History Film / LAConfidential

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/laconfi_9104.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"This is the City of Angels and you haven't got any wings."'']]

->''"Remember, dear readers, you heard it here first. Off the record, on the Q.T. and very ''[whispers]'' Hush-Hush."''
-->-- '''Sid Hudgens'''

UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, 1953.

There is a mass murder at The Nite Owl restaurant, and one of the people killed is a former LAPD officer. Three different LAPD detectives with different personalities, wife-basher-basher Bud White (Creator/RussellCrowe), straight cop Edmund Exley (Creator/GuyPearce), and publicity-hungry Jack Vincennes (Creator/KevinSpacey) all get caught up in the case, which turns out be part of the power struggle in organized crime after RealLife mobster Mickey Cohen is imprisoned for income tax evasion.

A [[Literature/LAConfidential 1990 novel]] by Creator/JamesEllroy, ''L.A. Confidential'' was given a 1997 [[TheFilmOfTheBook film adaptation]] directed by Creator/CurtisHanson. Also in the cast are Creator/KimBasinger, Creator/JamesCromwell, Creator/DannyDeVito, and Creator/DavidStrathairn. The screenplay by Hanson and Brian Helgeland [[CompressedAdaptation greatly condensed]] the plot and time frames of the book, but was widely praised for keeping almost all of the drama and noir feel.

Hanson and Helgeland won the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Adapted Script, and Basinger won Best Supporting Actress. The film was nominated in several other categories (including Best Picture) but lost every one to the juggernaut that was ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}''.

Creator/{{HBO}} commissioned a pilot for a TV adaptation in 2003, but opted not to go ahead with the series. In 2018 Creator/{{CBS}} decided to try again and filmed a pilot episode, but the network decided not to pick up the series.

For the novel this was adapted from, check out ''Literature/LAConfidential''.

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!!Remember, dear tropers, you read these tropes first. Off the Internet, on the keyboard, and very ''Hush-Hush''.

