What do you think?
Rate this book
L.A. Confidential: The Screenplay
Brand New. Will be shipped from US.
231 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1997
1 person is currently reading
75 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 8, 2023
فیلمنامه چاپ شده با نسخه نهایی (فیلم) تفاوتهایی دارد. ترجمه قابل قبولی داشت ولی می توانست بهتر هم باشد
برای درک بهتر ترجمه فرصتی شد تا فیلم را هم دوباره ببینم
برای درک بهتر ترجمه فرصتی شد تا فیلم را هم دوباره ببینم
April 22, 2026
L.A. Confidential, based on the novel by James Ellroy
This film is one of the most popular and it is placed at number 106 on the list voted by audiences.
It has also won the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Kim Basinger in the role of Lynn Bracken and an Oscar for Best Screenplay.
A list with the other actors and their respective roles would reveal the immense talent involved in this production:
Kevin Spacey -Jack Vincennes, Russell Crowe -Bud White, Guy Pearce-Ed Exley, Danny DeVito -Sid Hudgens
Jack Vincennes is the policeman who wants attention, he has a corrupt arrangement with Sid Hudgens, who is the editor and owner of a tabloid which prints photos of arrests, important drugs captures, but also innuendo and salacious details when it has them.
In exchange for money, Vincennes provides the details of the address and the photographer from the newspaper is waiting to get exclusive coverage
One night, suspects of an assault on the police force are brought to the station and a number of those inside start beating the detainees, with Bud White trying to calm his partner in the first place and joining in the punishment when he is insulted.
Other journalists were present and they had the chance to take pictures of the officers beating those in their custody, with a scandal that has some victims, scape goats and some suspensions.
Vincennes is moved from his previous department and his lucrative position, Bud White is sent off, only to be reinstated by the chief Dudley Smith, with nefarious intentions.
The only one promoted is the "rat" Ed Exley, who will soon get famous, after he arrives at the scene of a multiple homicide, is in charge of the investigation, catches the suspects after they escape and shoots a few, gaining a medal for valor.
Bud White hates him, for his testimony had been crucial in sending his partner into early retirement and then death, as he is one of the victims of the serial killers.
This simpler, rough, rather violent detective falls in love with Lynn Bracken, who works in the sex industry, as part of an operation controlled by the rich, ruthless Pierce Patchett.
White, Exley and Vincennes uncover dirty secrets and start putting the pieces of the puzzle together, but one of them is killed and the others are in death danger, as they become a menace for the new leader of the drug trade in L.A.
A male prostitute is used to blackmail the gay D.A. And then murdered, Vincennes finds about this and the Fleurs de Lys illegal enterprise, with more details regarding previous, old dossier and somebody in the higher hierarchy of the police, involved in some suspicious cases.
Ed Exley arrives at the house of Lynn and he wants information about White, who is a nemesis at that time, only to be seduced by the woman who was staging a compromising photo shootout to be used against the man from whom she wanted to defend her lover.
Alas, Bud White has had traumas in his childhood, tells the story of the attack on his mother, killed by the father who had tied him and left the body to be discovered only after a few days.
He cannot stand violence against women, in one scene he takes all the Christmas decorations down from a house and beats the man who was abusing a woman inside and Bud saw it, confronted, challenged the molester and made him pay for it.
Yet, when he finds the photos with Lynn and Ed, planted to make him furious and eliminate the latter from the game, as he was coming too close to the truth, he kicks the woman he loves and continues to find and kill his rival.
Exley explains the rules of the game, that this is a set up and White needs to think and see that he is trapped and does exactly what the killers want him to do.
The former enemies are destined to work together now and they actually depend on one another, seeing as they are alone against an organized crime group, which is determined to eliminate them, as they have done with journalists, witnesses, opponents, in short anybody who stood in their way or presented a threat of any kind.
And the Godfather of this whole Mafia like organization is the one we least expect.
This film is one of the most popular and it is placed at number 106 on the list voted by audiences.
It has also won the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Kim Basinger in the role of Lynn Bracken and an Oscar for Best Screenplay.
A list with the other actors and their respective roles would reveal the immense talent involved in this production:
Kevin Spacey -Jack Vincennes, Russell Crowe -Bud White, Guy Pearce-Ed Exley, Danny DeVito -Sid Hudgens
Jack Vincennes is the policeman who wants attention, he has a corrupt arrangement with Sid Hudgens, who is the editor and owner of a tabloid which prints photos of arrests, important drugs captures, but also innuendo and salacious details when it has them.
