Organized Crime In The Film 'L. A. Confidential'

Film noir has three big common traits in films that are considered this genre. A hard-boiled detective, a femme fatale and the prevalence of organized crime throughout the film. L.A. Confidential by Curtis Hanson is a film noir because there is a clear presence of all of these traits. The first trait, a hard boiled detective, is the central character of the film and is always on a quest for truth and won’t stop until he has found what he is looking for and will continue investigating a case even though people will tell him to stop or it is “closed”. In The Big Sleep, by Howard Hawks, the hard-boiled detective is Philip Marlowe and in one scene, he asked by Vivian Rutledge to stop investigating the case. Marlowe does not listen to her as he still wants to find out what happened to Sean Regan, even though that is not what he was originally hired to investigate. Just like Marlowe in …show more content…
Film noir cities seem like an innocent and good place at the surface but inside it is a much darker and evil place through organized crime. In The Big Sleep, the film shows the prevalence of blackmailing and drug dealing. In Chinatown, corruption is a huge part of the plot as city officials and businessmen are dumping water so they can make major money. Lastly, L.A. Confidential, involves many crimes such as drug dealing, corruption, prostitution, and murder. The prevalence of organized crime in L.A. Confidential makes it a film noir. Film noir in general describes a city with evil intentions. The directors of this film were trying to convey that all cities in the real world have these intentions and that a person can not seeming trust anybody unconditionally. In conclusion, L.A. Confidential includes a hard boiled detective, a femme fatale, and the presence of organized crime throughout the film. These three traits make it clear that this movie is considered film