* TheFifties: The story covers many elements of the decade, from racism, to how police acted, to Vincennes working on a show similar to ''Dragnet''.
* ActuallyPrettyFunny: When Ed Exley mistakes Lana Turner for a lookalike hooker, Jack Vincennes is trying hard not to laugh, but finally cracks up in laughter after they leave. After a few moments, an embarrassed Ed starts laughing as well.
* AdaptedOut: [[spoiler: Most notably Preston Exley, the Frankenstein killer, Dieterling, and Karen Morrow.]]
* AdaptationDistillation: The movie takes an insanely complex book and boils it down to the absolute bare essence of the story, which is still plenty complicated on its own. And in doing so it manages to weave in plot points from three different James Ellroy books, all while still qualifying as AdaptationDistillation. The writers actually wrote every plot point on index cards and laid them all on a table, so that whenever they took something out, they could try to rearrange everything else until it all made sense again.
* AdaptationalHeroism:
** [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] for [[spoiler: Dudley Smith]]. In the book, we know from the beginning--from the previous ''book''[[note]] ''The Big Nowhere'' [[/note]], actually--that he's rotten. In this movie, it's a big WhamShot when [[spoiler: he kills Jack]], [[TheReveal revealing himself to be the villain.]]
** In the film, the most extreme torture methods Bud uses are FalseRoulette, pummelling men tied to a chair, and [[spoiler:dangling DA Ellis Loew out of a window]]. In the book, there is a scene in which Bud ''[[{{Gorn}} shoves a man's hand down a garbage disposal]]'' to extract information from him.
** In the book, Exley tracks the three Nite Owl suspects to the apartment of their accomplice Roland Navarette and shoots all four men dead, despite the fact that they were unarmed and not resisting. In the film, Exley is accompanied by Carlisle who fires the first shot during a tense moment, and Navarette and the three Nite Owl suspects immediately return fire.
** ''Badge of Honor'' star Brett Chase is stated to be a child molester in the novel. The film doesn't mention this aspect of his character at all.
* AdaptationalRelationshipOverhaul: Dudley Smith is friendly and mentoring to Edmund Exley in the movie, serving as a ParentalSubstitute. In the book, Dudley utterly hates Exley and the latter despises the former. This is due to Dudley being combined with Exley's father in the film (see CompositeCharacter).
* AdaptationalTimespanChange: The events of the book ran from Christmas 1951 to April 1958. The film opens on Christmas 1952 and ends sometime in 1953 [[note]]based on the fact that none of the cars in the movie have a model year later than 1953, and Jack Vincennes's description of Fleur-de-Lis as "the great jerk-off case of '53" is the latest explicit reference to the date[[/note]].
* AdaptationalVillainy: [[spoiler: Dick Stensland]] mainly exists in the book to teach [[spoiler: Bud White]] to rein in his own excesses and be the first reminder of how he's [[spoiler: sold out to join Dudley's crew.]] In the film, he [[spoiler: is one of Dudley's figurehead enforcers alongside Buzz Meeks, where he murders Buzz over Mickey Cohen's stolen heroin and is subsequently slain by Smith, Breuning and/or Carlisle during the Nite Owl Massacre. The Stens/Meeks murder is tied into the Susan Lefferts thread, alongside writing the original body-under-the-house (Duke Cathcart) and his prostitution thread out of the movie.]]
** [[spoiler: Buzz Meeks was an AntiHero in the novelization and a major character in ''Literature/TheBigNowhere'']].
* AlliterativeName: Ed Exley, Pierce Patchett and Wendell "Bud" White.
* AmbitionIsEvil: Averted with Exley.
* AnachronismStew: Generally averted in an extremely well-researched film. However, in condensing the time-frame of the story from the source novel, at least one anachronism appeared: The film begins on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Christmas_(1951) Christmas 1951]] and appears to take place over the course of several months to a couple years from then onward, as none of the cars in the movie have a model year later than 1953. Yet Johnny Stompanato is seen dating Lana Turner, despite the two not meeting until 1957 in real life (the novel covers the entire decade, and features Stompanato and Turner at the appropriate time).
* AnswersToTheNameOfGod:
--> '''Bud:''' Jesus fucking Christ!
--> '''Patchett:''' No, Mr. White, Pierce Moorehouse Patchett.
* AnyLastWords: Said by [[spoiler: Dudley Smith]] to [[spoiler: Jack Vincennes.]]
-->[[spoiler: '''Smith''']]: Have you a valediction, boyo?
-->[[spoiler: '''Vincennes''']]: Rollo... Tomasi.
* AnyoneCanDie: And they do, oh how they do. Specifically, [[spoiler:Dick Stensland, Matt Reynolds, Jack Vincennes, Sid Hudgens, Pierce Patchett, and Dudley Smith]].
* ArcWords: "Rollo Tomasi", in the movie.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Exley asks Vincennes why he became a cop in the first place. Vincennes appears genuinely stricken to realize he has no earthly idea.
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: It's the early 1950s and yet almost none of the police or civilians are wearing fedoras outdoors, except for Smith in one scene and [[spoiler: some of his mooks]]. WordOfGod [[http://splicedwire.com/features/la_hanson.html is]] that this was to avoid making the actors look like they were in costume so that the film could focus on them as characters. In reality, ''everyone'' would have been wearing fedoras outside.
* AssholeVictim: Lots of characters, including all of Mickey Cohen's lieutenants, [[spoiler:Dick Stensland, Buzz Meeks, Sugar Ray Collins, Ty Jones, Lewis Fontane, Sylvester Fitch, Roland Navarette, William Carlisle, Sid Hudgens, Pierce Pattchet, and Dudley Smith. DA Loew isn't killed, just dangled out a fifth story window to the point of hysterics as part of an interrogation by Bud and Ed. Mickey Cohen, as he is sent to prison for income tax evasion.]]
* AnAsskickingChristmas: Some of the plot takes place around the holiday season. This is exemplified during Bud's EstablishingCharacterMoment -- after he witnesses a husband beating his wife inside a house, Bud rips the Christmas decorations off of it, then proceeds to beat and handcuff the enraged husband when he steps outside.
* TheAtoner: Jack Vincennes genuinely tries to help Matt Reynolds. He feels guilty for going along with Sid's desire for headlines, and ruining Matt's life in the process.
* BackToBackBadasses: Bud and Ed at the climax of the film.
* BadCopIncompetentCop: Despite the squeaky clean image that the LAPD tries to maintain, most of the cops are stupid, violent thugs who do little more than pay lip service to the spirit and ideals of the law. The senior cops controlling them (save for Exley) are [[spoiler:criminally corrupt]].
* TheBadGuysAreCops: [[spoiler:Captain Dudley Smith and a large group of his men are setting themselves up as the new LA drug kingpins after Mickey Cohen goes to prison.]]
* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler:Dudley Smith]] is a master at manipulating [[spoiler:his officers]] into doing what he wants, including sending [[spoiler:Exley]] on a wild goose chase in his desire for glory and manipulating [[spoiler:Bud]] into wanting to kill him later to tie up loose ends. It's his underestimation of [[spoiler:Bud's]] ability to think for himself that proves to be [[spoiler:Dudley's]] undoing.
** [[spoiler:Jack Vincennes]] said "Rollo Tomasi" to [[spoiler: Dudley Smith]] before dying because he was betting [[spoiler:Dudley]] would throw it into the investigation to bait Ed. [[spoiler: He does.]]
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted big time with [[spoiler:Lynn and Exley]] after Bud completely loses it. Both of them have visible, ugly-looking swellings, scrapes, and bruises on their face that last for the rest of the film.
* BerserkButton: Do ''not'' mistreat women in the presence of [[WifeBasherBasher Bud White]].
** Vincennes is hanging around the periphery of the Bloody Christmas beatdown, generally trying to keep things calm. When one of the Mexican prisoners -- already beaten bloody by Stensland and company -- is shoved into Vincennes, resulting in a bright red stain on Jack's pure white suit, Jack loses it and throws a punch. He ends up throwing one more after essentially the same thing happens again a few seconds later.
* BigBadFriend: [[spoiler:Dudley Smith]] wants to take the niche left by Mickey Cohen and will not share it with any possible collaborator like Pierce Patchett or Sid Hudgens.
* {{Blackmail}}: The routine trick by which Pierce Patchett blackmails a politician into approving the freeway project with compromising pictures of him with Lynn Bracken.
* BluntYes: Just after Exley has agreed to testify against his fellow police officers in exchange for a sizeable promotion, Dudley has a private word with him.
-->'''Dudley:''' You may reap the benefit Edmund, but are you truly willing to be despised within the department?
-->'''Ed:''' Yes sir, I am.
* BreadEggsMilkSquick: Down and out actor Matt Reynolds gets roped into a blackmail scheme by having sex with the gay DA but instead ends up dead. The record keeper later tells Ed Exley that Matt's stomach contained a Frankfurter, french fries, alcohol and ''sperm''.
* BrickJoke: The [[spoiler: box of heroin stolen from Mickey Cohen's lieutenant in the opening montage is barely mentioned for a large chunk of the movie, [[ChekhovsGun but then turns out to be the key]] MacGuffin that sets off the entire plot.]]
* BringMyBrownPants: Exley's interrogation strategy on the three black suspects, tricking them into thinking they're snitching on each other, is enough to make one of them piss in his pants.
* ByronicHero: Jack Vincennes. A classic moment for this trope happens when he broods in a bar after [[spoiler: the death of Matt Reynolds]], looking at himself in a bar mirror, as Lee Wiley's "Oh! Look At Me Now" plays in the background.
* CanAlwaysSpotACop: When Bud first impulsively wishes Lynn a Merry Christmas while they're standing in a liquor store, despite there being no outward sign that Bud is a cop, she almost immediately replies "Merry Christmas, officer", much to Bud's chagrin.
-->'''Bud:''' Merry Christmas.\\
'''Lynn:''' ''[very short pause as she looks at him]'' Merry Christmas to you, officer.\\
'''Bud:''' That obvious, huh?\\
'''Lynn:''' ''[sympathetically]'' It's practically stamped on your forehead.
