L.A. Confidential
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jhpen22 — 11 years ago(December 07, 2014 11:28 AM)
I appreciate your sticking to the OP's original question. And I agree with your conclusion. I love LAC, and I'll watch it every chance I get, but Chinatown is on another level. LAC has one weakness I've never been able to get around: the casting, and portrayal, of Kevin Spacey as Jack Vincennes. It's been years since I've read the book, but I don't ever remember meeting this character. The original was much darker and an addict who commits a drug-induced murder. Spacey is snarky. Both movies are about appearances and reality, corruption in high places. But Chinatown has the advantage of a symbol of absolutely incomprehensible lawlessness: Chinatown itself. It stands as a prime example of the chicanery and nefarious behind-the-scenes dealing that is the movie's plot, and the action ends, appropriately, with the ultimate chaos occurring on the streets of Chinatown. Finally, the acting in Chinatown is uniformly superb.
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jhpen22 — 11 years ago(December 14, 2014 11:43 AM)
Yes, they are. They're both about corruption on a grand scale, so I'd say they are much alike in their subject matter. It's true that in L.A. Confidential the "good guys" win. In Chinatown, the only winner is Noah Cross, the most corrupt character in the story. But without the corruption, neither film would be possible. Anyway, I was responding to a question about the best film about L.A. I wasn't trying to compare their subjects.
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darryl-tahirali — 11 years ago(July 16, 2014 03:57 PM)
Which is the best film ever made in which LA is the star?
L.A. Confidential or Chinatown? - fnj2002
First, your question is incompatible with your forced-choice response. "Best film ever made" suggests
all
films that meet the other criteria, and you're asking us to choose between only two.
Of those two, though, it's a tough choice, but I would go with
Chinatown
because I think it is more artfully made and has a bigger emotional impact.
Chinatown
was also made before
LA Confidential
, and I do have an historical bias.
And speaking of which, it's too bad that no one has listed any films of older vintage. For instance, I consider the "LA
Noir
Trilogy" to comprise not only
Chinatown
and
LA Confidential
but also
The Big Sleep
, which in one way or another informs both later movies. (Sometime I confuse scenes that are in
Big Sleep
with those that are in
Chinatown
, and vice versa.)
"We hear very little, and we understand even less." - Refugee in Casablanca -
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john-daly-532-644927 — 11 years ago(September 22, 2014 02:06 PM)
Agree with a lot of the candidates mentioned, but how about: Jacky Brown, The Big Sleep (1946), Shampoo, Singing in the Rain, Rebel Without a Cause, Devil in a Blue Dress, Clueless, L.A. Story, True Confessions or The Day of the Locust?
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ridge-m-1 — 11 years ago(December 14, 2014 06:51 AM)
Finally, one reads these posts and nobody mentions Double Indemnity until now. This aficionado will add another, Sunset Boulevard. Add Chinatown and the viewer has a triple feature of masterpieces.
Joe Gillis: You're Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big.
Norma Desmond: I AM big. It's the pictures that got small.
LAC falls a little short of the aforementioned competition although Hanson uses wonderful locations and Helgeland's adaptation of Ellroy's novel was a Herculean task to come up with a filmable screenplay. A thoroughly enjoyable picture but let's keep the competition in perspective. -
rp69 — 11 years ago(November 10, 2014 08:07 AM)
I'm posting to you mgtbltp because you're the only person to mention a true LA classic.
Have you seen the Lineup 195x? Eli Wallach and I think Farley Granger. It's a really good movie, but the commentary track has James Elroy and another film historian giving a tour of old LA. The entire movie was shot on location all over Los Angeles. Not only is the commentary interesting, but it's absolutely hysterical. James Elroy is insane!