Starring Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Danny DeVito and Kim Bassinger Directed by Curtis Hanson Rated R, with strong profanity, sex and violence Running time 140 minutes Jack gives this film a rating of 10 out of 10

(Sept. 19, 1997) -- Sid Hudgens, the conniving editor played by Danny DeVito in L.A. Confidential, always ends his juicy tabloid reports with a tag line: "Off the record, on the QT and very hush-hush."

But there should be nothing hush-hush about the success of this crime film. L.A. Confidential is easily the most engrossing and exciting Los Angeles police drama since Chinatown. The 1996 Oscar race is off and running.

Adapted from James Ellroy's deliciously dark and demented hard-boiled novel, L.A. Confidential details crime and corruption in the L.A. of 1950. Once considered too epic in scope and convoluted in plot for a film adaptation, Ellroy's novel has been masterfully trimmed, refined and packaged (in the best sense of the word) by director and co-writer Curtis Hanson.

Hanson formerly made his name with lean, B-movie chamber pieces, like The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and Bad Influence. L.A. Confidential is a major step forward in scope and style, elevating Hanson to the top rank of U.S. directors.

L.A. Confidential details the exploits of three diverse and highly competitive Los Angeles cops as they become entangled in the investigation of a mass murder at a diner, a change in the town's gangland hierarchy after Mickey Cohen goes to prison, Hollywood corruption involving drugs and hookers, and bribery and betrayal among fellow police officers.

The film's three protagonists are:

• Bud White (Russell Crowe), a gruff, hard-nosed detective who isn't afraid to take the law into his own hands; he's also got a peculiar weakness for helping damsels in distress.
• Ed Exley (Guy Pearce), an up-and-coming young hot-shot whose self-righteous veneer of integrity barely masks his huge ambition to get to the top of the cop heap.
• Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey), a veteran detective who is infatuated with fancy suits and fine women, and who loves rubbing shoulders with Hollywood types. He especially enjoys his role as technical advisor on a TV cop show (humorously modeled on the vintage TV show Dragnet).

The three men have little in common -- and don't even like each other. But they're thrown together in a case whose complexity and murkiness would do Raymond Chandler proud.

Along the way, they cross swords with LAPD Capt. Dudley Smith (James Cromwell), the district attorney (Ron Rifkin), a high-class pimp and would-be producer (David Strathairn) and call girl Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger), whose main claim to fame is her resemblance to Veronica Lake.

They and the other characters all have things to hide -- illusion is the name of the L.A. game. Helping to gleefully peel back the layers is tabloid slimeball Sid Hudgens, who narrates the tale.

Under Hanson's direction, L.A. Confidential oozes L.A. period style, recreating marvelous landmarks, fashions and music of the City of Angels, circa 1950. The script by Hanson and co-writer Brian Helgeland marvelously maintains balance among the stories of the three protagonists, and Hanson has organized it all with wit, intrigue and clarity.

Speaking strictly on the record, and not at all hush-hush: Don't miss L.A. Confidential.