Three detectives in the corrupt and brutal L.A. police force of the 1950s use differing methods to uncover a conspiracy behind the shotgun slayings of the patrons at an all-night diner.
"Everything is suspect... Everyone is for sale... And nothing is what it seems."
Top Billed Cast
Kevin Spacey
Jack Vincennes
Russell Crowe
Wendell 'Bud' White
Guy Pearce
Edmund 'Ed' Exley
James Cromwell
Dudley Smith
Kim Basinger
Lynn Bracken
Danny DeVito
Sid Hudgens
David Strathairn
Pierce Patchett
Ron Rifkin
D.A. Ellis Loew
Detailed Critic & Audience Reviews
J John ChardVerified TMDB Critic
2016-08-07
City of Angels? More Like City of Demons!
Curtis Hanson directs and co-adapts the screenplay with Brian Helgeland from legendary pulp novelist James Ellroy's novel. It stars Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito and David Strathairn. Music is by Jerry Goldsmith and cinematography by Dante Spinotti.
It's 1950s Los Angeles and three cops of very different morals and stature are about to be entwined in crime and corruption...
I admire you as a policeman, particularly your adherence to violence as a necessary adjunct to the job.
Tremendous...
C CinemaSerfVerified TMDB Critic
2024-04-22
After the seemingly indiscriminate slaughter of the folks at a diner, it's the ambitious "Exley" (Guy Pearce) who suggests to his bosses that it's time for the LAPD to get it's act together and root out the corruption endemic within the force. To that end, he is promoted by "Capt. Smith" (James Cornwall) and sets about trying to assert a bit more of the rule of law rather than the rule of vengeance - that'd be the "White" (Russell Crowe) method, or the more venal and sleazy fashion of "Vincennes" (Kevin Spacey). Needless to say, nobody takes kindly to this new pure as the driven snow approach,...
