He feels guilty for going along with sids desire for headlines, and ruining matts life in the process. Theres not much truth here, and little in the way of story. Confidential series based on james ellroys 1990 novel. Confidential has been hailed by critics as one of seminal works of neonoir. Officer bud white, sergeant jack vincennes are central, as is brilliant. Confidential is a 1997 american neonoir crime film directed, produced and cowritten by. Noir movies werent really in vogue in hollywood during the 1990s, though the genre did offer up some selections. In jack webbs dragnet series, stony tv detectives wanted just the facts, maam, and solved their cases before the last commercial. In the movie, vincennes genuinely tries to help matt reynolds.
Great memorable quotes and script exchanges from the l. Its buds have a frosty, lime green appearance and little purple leaves. Confidential may not accurately reflect the real city during the 50s, it nevertheless represents what we expect hollywood to have been like, from the glitzy buildings to the coolbutbeautiful femme fatales and the surehanded, silent men. In the book, vincennes accidentally kills a young couple, and to make it up to their kids, sends money each month. Kevin spacey asked curtis hanson who he would have cast as jack. Confidential is a 1997 american neonoir crime film directed, produced and cowritten by curtis hanson. They are the black dahlia 1987, the big nowhere 1988, l. In the movie, he genuinely tries to help matt reynolds. Confidential is the way that not everything is as it seems, and then, in an instant, all of the plots are sprung like a trap and come together for a grand finale. In the incontinent mayhem that masquerades as a james ellroy novel, the. Ellroy is a master of crime, seamlessly weaving three narratives in his deliciously dark. Curtis hanson had read half a dozen of james ellroys books before l. The epigraph is a glory that costs everything and means nothingsteve erickson.
Confidential 1990 is a neonoir novel by james ellroy, and the third of his l. When jack vincennes sits in a bar, staring at the money hes just been bribed with. Confidential and i read the prior two before it in order. Confidential is not only a great movie but is a great adaptation of its source. The film tells the story of a group of lapd officers in 1953, and the intersection of police corruption and hollywood celebrity. Confidential by brian helgeland based on the novel by. L a confidential 1997 jack inquires about buzz meeks. Youve reached the hub for any and all dramatica analysis of l. Jack vincennes is a narcotics detective who moonlights as a technical advisor on badge. The film was mostly shot on location, despite being a period piece. He takes all of the themes he explored in previous novels and packs them into a book thats an even larger, more epic tale of crime, perversion, and hollywood corruption than any of his previous books.
Confidential, to discuss the main theme of honor that runs throughout the film. Just how much nourishment hes drawn becomes clear in his terrific new. He tried to throw me off the force last christmas as a little joke. In raymond chandler novels, cops sported smoking guns and boozy machismo. Confidential is an exceptional film that contains something for everyone. In the aftermath of the bloody christmas, the lives of three cops are forever entwined. Confidential quotes and see why the film is one our favorites. Confidential the likelihood of a given movie these days being based on a book or a short story or some other extracinematic source is pretty high these days.
As in the movie chinatown, ellroy mixes historical l. Ed exley, the by the book cop who is forever in his fathers shadow, glory hound jack vincennes, and bud white, the man forever avenging his dead mother. I made it despite the fact that it was set in the past and was about cops. He is the author of one work of nonfiction, the hilliker curse. Movie, a title that sufficiently demonstrates my preternatural brilliance for nomenclature, i am that motherfucker. Confidential holds enough plots for two or three books. Jack vincennes kevin spacey tries to edge into the spotlight as the. The story was of personal interest to me the grand jury investigations into unions and hollywood. Mickey cohen has just been sentenced to ten years in federal prison for.
Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Based on the james ellroy novel of the same name, l. Confidential quotes 1997 lovely quotes and sayings. It was only a year later that the audience learned that ellroy was, in fact, telling the. Confidential is actually the third book in a series of four books called the l. Confidential feels like the book that james ellroy has been preparing for and working up to during his entire career up to this point. He acts as a technical crime scene investigator attached to the scientific investigation division sid of the lapd. The epigraph is a glory that costs everything and means nothing. Where the book and film differ most is the latters contradiction of the.
American tabloid, the cold six thousand and bloods a rover. Confidential was a magazine published quarterly from december 1952 to august 1953 and then bimonthly until it ceased publication in 1978. Mob flick gangster squad proudly claims to be inspired by a true story, but its definition of the terms true and story seems to be particularly loose. For some reason, the cast is dominated by australians. Join us for what is sure to be a lively reading and discussion. Endgame mistakes constantine questions the big bang theory mistakes the biggest mistakes in the xmen movies the addams family trivia unknown ending austin powers.
Less truth and even less justice in the city of the angels. The screenplay by hanson and brian helgeland is based on james ellroys 1990 novel of the same name, the third book in his l. Equally high is the chance of, when in conversation with others about such a movie, some motherfucker opening their mouth and saying, it wasnt as good as the book. Published in 1990, it was ellroys coming out party as a force to be reckoned with in the genre and the dawn of a new generation in crime fiction. Licensed to youtube by umg on behalf of benny blanco major. Chinatown sequel the two jakes arrived in 1990 but despite jack nicholson both starring and directing it failed to reach the acclaim of the original. Confidential is also a 1990 novel by american crime writer james ellroy. Confidential is one of my favourite books of all time, and my favourite james ellroy book. Confidential tells the story of three lapd detectives with widely differing methods who team up to uncover corruption and fight for justice.
I have to kind of flip it for this one, though, because the film version of l. Confidential by brian helgeland based on the novel by james ellroy november 16, 1995 minor revisions. The action is driven along by his breakneck writing style, and his staccato style shows its first signs in the head of jack vincennes. Confidential and was drawn to its characters, not the plot. The hardbitten cynicism of several of the badguy heroes adds edge and bite to the historical facts. Confidential and millions of other books are available for instant access.