Revealing mistake: When the body of Miss Lefferts is being viewed, the 'dead' girl blinks slightly. (00:34:35)
La Confidential (1997)
Directed by: Curtis Hanson
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kim Basinger, James Cromwell
Factual error: In the scene where Lt. Exley arrives at the Night Owl after the murder, the patrol officer is wearing a Safariland velcro-fastened handcuff case on his left hip. That style of rounded cuff case was not introduced until the early to mid 70s.
Continuity mistake: Bud and Exley are sitting in their car talking - Exley looks OK. His lip and eye are almost healed and there's only a little black and blue on the upper part of his left cheek. Than in the next scene with Lyn he looks like he's been beat up again worse than before. (01:56:10 - 01:56:40)
Trivia: The film has eighty speaking parts.
Trivia: Had the film been successfully adapted into a TV series, Jack Vincennes would have been played by Kiefer Sutherland. Coincidentally, one of Sutherland's co-stars in The Sentinel (2006) is Kim Basinger, who won an Oscar for her role in this film; James Cromwell played his father in season six of "24."
Trivia: Kim Basinger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Lynn Bracken, even though she's only in the film for 15 minutes.
Ed Exley: A hooker cut to look like Lana Turner is still a hooker.
Johnny Stampanato: Hey!
Ed Exley: She looks just like Lana Turner.
Jack Vincennes: She is Lana Turner.
Ed Exley: What?
Jack Vincennes: She IS Lana Turner.
Ed Exley: Why'd you become a cop?
Jack Vincennes: I don't remember.
Bud White: Merry Christmas.
Lynn Bracken: Merry Christmas to you, officer.
Bud White: That obvious, huh?
Lynn Bracken: It's practically stamped on your forehead.
Question: What is Lynn's connection to the Nite Owl killings?
Answer: She doesn't really have one - not directly, anyway. The only link is that Susan Lefferts died at the Night Owl, and Bud saw Lynn with Lefferts when he was buying the alcohol for the party. Lefferts had the bandage on her nose at the time, which sparked Bud's curiosity and prompted him to seek out Lynn after Lefferts was murdered.
Question: Ed Exley recommends that the LAPD shift the blame for Bloody Christmas to men whose pensions are secured, and he names Bud White and Richard Stensland as two such men. But when Dudley Smith later tells Bud White that Stensland has been forced to retire, White says "A year from his pension!" So was Stensland entitled to a pension or not?
Answer: Exley is suggesting two things: to shift some blame to three officers with secured pensions and forcing them to retire; when he refers to White and Stensland though, he is saying "someone has to swing" and that they should be charged, tried and imprisoned - so Stensland is not entitled to a pension.
Question: Why did Exley appear so traumatised after killing the man in the elevator? He is, after all, a police officer in homicide, and he killed people before that. Also, did he kill him intentionally?
Chosen answer: A 12g shotgun blast at that range would cause an incredibly bloody death, especially as there is a good chance it hit the man in the face. Exley has killed a person in the line of duty before this, but not in such a spectacular way. And while he may not have meant to kill him he chose to shoot over letting the man escape.
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Suggested correction: It's not uncommon for dead bodies to continue moving after death. Many internal parts of the body continue functioning in some fashion for hours after death and nerves and muscles can twitch.
raywest ★