* CardboardBoxOfUnemployment: Vincennes' box containing his desk possessions isn't yet unpacked when he's settling down at his desk in Vice for his temporary stint there.
* TheCavalryArrivesLate: In the climactic showdown at the Victory Motel, [[spoiler: Bud is already wounded and Ed cornered before the cavalry shows up. Even then, the cavalry doesn't realize that one of their own has been behind the entire thing.]]
* CelebrityImpersonator:
** Played straight with the various whores in Pierce Patchett's stable.
** Also subverted in the example of YourCostumeNeedsWork, when Ed Exley mistakes the real Creator/LanaTurner for a lookalike hooker.
* ChekhovsGun: The hole in the floor of the Victory Motel made by [[spoiler:Bud]] after ripping the chair that [[spoiler:Sid Hudgens]] is tied to out of it, is seen again in the final shootout where [[spoiler:Bud uses it twice to get the drop on the hitmen, first by dropping through and shooting two hitmen sneaking around the back in the feet through a vent hole, allowing Ed to finish them off, and again when Ed is pinned down by Bruening and another hitman where Bud kills the one hitman from down in the foundation before leaping out and hitting Bruening in the shoulder before finishing him off with a blast to the chest.]]
* DaChief: Dudley Smith. He's one of the rare [[spoiler: villainous examples]].
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Lynn Bracken's wardrobe reflects a lot about her character. She wears black when she first meets Bud and is a suspect in Susan Lefferts' death, she wears soft greens and blues during her domestic scenes with Bud, she wears all white during the scene where she seduces Ed, and when she shows up at the end ready to leave for Arizona, she's dressed in a bright yellow amid the sea of blue at Ed's ceremony.
* CompositeCharacter:
** Matt Reynolds is a combination of Tammy Reynolds and Rock Rockwell (the kids Jack busts for smoking pot in the beginning) and Timmy Valburn (tragic young gay actor, whose life is ruined by one of the main detectives - Jack in the movie, Ed in the book).
** [[spoiler:Dudley Smith and Detective Bruening]] take [[spoiler:David Mertens' place as the person responsible for killing Sid Hudgens.]]
** The Dudley Smith of the movie is a combination of the this character as well as Preston Exley. Much of the latter's dialogue is given to Dudley, establishing a fatherly mentoring relationship with Edmund Exley that doesn't exist in the book.
* ConversationCasualty: [[spoiler: Dudley Smith]] shoots [[spoiler: Jack Vincennes]] mid-conversation without so much as a word of warning.
* CopKillerManhunt:
** With ex-cop Stensland killed at a diner massacre, the suspects do get treated somewhat aggressively while in custody, and eventually all end up dead.
** The whole "[[PoliceBrutality Bloody Christmas]]" incident is a cross between this and GossipEvolution. A trio of suspects who assaulted a pair of cops are brought into the lockup with the cops in question suffering some minor bruising. By the time Stensland has heard about this, the rumours of the cops' injuries have escalated to the point where it's being said that one cop lost an eye and the other is on his deathbed, which causes Stensland to lead a bunch of cops down to the lockup to administer a heavy beating to the suspects.
* CrazyJealousGuy: Bud towards the end of the film, due to [[spoiler: finding out Lynn slept with Exley]].
* CreatorCameo: The offscreen voice in the morgue scene ("We're ready with that Nite Owl ID, lieutenant.") belongs to director Curtis Hanson.
* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler:Dudley Smith]]. Preston Exley, too[[spoiler: or at least the timing of it]].
* DeceasedFallGuyGambit: [[spoiler:The Negroes get framed for the Nite Owl killings. Breuning, Carlisle and Dudley Smith frame Sugar Ray Collins, Ty Jones and Lewis Fontane because they are black and have records. The reason why Breuning and Carlisle are already present when Exley and Vincennes show up to bust Ray Collins' place is because they've already planted the shotguns they used at the Nite Owl in the back of Ray's car. The two crooked detectives would've outright killed the three black men had Exley and Vincennes ''not'' shown up, knowing that no questions would be asked if it looked like the Negroes were killed resisting arrest.]]
* DefectiveDetective: Jack has completely forgotten why he wanted to be a cop in the first place, having chosen show-business over the law.
* DefrostingIceKing: Exley starts off the movie seemingly emotionless and concerned with nothing but getting promoted to a higher position. It doesn't matter that no one on the entire force seems to like him, he does his job and climbs the ladder. By the end, [[CharacterDevelopment his morals]] have begun to shift to the point where he agrees to [[spoiler: continue to lie for the police department to protect Bud and Lynn, in addition to cleaning out the department of corruption from the inside.]]
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Racism, homophobia, and PoliceBrutality are portrayed as just a normal way of life. Inez Soto specifically tells the cops that the men who raped her are the main suspects for the Nite Owl killings because she knows the cops wouldn't care at all about minority suspects raping another minority, but will stop at nothing if they think the suspects killed six white people.
* DemotedToExtra: Inez Soto, the woman gang-raped by the three Nite Owl suspects, is a major character in the novel: after being rescued from Sylvester Fitch, she becomes the GirlFriday to Exley's father Preston and his business partner Raymond Dieterling, and gets romantically involved with [[LoveTriangle Exley and White]]. In the film she appears in three (very brief) scenes.
** The woman who Vincennes dances with at the beginning is named Karen. In the novel, Vincennes marries her and she appears throughout the story. Here, she disappears after Sid makes an unwanted comment.
* DestinationDefenestration: When Exley and Carlisle confront the Nite Owl suspects, Exley shoots one of them so that he’s blown out a window.
* {{Determinator}}: Bud White. It rubs off on Exley by the end.
* DieLaughing: [[spoiler:Vincennes laughs at himself after he's shot by Dudley, moments before dying after being shot point-blank range.]]
* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation:
** In the film, Ed Exley's father Preston gets shot dead by a mugger prior to the events of the film. In the book [[spoiler:he commits suicide before Ed can expose him as a murderer.]]
** In the film, [[spoiler:Jack Vincennes]] gets shot dead by [[spoiler:Dudley Smith]]. In the book, he gets killed during a raid on a train carrying numerous prison inmates.
** In the film, [[spoiler:Sid Hudgens]] gets strangled to death by [[spoiler:Dudley Smith]]. In the book, he gets dismembered by [[spoiler:one of the "Dr. Frankenstein" killers]].
* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler:Vincennes dies this way.]]
** Subverted with [[spoiler: Matt Reynolds]] - whose hooded stare got a great close up and made such a terrific silent accusation against [[spoiler: Jack Vincennes]] when he found the body.* DirtyCop: Every variation imaginable is in here somewhere.
* DistinguishingMark: While Bud White immediately recognizes Susan Lefferts' body by sight as the woman he saw in the car when he detained Buzz Meeks, her mother cannot initially identify her daughter at the morgue due to the girl's extensive plastic surgery. The coroner prompts her with Ed Exley and Bud White hanging on her every word:
-->'''Coroner''': Mrs. Lefferts, does your daughter have any distinguishing marks?
-->'''Mrs. Lefferts''': She has a birthmark on her hip. ''[the birthmark is revealed]'' It's her. My baby!
** The scene won the [[http://www.skinema.com/Skinnies1998.html 1998 Skinny Award]] for "Best birthmark used to further the plot".
* DumbMuscle:
** Bud White, or at least what Exley initially thinks of him. More importantly, it's what [[spoiler: Dudley Smith]] thinks of White and why he drags him into his scheme. It's one of [[spoiler:Dudley's]] few, but vital, mistakes: while Bud may have muscle, he's not dumb and actually proves to be a fairly competent investigator on several occasions.
** Dick Stensland and Buzz Meeks, [[spoiler:until they aspire to a bigger slice of the pie. Unfortunately for them, they're still dumb in comparison to the man they chose to cross. If they'd really got smart, they'd have figured that it was better to just do as Dudley Smith told them to.]]
* DyingSmirk: [[spoiler:Jack]]'s famous line after he gets shot. He's chuckling because he knows what's in store for his killer.
* EmbarrassingFirstName: Bud White isn't really fond of his first name "Wendell". Although Edmund isn't so much better.
* EntertaininglyWrong: Bud and Exley's views on each other turn out to be pretty inaccurate. Exley thinks Bud is a major part of the Nite Owl massacre, while Bud thinks Exley is just an ObstructiveBureaucrat getting in the way of his investigation.
* EvilPowerVacuum: Essentially the whole plot revolves around [[spoiler:the police captain]] trying to take over Mickey Cohen's operation. It's noted as Sid Hudgens delivers the opening narration.
* FairWeatherFriend: While they're quite chummy with each other, it's obvious that Vincennes and Sid Hudgens are just using each other to further their own careers. This is exemplified by Sid's reaction to [[spoiler:Jack's death.]]
* FalseRoulette: Played straight during the interrogation of the Nite Owl suspects, when Bud realizes the suspects have kidnapped and raped a woman who's still being held hostage. However, in the film we never actually see if Bud takes the last round out of his .38.
* FauxAffablyEvil: [[spoiler: Dudley Smith]], which is part of what makes him so chilling.
* FilmNoir: The period's gotten down correctly, and in [[DeliberateValuesDissonance brutally unglamorous detail]]. However, the film is shot like any other 1990s film, making this a Neo-Noir.
* FinalSpeech: Exley gets a second Medal of Valor award.
* FlatWhat: An excellent example from Vincennes when Exley asks him, "Do you make the Negroes for the Nite Owl killings?".
* FleurDeLis: The name of the escort service run by Pierce Patchett. It's also their logo, and Vincennes gets drawn into the case when he finds one of their cards during the "Movie Premiere Pot Bust", then discovers their symbol on a dossier during his first case in Vice.
* FoeRomanceSubtext. Half the characters are convinced there's something more to Bud and Ed's rivalry than just hatred.
-->'''Jack:''' (to Ed) Bud White's gonna fuck you for this if it takes him the rest of his life.\\
[later]\\
'''Lynn:''' (also to Ed): Fucking me and fucking Bud aren't the same thing, you know.
* FollowTheLeader: [[invoked]]This is discussed in the opening narration, when Mickey Cohen is brought down the same way UsefulNotes/AlCapone was (tax evasion), and it's compared to how films in Hollywood like to copy each other.
-->'''Sid Hudgens''': But nothing too original, of course. This is ''Hollywood''. What worked for Al Capone could work for the Mickster.
* FoodSlap: Ed Exley thinks the woman with Johnny Stompanato is a hooker who has had plastic surgery to look like Lana Turner. [[MistakenForAnImposter It is the real Lana Turner.]] She tosses her drink in his face.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** You'll notice that [[spoiler:Vincennes]] gets a spot of blood on his shirt during the Bloody Christmas brawl. Website/{{Cracked}} [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVCIT94olBY points out]] that it's near the spot where he's going to get shot by [[spoiler:Dudley Smith]] in the third act.
** Early in the film, Captain Smith asks Exley "Would you be willing to shoot a hardened criminal in the back?" After Exley dispatches the three Nite Owl suspects, he acquires the department nickname "Shotgun Ed". [[spoiler: Guess how he kills Dudley.]]
* FramingTheGuiltyParty: In a twist, [[spoiler:the Negroes suspected of being behind the Nite Owl killings never committed those murders, but at the same time they were guilty of kidnapping and raping a woman]].
* FreudianTrio:
** Ed is the Superego, Bud is the Id, and Jack is the Ego. [[spoiler: His death is what forces the other two to team-up and start forming the thoughts that normally develop from the Ego partner of the trio.]]
** Ellroy loves to subvert the trope by having one member die, forcing the other two to find balance. In this case it's [[spoiler:Vincennes the ego]].
* GallowsHumor: When [[spoiler:Bud and Ed]] have barricaded themselves in the Victory Motel after being tricked into meeting there by [[spoiler:Dudley]], just before they open fire on the sneaking hitmen, they have this exchange.
-->[[spoiler:'''Ed''': "All I ever wanted was to measure up to my father."]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Bud''': "Well here's your chance." *Ed looks at him confusedly*]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Bud''': "He died in the line of duty didn't he?"]]
-->[[spoiler: *Both have a small chuckle before Ed fires on a sneaking hitman near a window.*]]
* {{Gayngst}}: Matt Reynolds, in the movie, could lose his career getting caught sleeping with a man, that is if he didn't get killed by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yet even that has issues, as Jack notes that Homicide won't help him on the case due to the gay aspects.
* GenreSavvy: Inez knows that the police will stop at nothing to kill the men who kidnapped and raped her if they think they killed six white people.
* TheGlassesComeOff: Played straight in the movie with Ed.
* GloryHound: Jack Vincennes has become one over the years. It takes getting an innocent man killed to [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone snap him out of it.]]
* GoodCopBadCop: Invoked, [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments hilariously]], in the movie in the scene where Bud and Ed dangle Ellis Loew [[HighAltitudeInterrogation out of a very high window by his ankles]].
* GoodTimesMontage: Takes place after Ed [[spoiler: kills the Nite Owl suspects. Ed gets his medal of valor and is finally accepted by his colleagues, Jack returns to the Badge of Honor set and Bud grows weary of his muscle duty, driving him to Lynn.]]
* GoryDiscretionShot: We only get to see the shocked expression on Exley's face when he stares at the (presumably ''very'') gory results of the Nite Owl suspect he just blew away with a shotgun at point-blank range in an elevator.
* GossipEvolution: Two police officers, Helenowski and Brown, are beaten up by a group of Mexican hoodlums. The word about what happened gets more dramatic with each telling: according to Exley, they're on leave from active duty with some bruises, but by the time the assault suspects are brought in, the (incredibly inebriated) cops at the station are claiming that Helenowski is partially blind and Brown is on his death bed. The cops, having already worked themselves into a frenzy, [[PoliceBrutality proceed to take it out on the Mexicans]].
* GroinAttack: Bud White interrogates Johnny Stompanato by squeezing his testes and asking, "What do I get if I give you your balls back?"
* GunsAkimbo: Ed wields a Colt Detective Special in one hand and a Colt [=M1911=] semi-automatic handgun in the other during the Victory Motel shootout.
* HaveYouToldAnyoneElse: A slightly subtler variant when [[spoiler:Dudley Smith]] asks [[spoiler:Vincennes]], "What does Exley make of all this?" When [[spoiler:Vincennes]] replies that he hasn't spoken to Exley yet and just came from the records room, [[spoiler: Smith]] shoots him.
* HeroicBSOD: A furious, emotionally-charged Bud lashes out and punches Lynn in the face after discovering her affair with Exley. Realizing that he's become what he despises, he manages to stop himself from hurting her more, before abruptly fleeing the scene.
** Jack, staring into a bar mirror [[spoiler: with his $50 bill for setting up Matt Reynolds with Ellis Loew]], and again [[spoiler: when finding Reynolds' body that night]]
* HiddenDepths: The three main cops - Bud, Jack and Ed - in different ways. Also Lynn, who just wants to get out of the hooker life and move back to Arizona to open a dress shop.
* HighAltitudeInterrogation: How Bud gets his answers from D.A. Ellis Loew in the movie.
* HighClassCallGirl: Lynn and the other girls at Fleur de Lis who are cut to look like movie stars.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Johnny Stompanato, Lana Turner, and Mickey Cohen, all have small roles, but are still important to the story in various ways.
* HistoryRepeats: Mickey Cohen is brought down the same way Al Capone was.
* HoneyTrap: Pierce Patchett is able to break ground on the freeway project by blackmailing a local politician with compromising photos of him cavorting with Lynn Bracken. This is later done with Exley kissing Lynn and [[spoiler: Dudley]] leaving them for Bud to find.
* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Lynn Bracken is very loveable and caring, and has mutual romantic feelings with Bud White.
* HorribleHollywood: Hollywood is depicted as a miserable den of drug abuse, prostitution and backstabbing populated by muckraking journalists and corrupt investors.
* IdentifyingTheBody: For Susan Lefferts' identification, her mother is brought in to verify her identity. While she's changed a lot appearance-wise because of cosmetics, the mother confirms it's her daughter because of a birthmark. This also causes Bud White to realize that he'd seen her right before Bloody Christmas, which he keeps to himself as he pursues his own line of investigation.
* ImmoralJournalist: Sid Hudgens is a sleazy and opportunistic tabloid writer who is perfectly happy to ruin lives for the sake of a headline; in fact, he's downright sadistic about it.
* ImportantHaircut: Lynn in the end cuts her hair to show her rejection of her former life.
* INeverSaidItWasPoison:
** Dudley Smith, after briefing the detectives on [[spoiler:Vincennes]]'s death, pulls Exley aside and tells him that he's trying to find a lead on an associate of [[spoiler:Vincennes']] named Rollo Tamasi. Exley immediately realizes this means Dudley [[spoiler:is Vincennes' killer, because "Rollo Tomasi" is a name that Exley invented to personify the mugger who murdered his father, a secret he has only confided to Vincennes.]]
** Played with for the Nite Owl suspects. When Exley has finished interrogating Sugar Ray Collins, he notes that, even though he mentioned the death penalty and the gas chamber, Sugar Ray had yet to actually ask him what crime he was being charged with. Exley takes this as evidence that the three suspects are guilty, since if they were innocent they would have presumably asked what they were being charged with when they're being warned of being executed. The twist is that, indeed they are guilty of a crime, [[spoiler:but it is not the Nite Owl murders, but the equally heinous crime of kidnapping and raping a girl.]]
* InstantDeathBullet: An interesting aversion in which [[spoiler:Jack Vincennes]] appears to be shot straight through the heart but has time to whisper some (carefully chosen) LastWords and have a final chuckle before expiring.
* InTheBack: Captain Smith tells Exley he's not ready for detective work because he's not willing to shoot a suspect in the back. [[spoiler:By the end of the movie, Exley has done just that...to Smith]].
* InventedIndividual: [[spoiler:Rollo Tomasi, the man who killed Exley's father. The killer was never identified, so Exley invented that name for him. Jack, after being fatally shot, uses it to direct suspicion to Dudley, making Rollo an identity for two murders]].
* IronicEcho:
** Inez Soto's [[spoiler: confession that she lied to Exley about the Nite Owl suspects - ''"You want to know what the big lie is? You and your precious 'absolute justice'."'' - is an echo of Ed's most sacred tenet.]]
** "Rollo Tomasi" in the movie.
** "Would you be willing to shoot a hardened criminal in the back"?
** As Smith [[spoiler: kills Sid]], he says to him "Hush-hush...".
* IronicNickname Played with in the case of Exley's nickname. [[spoiler: He's despised by the men until he guns down the Nite Owl suspects, and is nick-named 'Shotgun Ed' by Captain Dudley [[YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame (who finally approves of him) for his display of brutal street justice]]. Later, when Dudley is willing to play ball (after Exley gets the drop on him) and offers to get them both off clean, Exley serves up the justice Dudley wanted by shooting him in the back with the shotgun.]]
* {{Jerkass}}:
** Sid Hudgens, LA's premier ImmoralJournalist.
** Sugar Ray, one of the Nite Owls suspects, is shown to be a [[KickTheDog dog-kicking]] sociopath.
** Buzz Meeks is pretty gruff and hostile during his brief screen time.
* KarmaHoudini: Rollo Tomasi, the purse snatcher who killed Exley's father was never captured, nor was his true identity even discovered. Exley just called him "Rollo Tomasi" to give him character and as a symbol for all crooks who thought they could get away with it. Ultimately, it keeps [[spoiler:Dudley Smith]] from getting this trope because [[spoiler:Vincennes]] feeds the name to him even as he's dying from a gunshot wound, hoping that Smith will slip up.
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:Capt. Dudley]] in the film adaptation.
* KickTheDog: A literal example, to show how nasty one of the three Nite Owl suspects is.
-->'''Raymond "Sugar Ray" Collins''': Dogs ain't got no reason to live.
* TheKillerBecomesTheKilled: The fate of [[spoiler:Dudley Smith, shotgunned in the back by Exley]].
* KosherNostra: Mickey Cohen.
* LeaveNoWitnesses: [[spoiler:Dudley Smith]] does this to everyone who could rat him out, including the Night Owl patrons and staff, [[spoiler:Matt Reynolds, Pierce Patchett, Jack Vincennes, and Sid Hudgens]]. His fatal mistake is thinking [[spoiler:Bud is stupid and brutish enough to eliminate Ed Exley for him.]]
* LetMeAtHim: Bud White's BerserkButton is triggered as he listens to a black suspect confessing to the incidental crime of kidnapping and raping a Mexican woman. He shatters the back of the chair he is leaning on, storms into the interrogation room, violently pushes the suspect against the wall, and places the barrel of his gun into his mouth.
* LighterAndSofter: As strange as it may seem for a dark FilmNoir which deals unflinchingly with heroin dealing, racism, prostitution, pornography, police brutality and so on, the film significantly tones down the most extreme content from the book. The book's copious incidences of child rape and murder are omitted, the protagonists are less morally ambiguous (see AdaptationalHeroism above), and the violence is less brutal (e.g. [[spoiler:Sid Hudgens]] dies by strangulation in the film, whereas in the book he gets ''dismembered'').
* LivingLieDetector: Ed, in the book more than the movie.
* LoveTriangle: Bud, Lynn, and Ed. Lynn chooses Bud.
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: It's Captain Dudley Smith who controls the dirty racket in L.A.]].
* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler:Captain Smith]] arranges for Exley to begin an affair with Lynn, then leaks the evidence to Bud White, who's already in a more committed relationship with the HookerWithAHeartOfGold. This causes the [[HairTriggerTemper notoriously violent]] Bud to nearly murder Exley in broad daylight.
* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: After Bud shoots Inez Soto's rapist, you can see the other cops heading to the house in response to the gunshot.
* MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome: Inez Soto lampshades it. Would anyone have cared if a minority girl was raped if the perpetrators weren't also suspects in the killing of several white people?
* MistakenConfession: The Nite Owl suspects. They think the cops are about to bust them for kidnapping and raping Inez Soto, instead of committing the murders at the Nite Owl.
* MistakenForAnImposter: Ed Exley thinks the woman with Johnny Stompanato is a hooker who has had plastic surgery to look like Lana Turner. It turns out to be the real Lana Turner who [[FoodSlap tosses her drink in his face]].
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
** When Bud [[spoiler: hits Lynn in a fit of rage for sleeping with Exley.]]
** Vincennes when he realizes [[spoiler:he helped set up Matt Reynolds to be murdered]].
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: 'Shotgun Ed'.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: ''Badge of Honor'' and its star Brett Chase are ''Series/{{Dragnet}}'' and Creator/JackWebb in all but name.
* NoNameGiven: The LAPD Police Chief is never named, but it's pretty obviously supposed to be William Parker, the [[HistoricalDomainCharacter real chief]] at the time the movie takes place.
* NoTellMotel: The long-abandoned Victory Motel, better known as the go-to place to conduct illegal interrogations and set up [[spoiler: fellow cops]] to be killed.
* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler: After being shot by Smith twice, Bud suddenly recovers and stabs Dudley in his leg while he's distracted with Ed, and is immediately shot through his right cheek. Kind of an HeroicSacrifice to buy his friend some valuable time. Granted, he doesn't die, but presumably ends up with some degree of speech impediment]].
* OddCouple: For different reasons, Exley's partnering up with Jack Vincennes and later with Bud White.
* OfficerOHara: Dudley Smith is this complete with James Cromwell providing an off-the-boat accent and stereotypical expressions. He's a rare example that's also [[spoiler: [[DirtyCop a corrupt and ruthless murderer and crime lord.]]]]
* OhCrap:
** Creator/GuyPearce has a masterful selection of these from the very subtle, when Exley lays eyes on [[spoiler: the Nite Owl victims]], when [[spoiler: one of the suspects in said case reveals he kidnapped and raped a woman]] and when [[spoiler: Capt. Dudley Smith unwittingly reveals he killed Jack Vincennes]], to wide-eye gawps when [[spoiler: he's told the woman he thinks is a hooker cut to look like Lana Turner is actually Lana Turner]] and, more dramatically, when [[spoiler: Bud shows him the pictures of Ed and Lynn sleeping together before launching into his NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. The one with Capt. Smith is particularly good, as Smith is looking Ed straight in the face as they talk, and Ed has to struggle to control his expression as realization dawns.]]
** John's, whose wife White threatens to call, and later turns out to be the councilman that Patchett blackmails with compromising photos.
** Notice that the moment Stensland and some of the other cops decide to abandon the Christmas party to go beat up the Mexicans who assaulted fellow cops, Exley is alarmed and tries to block them, and Vincennes's first reaction is to find Bud and tell him, "Hey, White? You better put a leash on your partner before he kills somebody."
** [[spoiler:Sid Hudgens starts panicking once he realizes Dudley is, in fact, going to kill him.]]
* OnlyBadGuysCallTheirLawyers:
** The Nite Owl suspects are not quite a straight example. [[spoiler:They don't call their lawyers (though Ray Collins at one point declares an intent to get one) and are indeed innocent of the Nite Owl murders, but they are guilty of a separate, unrelated (but quite heinous) crime.]]
** Pierce Patchett is a straight example: while he's a cool customer and is too confident (and rich) to be intimidated into talking, he still tells Bud White at their first meeting that any further attempts to get information out of him will be met with his lawyer.
* PaedoHunt: During his introductory scene, Bud White threatens the abusive husband to have him sent in jail with child molestation charges next time he lays a finger on his wife, asking him "You know what [[EvenEvilHasStandards they]] do to kiddie rapers in Quentin?"
* {{Paparazzi}}: Sid Hudgens is a particularly nasty flavor of paparazzi scumbag, taking sadistic delight in ruining the lives and careers of other people, from which he then profits.
* ParentalSubstitute: Dudley Smith serves as this for Exley and White in the film, in different ways. Bud sees him as more of a traditional father-figure, where Ed admires his police career. The ending reveals how expendable they really are to him.
* PeriodPiece: The film goes very far in recreating the atmosphere of TheFifties.
* PerpSweating: A SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome for Ed Exley, with his interrogation of the three Nite Owl suspects.
* PerspectiveFlip: The film switches between Jack, Bud, and Exley's points of view.
* PistolWhipping: [[spoiler:When Bud tries to kill Exley for sleeping with Lynn, Exley is able to get an opening by pulling Bud’s revolver out of his jacket and knocking him upside the head]].
* PlayAlongPrisoner: For the "interrogation" of Sid Hudgens at the Victory, Breuning is pulling his punches whenever he strikes Sid, though not good enough for Sid's liking.
* PoliceBrutality: "Bloody Christmas" occurs when Dick Stensland gets intoxicated at a party and beats up some arrested Mexicans who assaulted two officers. Things escalate out of control when White tries to intervene, only to get caught up in the melee as well. This was based on a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Christmas_(1951) real incident]] that happened around this time. Although the movie's Bloody Christmas is much milder than the real one, which was a 95 minute NoHoldsBarredBeatdown.
* PragmaticAdaptation: The film trims and condenses the very complicated plot of the book in order to make it work as a movie.
* PrettyInMink: Lana Turner is wearing a white fox wrap in her scene in the movie, helping indicate she's the actual movie star, and not one of the Fleur de Lis girls.
* PunctuatedForEmphasis : "WHERE..IS..THE..GIRL?!"
* RabidCop: Most of the cops are stupid and/or violent thugs. Ed is an exception, but even Exley reaches a RageBreakingPoint at the end of the movie.
* RandomEventsPlot: Subverted: Creator/RogerEbert noted that the film features so many disparate and seemingly unrelated plot threads that for a lot of the movie it feels largely episodic, and more of a mood and character piece than a narrative one. It's only near the end of the film when the protagonists realize they're WorkingTheSameCase that the underlying plot becomes apparent.
* RecklessGunUsage:
** In the film, Exley sees one Nite Owl suspect bolt into an elevator and quickly jams his shotgun through the doors and fires, without first checking to see if there was anyone else in there with them - and he's not wearing his [[BlindWithoutEm glasses]] at the time. He's got to be very lucky that he didn't accidentally shoot an innocent bystander.
*** In fact, any time Exley uses a shotgun or pistol without his glasses qualifies as this. Vincennes takes concern before a raid when Exley can't find his glasses:
---->'''Jack Vincennes:''' You're kidding, right? Just don't shoot ''me''.
** Bud White's FalseRoulette, when no one's actually sure how many rounds are in the gun.
** William Carlisle is oh-so trigger-happy when confronting the Nite Owl suspects. During the first round up of the suspects, he tries to shoot one of them, but Exley stops him by blocking his gun up, deflecting a blast into the ceiling. The second time [[spoiler: he's shot dead by Roland Naverette when a bottle falling off a table provokes him into shooting Lewis Fontane]].
* RedOniBlueOni: Bud White (Red) and Ed Exley (Blue) are textbook examples. In the movie, Jack becomes somewhat of a Red to Ed's Blue.