In exchange for money, Vincennes provides the details of the address and the photographer from the newspaper is waiting to get exclusive coverage
One night, suspects of an assault on the police force are brought to the station and a number of those inside start beating the detainees, with Bud White trying to calm his partner in the first place and joining in the punishment when he is insulted.
Other journalists were present and they had the chance to take pictures of the officers beating those in their custody, with a scandal that has some victims, scape goats and some suspensions.
Vincennes is moved from his previous department and his lucrative position, Bud White is sent off, only to be reinstated by the chief Dudley Smith, with nefarious intentions.
The only one promoted is the "rat" Ed Exley, who will soon get famous, after he arrives at the scene of a multiple homicide, is in charge of the investigation, catches the suspects after they escape and shoots a few, gaining a medal for valor.
Bud White hates him, for his testimony had been crucial in sending his partner into early retirement and then death, as he is one of the victims of the serial killers.
This simpler, rough, rather violent detective falls in love with Lynn Bracken, who works in the sex industry, as part of an operation controlled by the rich, ruthless Pierce Patchett.
White, Exley and Vincennes uncover dirty secrets and start putting the pieces of the puzzle together, but one of them is killed and the others are in death danger, as they become a menace for the new leader of the drug trade in L.A.
A male prostitute is used to blackmail the gay D.A. And then murdered, Vincennes finds about this and the Fleurs de Lys illegal enterprise, with more details regarding previous, old dossier and somebody in the higher hierarchy of the police, involved in some suspicious cases.
Ed Exley arrives at the house of Lynn and he wants information about White, who is a nemesis at that time, only to be seduced by the woman who was staging a compromising photo shootout to be used against the man from whom she wanted to defend her lover.
Alas, Bud White has had traumas in his childhood, tells the story of the attack on his mother, killed by the father who had tied him and left the body to be discovered only after a few days.
He cannot stand violence against women, in one scene he takes all the Christmas decorations down from a house and beats the man who was abusing a woman inside and Bud saw it, confronted, challenged the molester and made him pay for it.
Yet, when he finds the photos with Lynn and Ed, planted to make him furious and eliminate the latter from the game, as he was coming too close to the truth, he kicks the woman he loves and continues to find and kill his rival.
Exley explains the rules of the game, that this is a set up and White needs to think and see that he is trapped and does exactly what the killers want him to do.
The former enemies are destined to work together now and they actually depend on one another, seeing as they are alone against an organized crime group, which is determined to eliminate them, as they have done with journalists, witnesses, opponents, in short anybody who stood in their way or presented a threat of any kind.
And the Godfather of this whole Mafia like organization is the one we least expect.
March 22, 2013
James Ellroy believed that L. A. Confidential, third in his quartet of novels chronicling his beloved hometown during its post-1945 boom years, was unfilmable. It was too complex – too many characters, too many subplots, too intricately braided together – and far, far too dark. Filled with corruption and blackmail, drugs and violence, soured ideals and broken dreams, it was a tale without a single sympathetic character, never mind a hero. It would, Ellroy believed, remain tied to the printed page, too difficult for any screenwriter to adapt, and too toxic for any Hollywood producer to go near.
Ellroy, as he graciously admits in his introduction to this published screenplay of the novel, was wrong. Brian Helgeland, a fellow son of LA, distilled the novel into a script, assisted by director-to-be Curtis Hanson, who went on to make L. A. Confidential into one of the definitive modern examples of film noir and one of the definitive movies of the 1990s. The movie is awash in superbly realized period details (the cars, the clothes, the guns, the streetscapes, and even the furniture) and ablaze with star power (Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, and Kevin Spacey as the leads; Danny de Vito, Kim Basinger, James Cromwell, and David Strathairn in support). It’s so visually engrossing that it’s easy to overlook, when you’re watching it, just how good the writing is.
Reading the screenplay on the page lets you focus on just that. The dialogue snaps, crackles, and pops, revealing (without ever resorting to speechifying) the multiple shades of corruption, and the multiple shades of slightly tarnished nobility, that define the main characters. The scenes (mostly short) move crisply, and – even without the action on screen – the intertwined threads of the narrative come alive. Superb film . . . brilliant screenplay . . . fascinating book.
