What Writers Can Learn From L.A. Confidential

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by James Scott Bell
@jamesscottbell

I love my home town (although the relationship is strained these days). I love classic film noir shot on location in the City of Angels. A lot of detectives went in and out of City Hall, where the department was headquartered until 1955. Edmund O’Brien stormed into the homicide division in the famous opening tracking shot of D.O.A. (1949). “I want to report a murder,” he said. “Who was murdered?” they ask. “I was,” he says…and off we go.

The only movie in recent memory to capture the look and feel of 50s L.A. is L.A. Confidential (1997), directed by Curtis Hanson from the novel by James Ellroy. The sunny climes and palm trees during the day are juxtaposed against the corruption and vice of night. Good cops and bad cops. And some who are a little of both.

The film garnered critical praise and was Oscar nominated for Picture, Director, Screenplay, and Cinematography. Kim Basinger took home the statuette for Best Supporting Actress.

The plot centers around a mass slaying at a diner called The Nite Owl. The movie is a lesson in how to handle shifting POV as we follow the case through the eyes of three Lead characters.

Bud White (Russell Crowe) is known for violent, sometimes out-of-control behavior. But his rage is in the service of his sense of justice. He’s driven by a compulsion to save vulnerable women from abuse. (There’s a backstory reason for this that is revealed in Act 2).

The movie opens with an off-duty Bud White watching a home where a man is beating his wife. Bud pulls down the Christmas lights on the house, the man comes out and tries to clock Bud. Bud beats him up and handcuffs him to the stair railing. He gives the wife some cash and makes sure she has a place to go.

Thus we are drawn to Bud’s motive, but a little unsure about his methods.

This cross-current of emotion is a key to our wanting to watch Bud’s story. He’s not all good. He has a flaw which could be his undoing. This emotion intensifies in Act 2, when he is given a secret duty by his captain—beating up out-of-town mobsters trying to move in on L.A. territory. Here Bud is no longer a cop; he’s a thug, albeit on the “right” side.

Lesson: Memorable heroes should have strength, but also a flaw that could become fatal. That makes us interested to know which side will prevail.

Edmund Exley (Guy Pearce) is the opposite of Bud. Slender, thoughtful, smart, political. He goes “by the book,” which does not endear him to his fellow cops, because it means he does not look away when some of them bend the rules.

So why should we watch him? First, because he’s an underdog in his community. We like underdog stories (e.g., Rudy, Rocky). Second, because he’s good at his job. We like to see characters being competent in their work. This comes out as Exley questions three suspects in the Nite Owl shooting, getting admissions with skill, not violence (IOW, the opposite of Bud).

Lesson: A good Lead should have a skill or power that can be his deliverance at a critical point.

Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) is slick, a charmer. He knows how to skirt the system and rake in a little illicit dough on the side. He takes money from the slimy Sid Hudgeons (Danny DeVito) to bust the victims of Sid’s amorous setups to feed his scandal magazine Hush Hush. But Jack’s favorite side hustle is as the technical advisor on the TV show “Badge of Honor” (i.e., “Dragnet”).

Lesson: A Lead who skates along the dark side should have some charm. We like lovable rogues.

Mirror Moments

Each one of these Leads goes through a personal and positive transformation. As I watched the movie again, I naturally wondered if there would be any mirror moments.

Turns out there’s three of them.

Not only that, two of them involve actual mirrors! (I love it when that happens).

For Bud White, it’s when he’s at the abandoned motel with his captain and some other strong-arm cops. They’re beating up another out-of-town gangster. Bud goes into the bathroom to splash some water on his face. And looks at himself in the mirror. He’s thinking: “Is this who I am? Is this what it means to be a cop?”

Jack Vincennes has just taken another fifty-dollar-bill to show up at a motel where Sid has engineered his biggest scoop yet—the District Attorney of Los Angeles in bed with a handsome young actor (Simon Baker). Sid has paid the kid to seduce the D.A., but also enlisted Jack to promise him a nice part on an episode of “Badge of Honor.” A promise Jack never intends to keep.

While waiting for the appointed hour, Jack sits in a bar and looks at himself in the bar mirror. He’s disgusted. “Is this who I am? Is this what it means to be a cop? Do I really care nothing about lying to an innocent kid who just wants to make it in this town?”

