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L.A. Confidential is a 1997 feature film based on the 1990 crime fiction novel of the same title by James Ellroy, the third in his L.A. Quartet novel cycle. Both the book and the film tell the story about a group of Los Angeles police in the 1950s, and police corruption bumping up against Hollywood celebrity. The film adaptation was produced and directed by Curtis Hanson and co-written by Hanson and Brian Helgeland.

At the time, Australian actor Guy Pearce and New Zealander Russell Crowe were relatively unknown in North America, and one of the film's backers, Peter Dennett, was worried about the lack of established stars in the lead roles. However, he supported Hanson's casting decisions and this gave the director the confidence to approach Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger, and Danny DeVito.

Critically acclaimed, the film holds a 99% rating at Rotten Tomatoes with 73 out of 74 reviews positive, as well as an aggregated rating of 90% based on 28 reviews on Metacritic. It was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won two, Basinger for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Hanson and Helgeland for Best Screenplay - Adapted.

Set against the backdrop of the glamor, grit and noir of early 1950s Los Angeles, the film revolves around three Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers caught up in corruption, sex, lies, and murder following a multiple murder at the Nite Owl coffee shop. The story expands to encompass organized crime, political corruption, heroin, pornography, prostitution, tabloid journalism and institutional racism, which result in a huge body count. The novel's title refers to the infamous 1950s scandal magazine Confidential, portrayed fictionally as Hush-Hush (although a tabloid magazine called Hush-Hush also existed in the 1950s.)

Sergeant Edmund Exley (Pearce), the son of a legendary LAPD Inspector, is a brilliant officer in his own right, determined to outdo his father. Ed's intelligence, his education, his glasses, his insistence on following regulations, and his cold demeanor all contribute to his social isolation from other officers. He increases this resentment after volunteering to testify against other cops in an infamous police brutality case (the Bloody Christmas incident) early on, insisting on a promotion to Detective Lieutenant (which he receives) against the advice of Captain Dudley Smith (James Cromwell). The captain believed that Exley's honesty and actions as a "snitch" would interfere with his ability to supervise detectives. Exley was motivated by the murder of his father by "Rollo Tomasi", a sense of justice, and his personal ambition.



Officer Wendell "Bud" White (Crowe) is a violent 6-foot-tall brute and the most feared man in the LAPD. His plainclothes partner Dick Stensland was convicted and expelled from the force following a fictional version of the Bloody Christmas scandal as a scapegoat by Chief of Detectives Thad Green; and by Exley's testimony. After these events, Bud vows revenge against Exley. His ties to the Nite Owl case become personal after Stensland is found to be one of the murder victims at the Nite Owl. He has a violent obsession with woman-beaters, counterbalanced by his tenderness towards the victims. His temper often overpowers his thought, and he is perceived as a mindless thug. He is sought out by Capt. Dudley Smith for a black bag job intimidating out-of-town criminals trying to set up in Los Angeles after Mickey Cohen's conviction and incarceration.

Sergeant Jack Vincennes (Spacey) is a slick and likable Hollywood cop who works as the technical advisor of Badge of Honor, a popular Dragnet-type TV show. Vincennes is also connected with Sid Hudgeons (DeVito) of Hush-Hush magazine. Vincennes receives kickbacks for making celebrity arrests, often orchestrated, involving narcotics, that will attract even more readers to the magazine—and more fame and profit to him. When a young actor winds up dead during one of these schemes, a guilt ridden Vincennes is determined to find who did it.

At different intervals the three men investigate the Nite Owl and concurrent events which in turn begin to reveal deep indications of corruption all around them. Ed Exley pursues absolute justice in the Nite Owl slayings, all the while trying to live up to his family's prestigious name. Bud White pursues Nite Owl victim Susan Lefferts, which leads him to Lynn Bracken (Basinger), a Veronica Lake look-alike and call-girl with pivotal ties to the case he and Exley are independently investigating. Meanwhile, Jack Vincennes follows up on a pornography racket that leads to ties to both the Nite Owl and Bracken's handler Pierce Patchett, operator of "Fleur-de-Lis", a call-girl service that runs prostitutes altered by plastic surgery to look like movie stars. All three men's fates are intertwined. A dramatic showdown occurs with powerful and corrupt forces within the city's political leadership and the department.