Ellroy, as he graciously admits in his introduction to this published screenplay of the novel, was wrong. Brian Helgeland, a fellow son of LA, distilled the novel into a script, assisted by director-to-be Curtis Hanson, who went on to make L. A. Confidential into one of the definitive modern examples of film noir and one of the definitive movies of the 1990s. The movie is awash in superbly realized period details (the cars, the clothes, the guns, the streetscapes, and even the furniture) and ablaze with star power (Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, and Kevin Spacey as the leads; Danny de Vito, Kim Basinger, James Cromwell, and David Strathairn in support). It’s so visually engrossing that it’s easy to overlook, when you’re watching it, just how good the writing is.
Reading the screenplay on the page lets you focus on just that. The dialogue snaps, crackles, and pops, revealing (without ever resorting to speechifying) the multiple shades of corruption, and the multiple shades of slightly tarnished nobility, that define the main characters. The scenes (mostly short) move crisply, and – even without the action on screen – the intertwined threads of the narrative come alive. Superb film . . . brilliant screenplay . . . fascinating book.
June 30, 2025
در جهان جیمز الروی، عدالت مفهومیست چرکآلود، حقیقت مثل جسدی دفنشده در شنهای لسآنجلس دههٔ پنجاه است، و پلیسها، قهرمانانی با لکههای تیرهتر از جنایتکاران. محرمانه لسآنجلس نه یک رمان جنایی کلاسیک است، نه یک نوآر صرف؛ این اثر نوعی اعترافنامهٔ روانپریشانه از شهریست که آرزوی آمریکایی را به گند کشیده و زیر هر درخشش نئون، چیزی مرده باقی مانده.
در این کتاب، لسآنجلس شخصیت اصلیست. شهری دروغگو، بیرحم و اغواگر؛ جاییکه ستارههای سینما، روسپیهای جراحیشده، مافیای مواد مخدر و پلیسهای فاسد، همه در یک مدار جهنمی میچرخند. روایت با خشونتی سرد و زبان تند جلو میرود. جملات بریده، دیالوگها برقآسا و اغلب بیاحساساند؛ شبیه مشتهایی که از مهربانی گذشتهاند و مستقیم به اعصاب خواننده میزنند.
سه شخصیت اصلی، سه جلوه از فروپاشی اخلاقیاند: ادمکسلی، پلیسی جاهطلب و اهل ظاهر؛ باد وایت، مردی با خشمی سرکوبنشده و میل به انتقام؛ و جک وینسنس، پلیسی مطبوعاتی و فاسد که در نقطهای از روایت، سعی میکند بهای رستگاریاش را بپردازد. تضاد میان این سه، نهفقط داستان را پیش میبرد، بلکه تم اصلی کتاب را پارهپاره میکند: فسادِ درونیای که دیگر بهسادگی تطهیرپذیر نیست.
فیلم اقتباسی کرتیس هانسون – با بازی درخشان کوین اسپیسی، گای پیرس و راسل کرو – موفق شد جهان سنگین و کثیف رمان را با نرمی سینما آشتی دهد. فیلم تا جای ممکن سادهتر از رمان است (که پر از خردهروایت، فلاشبک و جزئیات اطلاعاتیست) اما جوهرهٔ فساد نظاممند، میل شخصی برای نجات و تناقض اخلاقی را زنده نگه میدارد. استفاده از رنگهای گرم، نورپردازی کم، و طراحی صحنهای وفادار به دههٔ ۵۰، نوآری کلاسیک را با سینمای مدرن پیوند میزند.
اما آنچه محرمانه لسآنجلس را هم در شکل مکتوب و هم تصویریاش ماندگار میکند، همین نگاه بیرحم به حقیقت است. حقیقتی که بیشتر شبیه یک توهم جمعیست: دروغها آنقدر گفته میشوند، تا بدل به واقعیت شوند. پلیس خوب، جنایتکار باوجدان، خبرنگار بیطرف؟ همه اینها فقط ماسکهاییاند برای حیوانهایی در لباس انسان.
