jack confronts Smith, Smith shoots and kills him. Smith then covers up the killing.
Smith and Patchett then sets up Ed, using Lynn, and Bud finds out. Bud then hits Lynn and runs away. Bud then confronts ed with the photos and him and Lynn and beats him up. Bud and Ed then go the D.A. and force him to tell them that Patchett and Smith are blackmailing him too, and are trying to take over the rackets. Then they find Patchett dead with a fake suicide note.
In the last shoot-out Smith shoots Bud. When Ed sees that Smith is going to get away with it all, he goes against everything he believes in and shoots Smith in the back. The world of noir is not black and white.
In the tradition of John Ford's print the legend, the LA police department paints Smith's death as that of a heroic cop so the department won't be tarnished. Lynn and Bud ride off to Arizona.
Really good movie, with the noir actresses from the '50's tied in. Lynn Brackett was a great femme fatale dragging everyone down, although she was just a pawn of Patchett and Smith. Captain Smith was a great noir villain.
Great acting and lots if twists in turns in one of the best of the neo-noirs.
Ed and Jack work together and Ed confronts a hood and a girl who he thinks is "cut' to look like Lana Turner, and he call her a cheap whore. She throws a drink in his face and Jack tells him that she really was Lana Turner.
Jack finds out something about an old murder that was covered up, and Captain Dudley Smith and Pierce Patchett might have been involved in. When Jack confronts Smith, Smith shoots and kills him. Smith then covers up the killing.
Smith and Patchett then sets up Ed, using Lynn, and Bud finds out. Bud then hits Lynn and runs away. Bud then confronts ed with the photos and him and Lynn and beats him up. Bud and Ed then go the D.A. and force him to tell them that Patchett and Smith are blackmailing him too, and are trying to take over the rackets. Then they find Patchett dead with a fake suicide note.
In the last shoot-out Smith shoots Bud. When Ed sees that Smith is going to get away with it all, he goes against everything he believes in and shoots Smith in the back. The world of noir is not black and white.
In the tradition of John Ford's print the legend, the LA police department paints Smith's death as that of a heroic cop so the department won't be tarnished. Lynn and Bud ride off to Arizona.
Really good movie, with the noir actresses from the '50's tied in. Lynn Brackett was a great femme fatale dragging everyone down, although she was just a pawn of Patchett and Smith. Captain Smith was a great noir villain.
Great acting and lots if twists in turns in one of the best of the neo-noirs.
Quotes:
Captain Dudley Smith: I wouldn't trade places with Edmund Exley right now for all the whiskey in Ireland.
Jack Vincennes: I'm the technical advisor. I teach Brett Chase how to walk and talk like a cop.
Jack's Dancing Partner: Brett Chase doesn't walk and talk like you.
Jack Vincennes: Well, that's 'cause he's the television version. America isn't ready for the real me.
Captain Dudley Smith: Go back to Jersey, sonny. This is the City of the Angels, and you haven't got any wings.
Johnny Stompanato: You want an autograph? Write to MGM.
Ed Exley: Since when do two-bit hoods and hookers give out autographs?
Johnny Stompanato: What'd you say to me?
Ed Exley: LAPD. Sit down.
Lana Turner: Who in the hell do you think you are?
Jack Vincennes: Ed...
Ed Exley: Take a walk, honey, before I haul your ass downtown.
Johnny Stompanato: You are making a large mistake.
Lana Turner: Get away from our table!
Ed Exley: Shut up! A hooker cut to look like Lana Turner is still a hooker.
Johnny Stompanato: Hey!
Ed Exley: She just looks like Lana Turner.
Jack Vincennes: She is Lana Turner.
Ed Exley: [stunned] What?
Jack Vincennes: She is Lana Turner.
[Lana throws a drink in Ed's face]
Lynn Bracken: You're the first man in five years who didn't tell me I look like Veronica Lake inside of a minute.
Bud White: You look better than Veronica Lake.