* TheReveal: The fact that the person responsible for not only the Nite Owl, but the gang killings of Mickey Cohen's lieutenants is [[spoiler: Captain Dudley Smith]].
* RevealingCoverup: Attempting to cover up Stensland's death by making it one part of a robbery gone bad eventually leads to the conspirators incriminating themselves trying to cover their tracks.
* SayingTooMuch: How both [[spoiler: Jack Vincennes and Sid Hudgens]] find themselves on the wrong end of [[spoiler: Dudley Smith's]] gun.
* {{Scapegoat}}:
** As part of the fallout from "Bloody Christmas", several cops are forced to take early retirements with pension, but Stensland is fired as the LAPD use him as the scapegoat for the whole debacle. Which is not entirely unjustified, since he was the instigator.
** The guys brought in for the Nite Owl killings are convenient for the case, as they are guilty of other crimes and are black suspects in TheFifties.
* SelfDefenseRuse: Bud White tracks down Sylvester Fitch, one of the men involved in the abduction and rape of Inez Soto. White enters Fitch's house and shoots him dead while he is sitting in his underwear, eating cereal and watching television. White then uses a second gun to fire a round into the door frame, and places the gun in Fitch's hand to make it look like White killed him in self-defence. Exley lampshades the implausibility of the plan:
-->'''Exley:''' A naked guy with a gun? You expect anyone to believe that?
* SexAsRiteOfPassage: [[{{Deconstruction}} Played horribly straight]]. The three black men kidnap a girl and rape her in order so that the youngest among them can 'become a man'. She is then left tied up in an apartment for days and only rescued because the kids were framed for the Nite Owl hit.
* ShootHimHeHasAWallet: During the hunt for the Nite Owl suspects, the sound of a beer bottle falling off the table startles Carlisle and results in a BlastOut that kills everyone but Exley and one Nite Owl suspect.
* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: The LAPD exclusively uses these as their long arms. Ed uses one against the Nite Owl suspects and Bud uses one during the [[spoiler: Victory Motel shootout.]]
* SlashedThroat: "The proof had his throat cut" (referring to Matt Reynolds).
* SoundtrackDissonance:
** The use of Betty Hutton's cover of "Hit The Road To Dreamland" while Sid Hudgens talks in narration about Tony Brancato, Anthony Trombino and Deuce Perkins wondering if they're behind the killings to take over Mickey Cohen's racket, only to see them getting gunned down.
** Bud White sneaks into the apartment where [[spoiler: Inez Soto is held captive by Sylvester Fitch]], seeing her BoundAndGagged onto a bed and shoots him dead in cold blood while the music and sound effects of the Creator/{{Terrytoons}} cartoon "Noah's Outing" blares from the TV.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: Inez Soto, who in the novel [[spoiler:killed herself upon learning that her employer Raymond Dieterling and his business partner Preston Exley murdered Dieterling's son years earlier.]]
* StandardCopBackstory: Both Bud White and Ed Exley. Bud's father was an abusive drunk who eventually murdered Bud's mother and chained him to a radiator next to her corpse, while Ed's father (also a cop) was murdered by an unknown assailant. Ed names the latter "Rollo Tomasi" in his head to give him some personality, which becomes [[ChekhovsGun relevant later on]], when [[spoiler: Captain Smith mentions it to him when discussing Jack's murder and Ed knows that only he (Ed) and Jack knows about Rollo Tomasi]].
* StaredownFaceoff: Bud White confronts Ed Exley like this after Exley berates White for [[spoiler:shooting dead the unarmed man holding Inez Soto hostage, then making it look like White shot in self-defense]].
* TheStinger: Halfway through the credits there's an old-timey shot of Brett "Badge of Honor" Chase in a parade with DA Ellis Loew. Then after the credits are finished there's a scene of a family watching the opening credits of "Badge of Honor", which end with an InMemoriam, "Dedicated to Sergeant Jack Vincennes." (There is of course ironic contrast between the rah-rah copaganda of shows like "Badge of Honor" and the deepset corruption and criminality of the movie's LAPD.)
* TheStoic: LAPD Chief William Parker never raises his voice and never expresses any emotion beyond a [[TranquilFury low-key anger]]. Bear in mind the real Parker supposedly was the basis for the character of [[Franchise/StarTrek Spock]].
* StoicSpectacles: [[http://crowemovies.tripod.com/lacon/lacon05.jpg Exley.]] He wears them to look a lot more serious on the job.
* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: [[spoiler: Jack Vincennes.]] Doubles as a Wham moment since it also reveals that [[spoiler: Captain Smith is the Big Bad.]]
* SympathyForTheHero: Lynn shows some towards Exley at the very end.
* ThanatosGambit: [[spoiler: Jack's]] last words are "Rollo Tomasi", a meaningless name that [[spoiler: Dudley]] might think of as a person of interest that needs to be eliminated down the road, but is actually a DyingClue meant for Exley.
* TheseHandsHaveKilled: Exley is in shock after blowing away the perp in the elevator with a shotgun.
* ThisIsGonnaSuck: When the cops rush to the jail cells upon being told the Mexicans who attacked two of their own have been brought in, so as to give them their beating, Vincennes, aware that Stensland is leading them whilst intoxicated and not in a good state of mind, approaches Bud White and tells him, "White, you'd better put a leash on your partner before he kills somebody."
* TooDumbToLive: The perp who gets beaten up by Dick Stensland in the jail. Bud White goes to pull Stensland off him, you'd expect the perp to quiet down and be thankful that he didn't get beaten to death. Instead, he gets up behind White and starts insulting Stensland's mother in Spanish. When White tells the perp to get back, the perp responds in English, "Oh yeah?! And fuck ''your'' mother!" White, with a shout of "Fuck you!" proceeds to slam the perp into the walls, starting off Bloody Christmas; even Jack Vincennes gets a hit on the same perp, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking for bloodying his suit in the process.]]
* TortureForFunAndInformation: Bud White gives [[Series/LifeOnMars2006 DCI Hunt]] a run for his money. First, he plays FalseRoulette with a murder suspect to find out where he stashed a rape victim, then he dangles Ellis Loew out a 10-story window just to scare him.
* TreacheryCoverUp: The department does this to [[spoiler:Dudley Smith]] at the end, giving a public statement saying that he died a hero in the line of duty.
* TurnInYourBadge: Bud, though the movie gives us the traditional scene after Bloody Christmas. For Bud, it's a TenMinuteRetirement, as Smith quickly returns it to him a scene later after some witnesses recant their testimony. Stensland also is shown doing the traditional scene, though his termination is permanent, as the LAPD seek to use him as the scapegoat for the media. [[spoiler: The film makes Stens' termination [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness even more permanent, but in a different way.]]]]
* TwoGuysAndAGirl: Bud, Lynn, and Ed.
* UnwittingPawn: Ed Exley and Bud White are manipulated to further the main villain's plans several times throughout the movie while they try to figure out the truth behind the Night Owl murders. It's only when they team up that they start making real progress against the villain.
* VigilanteExecution: In the movie, [[spoiler: Ed executes Dudley Smith, rather than let him be arrested and use his position to cover everything up and escape justice]]. Serves as a callback to the beginning of the movie where Dudley said Ed was unsuitable as a detective for not being willing to do exactly the above.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: [[spoiler: Dudley Smith.]]
* WhamShot: Literally; the first indication that [[spoiler: Captain Dudley Smith]] is evil is when he shoots [[spoiler: Jack Vincennes]] in the chest.
* VirginInAWhiteDress: Inverted. As a high-class hooker Lynn is anything but virginal, but in most subsequent appearances, especially in the iconic scene where she [[spoiler: seduces Ed]], she wears a white dress.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Bud is horrified to find out he's capable of [[spoiler: hitting a woman he cares about, just like his abusive father did to his mother.]]
* WhenSheSmiles: Exley at the very end of the movie.
* WifeBasherBasher: Bud White. He's introduced kicking the crap out of a wife-beater, handcuffing him to his porch to wait for the patrol car to bring him in. Later, to scare the location of a kidnapped and repeatedly raped teenage girl out of the alleged Nite Owl suspects, he rips a solid oak chair in half with his bare hands in front of them and THEN shoves a gun in the face of one of the cowards and played FalseRoulette (probably) with him. He continues to play the trope arrow-straight [[spoiler: until he hits Lynn when he finds out she slept with Exley, which prompts a big HeroicBSOD once he composes himself.]]
* WorkingTheSameCase: All of the detectives, but most notably Exley, Vincennes, and White.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:Dudley Smith]] regularly eliminates anyone who's become a liability for him or is no longer of use for him.
* YourCostumeNeedsWork: Exley thinks Creator/LanaTurner is just one of Pierce Patchett's hookers dressed up to look like a star.
-->'''Exley''': A hooker cut to look like Lana Turner is still a hooker. She just ''looks'' like Lana Turner.
-->'''Vincennes''': She is Lana Turner.
-->'''Exley''': (turns to Vincennes) What?
-->'''Vincennes''': She ''is'' Lana Turner.
-->''(Lana [[FoodSlap throws a drink in Exley's face]])''
** When they get back in the car, Exley actually chuckles in embarrassment at his mistake.
* YourMom: During Bloody Christmas, one of the Mexican prisoners who was being beaten up by the cops insults both Dick Stensland's (in Spanish) and Bud White's mothers (in English). The latter is especially unwise since White, who was initially trying to break up the fight, instead is provoked into attacking as well. It's mentioned later that White witnessed his mother get beaten to death by his abusive father, making it an especially personal insult for him.
%%* YouTalkinToMe
----
''Just the tropes, Ma'am.''
----

* AssholeVictim: Lots of characters, including all of Mickey Cohen's lieutenants,[[spoiler:Dick Stensland, Buzz Meeks, Sugar Ray Collins, Ty Jones, Lewis Fontane, Sylvester Fitch, Roland Navarette, William Carlisle, Sid Hudgens, Pierce Pattchet, and Dudley Smith. DA Loew isn't killed, just dangled out a fifth story window to the point of hysterics as part of an interrogation by Bud and Ed. Mickey Cohen, as he is sent to prison for income tax evasion.]]

** Guy Pearce has a masterful selection of these from the very subtle, when Exley lays eyes on [[spoiler: the Nite Owl victims]], when [[spoiler: one of the suspects in said case reveals he kidnapped and raped a woman]] and when [[spoiler: Capt. Dudley Smith unwittingly reveals he killed Jack Vincennes]], to wide-eye gawps when [[spoiler: he's told the woman he thinks is a hooker cut to look like Lana Turner is actually Lana Turner]] and, more dramatically, when [[spoiler: Bud shows him the pictures of Ed and Lynn sleeping together before launching into his NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. The one with Capt. Smith is particularly good, as Smith is looking Ed straight in the face as they talk, and Ed has to struggle to control his expression as realization dawns.]]
** The john whose wife White threatens to call, and later turns out to be the councilman that Patchett blackmails with compromising photos.

