“I admire you as a policeman – particularly your adherence to violence as a necessary adjunct to the job.”
-Dudley Smith (James Cromwell), L.A. Confidential (1997)
- Comment
- Reblog
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Nobody Move! 
Dudley’s fate in the movie is quite different than in Ellroy’s novel. The book may be more realistic, but I found the movie ending more satisfactory.
LikeLike
Yeah, Dudley lived to show up in the next book, White Jazz. That one is being adapted into a movie as well. I agree about the movie’s ending, it was more satisfying than the book.
LikeLike
John D.:
I agree w/ Richard…sometimes, and those ARE few and far between, an adaptation of a novel has a really decent ending.
James Cromwell, another very good performance.
What I do find funny, is that this quote could ALSO apply to ANY Dirty Harry novel OR movie…heh.
😉
Good call, Boss.
Have a great weekend & stay safe out there.
LikeLike
They changed a number of things from the book — which they had to, or the movie would have been 10 hours long — but they kept the book’s attitude and voice, which made this a great movie.
LikeLike
The more times I rewatch this, the more I’m stunned by the lack acting nominations this film received. Cromwell, along with the three male leads, was awesome in this.
LikeLike
Yeah, that was kind of surprising. This movie had a really solid cast. And they all turned in top-notch performances.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Just reread LA Confidential the other day. I think the book was better than the movie. I didn’t like the anachronisms in the movie (I know it’s not a documentary, but it still irritated me).
The movie adaptation of Ellroy’s first book of his LA Quartet, The Black Dahlia, was terrible. I think Ellroy’s books are too complex to be made into movies. They might work better as miniseries.
If you’re an Ellroy fan, his newest book Perfidia, goes further back in time and shows Dudley Smith, along with other characters, real-life and fictional, starting on December 6, 1941. It’s a pretty good read.
LikeLike
I agree about the movie adaptation of The Black Dahlia, it was awful. I don’t think DePalma has made a good movie since The Untouchables. An Ellroy miniseries would be awesome. Of course, it would have to be on HBO or Cinemax, so as to retain all the swearing and sex from the books. 😉
LikeLike