جیمز الروی در پایان، ما را با این سؤال تنها میگذارد: در جهانی که دروغ و خشونت پایههای قدرتاند، اصلاً رستگاری ممکن است؟ یا فقط باید با خون، حقیقت را تا حدی خرید، که هنوز نشود آن را کامل دفن کرد؟
در این کتاب، لسآنجلس شخصیت اصلیست. شهری دروغگو، بیرحم و اغواگر؛ جاییکه ستارههای سینما، روسپیهای جراحیشده، مافیای مواد مخدر و پلیسهای فاسد، همه در یک مدار جهنمی میچرخند. روایت با خشونتی سرد و زبان تند جلو میرود. جملات بریده، دیالوگها برقآسا و اغلب بیاحساساند؛ شبیه مشتهایی که از مهربانی گذشتهاند و مستقیم به اعصاب خواننده میزنند.
سه شخصیت اصلی، سه جلوه از فروپاشی اخلاقیاند: ادمکسلی، پلیسی جاهطلب و اهل ظاهر؛ باد وایت، مردی با خشمی سرکوبنشده و میل به انتقام؛ و جک وینسنس، پلیسی مطبوعاتی و فاسد که در نقطهای از روایت، سعی میکند بهای رستگاریاش را بپردازد. تضاد میان این سه، نهفقط داستان را پیش میبرد، بلکه تم اصلی کتاب را پارهپاره میکند: فسادِ درونیای که دیگر بهسادگی تطهیرپذیر نیست.
فیلم اقتباسی کرتیس هانسون – با بازی درخشان کوین اسپیسی، گای پیرس و راسل کرو – موفق شد جهان سنگین و کثیف رمان را با نرمی سینما آشتی دهد. فیلم تا جای ممکن سادهتر از رمان است (که پر از خردهروایت، فلاشبک و جزئیات اطلاعاتیست) اما جوهرهٔ فساد نظاممند، میل شخصی برای نجات و تناقض اخلاقی را زنده نگه میدارد. استفاده از رنگهای گرم، نورپردازی کم، و طراحی صحنهای وفادار به دههٔ ۵۰، نوآری کلاسیک را با سینمای مدرن پیوند میزند.
اما آنچه محرمانه لسآنجلس را هم در شکل مکتوب و هم تصویریاش ماندگار میکند، همین نگاه بیرحم به حقیقت است. حقیقتی که بیشتر شبیه یک توهم جمعیست: دروغها آنقدر گفته میشوند، تا بدل به واقعیت شوند. پلیس خوب، جنایتکار باوجدان، خبرنگار بیطرف؟ همه اینها فقط ماسکهاییاند برای حیوانهایی در لباس انسان.
جیمز الروی در پایان، ما را با این سؤال تنها میگذارد: در جهانی که دروغ و خشونت پایههای قدرتاند، اصلاً رستگاری ممکن است؟ یا فقط باید با خون، حقیقت را تا حدی خرید، که هنوز نشود آن را کامل دفن کرد؟
August 24, 2019
An object-lesson in how to carve a superbly disciplined film story out of a baggy-monster novel. Not a word wasted. Perfect, of its kind.
July 9, 2020
wrecking ball
October 3, 2021
A master class in adaptation that resulted in a well-deserved Academy Award for Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland.
July 11, 2022
So much fun.
August 16, 2015
This is required reading for screenplay writers, particularly those interested in Neo-Noir. Director Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland adapted James Ellroy's novel in 1997 and crafted this script. Hanson directed the film. It is full of one-liner quips, tension and conflict. It is also not lacking in seedy characters and violence. There are crooked cops and one gangster who runs a madam's ring of women done up to appear as movie stars. The film takes place in 1953 Los Angeles. Of course, there are heroic police, too. The two roles Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe play are the more multi-dimensional.
April 27, 2013
This rating is for the published screenplay of L.A. Confidential by Brian Helgeland and Curtis Hanson. This is really a terrific screenplay. The reader can understand how the screenwriters took Ellroy's "unfilmable" novel, changed the structure, moved a shootout at an abandoned motel to the climax, and helped create a film masterpiece.
July 16, 2015
Makes me want to read McElroy. A bit hard to follow with all the different characters. On the other hand, that's the genius of it, a tautly worked out page turner with major surprises at each corner's turn, however, if you aren't following everything that has happened beforehand the payoff won't be nearly as great. Makes me not want to see the movie again: lots and lots of violence.
September 7, 2012
I enjoyed reading this screenplay more than my memory of watching the movie. There's a lot going on and its well pieced together, but the pacing of the screenplay allowed me to picture the action moving at a faster pace than I remember the scenes moving.
February 22, 2009
Great read. Great articels from screenplay writers as well as James Ellroy.
January 22, 2014
A great read that plays out like a movie, just as a screenplay should.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews