*WARNING* This entry contains SPOILERS!

The year is 1953, and L.A. is plagued with drugs, gambling and prostitution, all overseen by vice king Mickey Cohen, but when he is put away under tax evasion, his kingdom is up for grabs until someone with “balls or brass” comes to claim it.  Soon, we are introduced to three very different cops: Bud White, a man who comes off like a brute, but has a kind heart, Jack Vincennes, who has let his job go to his head since he became the technical adviser on a popular cop show, and Ed Exley, a young cop trying to prove himself against his cop father.  Thus begins L.A. Confidential.  Based upon James Ellroy’s best selling novel, L.A. Confidential is a truly thrilling film that harks back to the classic film noirs of the 1950s.

I’ll say this, I adore L.A. Confidential from beginning to end.  It is entertaining and has brilliant characters, but it isn’t perfect in terms of period correctness…first off, I want to point out the use of typography in the film, as pointed out by Mark Simonson. Much of the typography used in the film was not period correct.  Additionally, in the “Movie Premiere Pot Bust” scene, Jack takes a bag of marijuana, these are in small “ziploc” type bags, which were not invented yet – plastic bags at this time were the fold over kind.  In the scene where Bud kills one of the rapists, a milk carton with the folding spout is seen on the coffee table, these types of cartons were not introduced until the mid-1960s.  One of the film’s classic scenes is also one of a garish error.  There is a scene where Jack and Ed find Johnny Stompanado and a girl who turns out to be Lana Turner.  It is true that Stompanado and Turner did date, but that was not until 1957 and their relationship lasted until his death in April 1958, when Turner’s daughter stabbed him to death.  But the witty writing, stellar cast, and stunning costumes smooths over these errors and a wonderful and entertaining film is still presented.