L.A. Confidential#Adaptations
{{short description|Novel by James Ellroy}}
{{about|the James Ellroy novel|the film|L.A. Confidential (film){{!}}L.A. Confidential (film)|the book on Lance Armstrong|L.A. Confidentiel{{!}}L.A. Confidentiel}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2017}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox book |
| name = L.A. Confidential
| title_orig =
| translator =
| image = LAconfidentialcvr.jpg
| caption = First edition cover
| author = James Ellroy
| illustrator =
| cover_artist = Jacket design by Paul Gamarello
Jacket illustration by Stephen Peringer
| country = United States
| language = English
| series = L.A. Quartet
| genre = Crime fiction, noir, historical fiction
| publisher = The Mysterious Press
| release_date = June 1990
| english_release_date =
| media_type = Print (hardback & paperback) and audio cassette
| pages = 496 pp (first edition, hardcover)
| isbn = 0-89296-293-3
| isbn_note = (first edition, hardcover)
| dewey= 813/.54 20
| congress= PS3555.L6274 L18 1990
| oclc= 21041119
| preceded_by = The Big Nowhere (1988)
| followed_by = White Jazz (1992)
}}
L.A. Confidential (1990) is a neo-noir novel by American writer James Ellroy, the third of his L.A. Quartet series.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2017/09/19/crime-qt-la-confidential-hollywoods-last-great-noir/|title=Why LA Confidential is Hollywood's last great noir|last=Heffer|first=Fred|date=19 September 2017|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=18 October 2017}}{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-la-confidential-20170505-story.html|title=A celebration of the 20th anniversary of L.A. neo-noir classic 'L.A. Confidential|last=Gottlieb|first=Akiva|date=May 5, 2017|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=18 October 2017}} It is dedicated to Mary Doherty Ellroy. The epigraph is "A glory that costs everything and means nothing"—Steve Erickson.
Plot
The story follows several Los Angeles Police Department officers in the 1950s who become embroiled in a mix of sex, corruption, and murder following a massacre at the Nite Owl coffee shop. The story eventually encompasses organized crime, political corruption, heroin trafficking, pornography, prostitution, and Hollywood. The title refers to the scandal magazine Confidential, which is fictionalized as Hush-Hush. It also deals with the real "Bloody Christmas" scandal.
The three protagonists are LAPD officers. Edmund Exley, the son of prestigious detective Preston Exley, is a "straight arrow" who informs on other officers in a police brutality scandal. He is first and foremost a politician and a ladder climber, trying to be more than his famous father’s son. This earns the enmity of Wendell "Bud" White, an intimidating enforcer with a fixation on men who abuse women as his own mother was a victim. Between the two of them is Jack Vincennes, who acts as more of a celebrity than a cop, who is a technical advisor on a police television show called Badge of Honor (similar to the real-life show Dragnet) and provides tips to a scandal magazine. The three of them must set their differences aside to unravel the conspiracy linking the novel's events.
Reception
The Chicago Tribune said, "Ellroy is a master at juggling plot lines, using a stripped, spare noir style that hits like a cleaver but is honed like a scalpel".{{Cite news |last=Moore |first=Kevin |date=10 June 1990 |title=Summertime Crime-Travel |language=en |work=Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-06-10-9002170134-story.html |access-date=2022-02-07}}
The Los Angeles Times gave a critical review, calling the novel "incontinent mayhem" with a plot "faster than a stray bullet and equally random."{{cite news |last1=Roraback |first1=Dick |title=Depravity in Dreamland : L.A. CONFIDENTIAL by James Ellroy (Mysterious Press: $19.95; 512 pp.) |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-07-08-bk-303-story.html |access-date=7 February 2022 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=8 July 1990}}
Kirkus Reviews described LA Confidential as "energetic, sprawling, and often stylistically irritating."{{cite web |title=L.A. CONFIDENTIAL {{!}} Kirkus Reviews |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/james-ellroy/la-confidential/ |language=en}}
The New York Times wrote that "the plotting becomes so tortuous and the narrative style so burdened by repetitive scenes of atrocious violence that the author compromises the truthfulness of his own vision."{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/15/books/crime-302290.html|title=Crime|first=Marilyn|last=Stasio|date=July 15, 1990|via=NYTimes.com}}
Adaptations
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |
| Character
! 1997 movie ! 2003 TV pilot ! 2018 TV pilot |
|---|
| Det. Lt. Edmund "Ed" Exley |
| Ofc. Wendell "Bud" White |
| Det. Sgt. Jack Vincennes |
| Capt. Dudley Smith
| Tom Nowicki |
| Lynn Bracken |
| Sid Hudgens |
| Pierce Patchett
| {{n/a|TBA}} |
| Det. Richard "Dick" Stensland
| {{n/a|TBA}} |
=Film=
The book was adapted for a 1997 film of the same name, directed and co-written by Curtis Hanson and starring Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Kim Basinger, David Strathairn and Danny DeVito. The film was universally acclaimed. It was nominated for nine Academy Awards; Kim Basinger won both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film, while Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.
=Television=
In 2003, a television pilot of L.A. Confidential was aired. However, the pilot was not picked up as a running series. The show's main actors would have been Kiefer Sutherland, Josh Hopkins, David Conrad, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Melissa George, Tom Nowicki, and Eric Roberts. The pilot is a special feature on the two-disc DVD and the Blu-ray releases of the film.
In 2018, CBS ordered a new pilot based on the novel.{{cite web|last=Andreeva|first=Nellie|url=https://deadline.com/2018/02/la-confidential-eric-holder-inspired-main-justice-ava-duvernay-greg-berlantis-red-line-4-cbs-drama-pilots-1202277530/|title=L.A. Confidential, Eric Holder-Inspired Main Justice Among 4 CBS Drama Pilots From Top Producers|website=Deadline Hollywood|date=February 2, 2018|access-date=March 1, 2018}} The pilot would star Walton Goggins as Vincennes,{{cite web|last1=Andreeva|first1=Nellie|last2=Petski|first2=Denise|url=https://deadline.com/2018/02/l-a-confidential-walton-goggins-cast-cbs-drama-pilot-anna-fricke-co-showrunner-1202296789/|title=L.A. Confidential: Walton Goggins To Co-Star In CBS Drama Pilot; Anna Fricke Joins As Co-Showrunner|website=Deadline Hollywood|date=February 20, 2018|access-date=March 1, 2018}} Mark Webber as White,{{cite web|last=Otterson|first=Joe|url=https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/la-confidential-pilot-cbs-mark-webber-shea-whigham-alana-arenas-1202721878/|title=CBS' 'L.A. Confidential' Pilot Adds Mark Webber, Alana Arenas, Shea Whigham|work=Variety|date=March 8, 2018|access-date=March 8, 2018}} Brian J. Smith as Exley,{{cite web|last1=Andreeva|first1=Nellie|last2=Petski|first2=Denise|url=https://deadline.com/2018/02/l-a-confidential-brian-j-smith-star-cbs-drama-pilot-1202300003/|title=L.A. Confidential: Brian J. Smith To Star In CBS Drama Pilot|website=Deadline Hollywood|date=February 22, 2018|access-date=March 1, 2018}} Sarah Jones as Lynn,{{cite web|last=Andreeva|first=Nellie|url=https://deadline.com/2018/03/l-a-confidential-sarah-jones-star-cbs-drama-pilot-lynn-1202337880/|title=L.A. Confidential: Sarah Jones To Star In CBS Drama Pilot|website=Deadline Hollywood|date=March 14, 2018|access-date=March 15, 2018}} Alana Arenas as June, and Shea Whigham as Dick Stensland.{{cite magazine |last1=Andreeva |first1=Nellie |title=CBS Pilot Update: Will 'LA Confidential' Find Streaming Home? |url=https://deadline.com/2018/05/cbs-pilot-updates-la-confidential-streaming-home-cba-all-access-1202390889/ |magazine=Deadline Hollywood |access-date=6 February 2019 |date=14 May 2018}}{{cite web |last1=Goldberg |first1=Lesley |title='L.A. Confidential': Efforts to Find CBS Pilot a New Home Fail |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/la-confidential-efforts-find-cbs-pilot-a-new-home-fail-1124106 |website=hollywoodreporter.com |publisher=The Hollywood Reporter |access-date=6 February 2019 |date=29 June 2018}} In May 2018, it was announced that the pilot would not be moving forward.
See also
{{Portal bar|Los Angeles|Novels|1990s}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|qid=Q127788202|title=L.A. Confidential (2003 television pilot)}}
- {{IMDb title|qid=Q127788213|title=L.A. Confidential (TV Movie 2018)}}
{{James Ellroy}}
Category:Fiction set in the 1950s
Category:American novels adapted into films
Category:Fictional portrayals of the Los Angeles Police Department
Category:Novels by James Ellroy
Category:Novels set in Los Angeles