He lays the fifty down on his unfinished drink and leaves to go warn the kid to get out of the room….but instead finds him slain. The consequences of this will lead to one of the great shock twists in cinema (you’ll have to watch the movie to find out, and please, if you know what I’m talking about, do NOT spoil it in the comments).

The mirror moment for Edmund Exley comes when he is awarded the Medal of Valor for his part in slaying the suspects in the Nite Owl murders. In the script he tells his Captain, Dudley Smith (James Cromwell) something feels wrong about the case. Smith tells the new hero, “Keep it inside. Between you and you.”

The very definition of a mirror moment! Exley considers his medal. The script says, “It’s an appealing thing.” He can stay a hero by keeping quiet. But at the cost of justice. Which way will he go?

That’s the question a mirror moment asks.

Lesson: Done skillfully, the mirror moment subconsciously deepens the viewing—and reading—experience.

Dialogue

Period slang and cop jargon are sprinkled throughout, though not so much that it’s distracting. A good lesson there when your write a period piece. A little slang goes a long way. You’re not going for total authenticity (you never are when you write dialogue). You’re trying to create an effect for the reader. Don’t let jargon get in the way of the story.

Speaking of which, my views on the ol’ F bomb are well known, and while this is a James Ellroy, I think the film would’ve been helped with more restraint in this area.

And with that, I turn it over to you.

Have you written a novel with more than one POV? How’d it work for you?

Have you written about your home town—or a fictional place just like it—in a book?

Thumbs up or thumbs down on L.A. Confidential?

28 thoughts on “What Writers Can Learn From L.A. Confidential”

  1. Great coincidence… the bride and I just watched this this week, it being too cold for yard work or errand-running… and I hadn’t seen it before (it’s been on my “TBW” [To Be Watched]), list for a long time…

    As usual, Sir, you’re spot on… I found myself wondering how they set up some camera angles on location to avoid the intrusion of that pesky thing called time, and glad of the architectural preservation of so much of “old” LA’s building stock…

    I attempted a multi-POV novel one NANO a few years back – three brothers in the three theaters of the War Between the States – running on sequential timelines… my challenge – besides getting 50K words in in 30 days – was fleshing out the supporting characters for each MC – something that LA Confidential accomplishes by the three mains “supporting” each other as well as being the story.

    I continue struggle with a work set in my “hometown” of Miami during WWII – don’t know how or where camera angles can capture THAT look on location (should I get so lucky 😋…).

    With you on the use of the F-bomb… I wonder sometimes if it really WAS as prevalent in “conversation” back in the day as a lot of books/movies set in the past seem to have it… the shock value has pretty much worn off, and, as Mom always said, “Cussin’ is a sign of laziness…” While that may or may not be true, it feels like it is when I come across it when reading or watching something. It seems to me that I hear it more in one movie than I think I hear it in real life in a month or more (though it sure feels good in traffic sometimes… 😋).

    Two thumbs up/five stars… one of my (new) faves…

  3. Adding to my TBW list.
    All my romantic suspenses have 2 POV characters. It’s the nature of the genre, and works out just fine.
    I got tired of pestering my sister-in-law for information about Oregon, so I set Nowhere to Hide in my then “home town” of Orlando and found it even harder, because I had to get everything right. Made-up, based-on settings are easier.
    My first Mapleton mystery, Deadly Secrets had 3. The second had 2, and from then on, it’s been a single POV all the way.

    • Yes, made-up locales are great. I envy Sue Grafton for following Ross Macdonald and using “Santa Theresa” for Santa Barbara.

      But since L.A. is the greatest noir town, and is so unique in so many ways, it can’t be “copied.” OTOH, I like traveling around the city and researching neighborhoods.

  4. Jim, I always enjoy and learn from your deconstructions of movies. It’s been years since I saw L.A. Confidential but I remember it well b/c of the three contrasting and compelling characters. Weaving their stories together was masterfully done.

    For years, I wrote first person POV b/c Raymond Chandler had been such a strong influence. But I’m not Chandler and none of those books were published. Then in Instrument of the Devil I went into the villain’s POV as well as the hero’s. That book sold. I believe the deep exploration of the villain’s justifications made the difference.

    Since then, my books have been multiple POVs. That improves plotting b/c the motives for crimes are clearer and more understandable to the reader.

    I doubt I’ll go back to first or limited third b/c of the freedom and latitude multiple POVs offer. But never say never.

    My series is set in my hometown and Montana at large. Locations often play major roles in the plot. Readers enjoy recognizing real places.

