Előtte:

www.imdb.com/title/tt0119488/

Ez volt egy időben a bronzérmes bűnügyi filmem a "Közönséges bűnözők" és "A halál keresztútján" után, és előre elhatároztam, hogy lelkesedni fogok róla ebben a bejegyzésben. Kevésbé voltam lelkes a tervezettnél...mit csináljunk, egy filmet csak egyszer lehet először megnézni.

Két és fél órás, 80 beszélő szereplős krimi-eposz, Oscart nyert a forgatókönyvéért '98-ban.

The story is about Los Angeles policemen in the 1950s who are caught up in a mixture of lies, sex, corruption, and murder following a mass murder at the Nite Owl coffee shop. The story eventually encompasses organized crime, political corruption, heroin, pornography, prostitution, tabloid journalism, institutional racism, plastic surgery, and Hollywood. The novel's title refers to the infamous 1950s scandal magazine Confidential, which becomes Hush-Hush magazine in the novel.

Dícsérő kritikák: Taut pacing, brilliantly dense writing and Oscar-worthy acting. Enough narrative twists and memorable characters for a half-dozen films. It believes its noir values and isn't just using them for decoration. Kevin Spacey's Vincennes is the standout in a just about flawless ensemble. Kim Basinger is arguably the pick of a perfect cast.

Érdemes egy kicsit utánaolvasni a filmnézés előtt, hogy kik voltak 60 évvel ezelőtt a bulvárlapok címlapjain:

Lana Turner: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lana_Turner
Veronica Lake: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronica_Lake

Mickey Cohen, the mobster who gets locked up which causes the war for control of the drug trade in the story, was a real-life Los Angeles mobster from the late '30s until his death in 1976 after two imprisonments for tax evasion. He was a small-time hood who joined forces with New York gangster Bugsy Siegel when Siegel came to L.A. to run the rackets (see the film Bugsy (1991)). After Siegel's murder in 1947, Cohen took over the rackets that Bugsy had built up, including labor union shakedowns at the studios, drug trafficking, gambling and prostitution. He was so hated by the police that he was constantly arrested for any crime, big or small (he was once arrested for using foul language on the street). As shown in the movie, he was eventually imprisoned for income tax evasion and spent nearly ten years in prison. After his release, he was semi-retired from the rackets and lived off his wealth, remaining a colorful character in Los Angeles until his death in 1976.

Állítólag a végefőcím után még van meglepetésjelenet!!


Utána:

Másodszorra nézve jobban kijön, hogy Oscar ide vagy oda, a forgatókönyv azért jó sok klisét is tartalmaz: a nyomozók bárhova mennek, újabb hullákra bukkannak, nagyon olcsó a "Miért lettem nyomozó?" monológok Freudizmusa,  a "Bisbee, Arizona"-szál pedig egyáltalán nem film noir-ba illően csöpögős... bár van egy olyan gyanúm, hogy ezek mind-mind ilyen kikacsintós főhajtások.

Many of the events in the movie were based upon real events. These include the Bloody Christmas scene where drunken police officers brutally beat up Hispanic prisoners suspected of beating up two uniformed cops; the plot line of real-life gangster Mickey Cohen's arrest touching off a gang war for control of the rackets; the LAPD Goon Squad which would kidnap out-of-town gangsters, beat them up and threaten to kill them if they ever tried to come back to set up their operations; Lana Turner dating gangster Johnny Stompanato. In real life, Turner's daughter Cheryl Crane stabbed Stompanato to death after catching him beating her mother.

Más filmek a hollywoodi fertőről:
Roman Polanski:www.imdb.com/title/tt0071315/
David Lynch:www.imdb.com/title/tt0166924/
Atom Egoyan:www.imdb.com/title/tt0373450/
Futottak még:www.imdb.com/title/tt0427969/