* SoundtrackDissonance: Bud White sneaks into the apartment where [[spoiler: Inez Soto is held captive by Sylvester Fitch]], seeing her BoundAndGagged onto a bed and shoots him dead in cold blood while the music and sound effects of the Creator/{{Terrytoons}} cartoon "Noah's Outing" blares from the TV.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Film/{{Chinatown}}''. Even though they both have a completely different cast and crew, both are set in Los Angeles, both were made 40 years after the time period in which they are set, and both feature themes of betrayal, corruption of public institutions and officials, and "neo-noir" values. Oh, and both have scores by Music/JerryGoldsmith.

* AnAsskickingChristmas: Some of the plot takes place around the holiday season. This is exemplified during Bud's EstablishingCharacterMoment -- after he witnesses a husband beating his wife inside a house, Bud rips the Christmas decorations off of it, then proceeds to beat and handcuff the enraged husband when he steps outside.

* BadCopIncompetentCop: Despite the squeaky clean image that the LAPD tries to maintain, most of the cops are stupid, violent thugs who do little more than pay lip service to the spirit and ideals of the law. The senior cops controlling them (save for Exley) are [[spoiler:criminally corrupt]].

* ChekhovsGun: The hole in the floor of the Victory Motel made by [[spoiler:Bud]] after ripping the chair that [[spoiler:Sid Hudgens]] is tied to out of it, is seen again in the final shootout where [[spoiler:Bud uses it twice to get the drop on the hitmen, first by dropping through and shooting two hitmen sneaking around the back in the feet through a vent hole, allowing Ed to finish them off, and again when Ed is pinned down by Bruening and another hitman where Bud kills the one hitman from down in the foundation before leaping out and hitting Bruening in the shoulder before finishing him off with a blast to the chest.]]

* DaChief: Dudley Smith. He's one of the rare [[spoiler: villainous examples]].

* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler:Vincennes dies this way.]]
** Subverted with [[spoiler: Matt Reynolds]] - whose hooded stare got a great close up and made such a terrific silent accusation against [[spoiler: Jack Vincennes]] when he found the body.

* DirtyCop: Every variation imaginable is in here somewhere.

* TheFifties: The story covers many elements of the decade, from racism, to how police acted, to Vincennes working on a show similar to ''Dragnet''.

* MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome: Inez Soto lampshades it. Would anyone have cared if a minority girl was raped if the perpetrators weren't also suspects in the killing of several white people?
* MurderByProxy: [[spoiler:Captain Smith]] arranges for Exley to begin an affair with Lynn, then leaks the evidence to Bud White, who's already in a more committed relationship with the HookerWithAHeartOfGold. This causes the [[HairTriggerTemper notoriously violent]] Bud to nearly murder Exley in broad daylight.

* VirginInAWhiteDress: Inverted. As a high-class hooker Lynn is anything but virginal, but in most subsequent appearances, especially in the iconic scene where she [[spoiler: seduces Ed]], she wears a white dress.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:Dudley Smith]] regularly eliminates anyone who's become a liability for him or is no longer of use for him.

** Guy Pearce has a masterful selection of these from the very subtle, when Exley lays eyes on [[spoiler: the Nite Owl victims]], when [[spoiler: one of the suspects in said case reveals he kidnapped and raped a woman]] and when [[spoiler: Capt. Dudley Smith unwittingly reveals he killed Jack Vincennes]], to wide-eye gawps when [[spoiler: he's told the woman he thinks is a hooker cut to look like Lana Turner is actually Lana Turner]] and, more dramatically, when [[spoiler: Bud shows him the pictures of Ed and Lynn sleeping together before launching into his NoHoldsBarredBeatdown.]]

* TooDumbToLive: The perp who gets beaten up by Dick Stensland in the jail. Bud White goes to pull Stensland off him, you'd expect the perp to quiet down and be thankful that he didn't get beaten to death. Instead, he gets up behind White and starts insulting Stensland's mother in Spanish. When White tells the perp to get back, the perp responds in English, "Oh yeah?! And fuck ''your'' mother!" White, with a shout of "Fuck you!" proceeds to slam the perp into the walls, starting off Bloody Christmas; even Jack Vincennes gets a hit on the same perp, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking bloodying his suit in the process.]]