    Your L.A. settings always bring back vivid memories of life in southern CA but I couldn’t live there now.

  5. Very compelling! I never watched this one back in the day, but now I want to! Mainly to see it through your pointers here.
    Sometimes I try (and fail) to turn off the writer brain during entertainment. Other times it’s very much worth it to have it fully engaged and working away. And while I myself do not currently write with multiple POVs, I do enjoy dissecting the craft to see how well all of its moving parts work. A mirror moment is still a mirror moment after all, right?
    Thanks for a great article!

  6. Love this deconstruct, and I came away with a better understanding of the mirror moment. TY. Since, like Terri, I write romantic suspense, I have two POVs and the villain’s. I like adding the villain’s POV because it adds a layer of suspense.

    I’ve set two series in real places—Natchez, which I’d never visited and the town where I grew up, Memphis. Researching Natchez was so much fun, but still a pain making sure I didn’t have my characters traveling the wrong way on a one-way street. I much prefer fictional settings!

    • I’ve enjoyed doing the villain’s POV before, Patricia, but always try to keep in mind Koontz’s admonition that adding a little bit of sympathy for him makes for a better story. Not to justify his actions, but to do those cross-currents of emotion I mentioned in the post.

  7. Thanks for the lessons from L.A. Confidential. Very interesting.

    I’ve written most of my fantasy series in first person POV. I’m experimenting with first person POV for the hero, and close third POV for the villain, who gets his own chapters.

    I’ve used my own community for the home base for my books. Of course, the Mad River Gang quickly enters a portal, and then the setting becomes wildly strange.

    Thanks for a great post.

  8. Another terrific JSB at the movies post, Jim. Once again chock full of craft insights. I have not seen L.A. Confidential, a real omission on my part. I will rectify that.

    I have one published novel with two POVs, my space opera “Spice Crimes.” The first is the POV of a ship captain who is taking a day off during a cargo run layover for much needed R&R with her fiancee and crew, only to discover her starship is stolen while they are enjoying the rest. The other, is from another pilot’s perspective, who, along with her partner, takes a starship said to be carrying a stolen cargo. The starship turns out to be the one belonging to our first POV, who believes the cargo legitimate. A chase ensues, with the narrative switching between the two POVs.

    I have used my home time, Portland, in my novels “Empowered: Agent,” and “Gremlin Night.” A fictional southwest Portland neighborhood, Fir Grove, is the setting for my Meg Booker Librarian Mysteries.

  9. Jim, I saw the movie years ago, but I’m going to watch it again with your deconstruction in mind. (I like watching good movies more than once. The first time I understand the story — the second time I understand the plot. Your info should make this a great movie experience.)

    My first three books had multiple POVs, probably because I had recently read Truth Be Told by Hank Phillippi Ryan, and I liked the way she layered the plot through multiple POVs. My fourth novel starts a new series and is in first person, which I love.

    So far, I’ve always used fictional locations, but I’m thinking of having the protagonist in my Watch series run marathons in different cities around the world to change the location for each book and keep the series fresh. (I expect to be consulting with our resident world traveler, Terry Odell!)

  10. Have you written a novel with more than one POV? How’d it work for you?
    In all my books the POV characters alternate chapters. My favorite form of storytelling.

    Have you written about your home town—or a fictional place just like it—in a book?
    Yep. My Grafton County Series is set in the small, rural town where we reside. The setting springs to life when the author knows the place well.

    Thumbs up or thumbs down on L.A. Confidential?
    Thumbs up. I haven’t watch the movie in eons, but I remember loving it. Might be time for a re-watch.

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  12. Love LA Confidential – Bassinger/Crowe was a good combination, including the ending.

    I now write completely without a narrator – the WIP has three main characters, and the story is told in roughly alternating scenes with one of them as the pov character in each. With two fat novels in the trilogy already published, I’m surprised to find myself still struggling with the plotting of the third, LIMBO, because I want it to connect and tie off all the threads – except one to be left hanging.

    It feels completely natural – except it takes a particular process each time I switch to a new scene and have to become a different character; it helps that each has a different subset of characteristics that come from me somehow. I have to channel the character I’m writing – and then the dialogue comes out right, because each speaks differently – vocabulary, accent, tone…

    My short fiction tends to be first person. I considered having three first-person main characters, but didn’t like it because first person identifies me too strongly with a character and switching feels like ripping up that identification just as it was getting comfortable.

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