Characters / L.A. Confidential (1997)

Characters from the novel series: The L.A. Quartet.

The Main Trio

Jack

Det. Sgt. Jack "Trashcan Jack" Vincennes

Portrayed By: Kevin Spacey

"Oh, lookee here: the great jerkoff case of 1953."

First a Narcotics detective, he is sent to Anti-Vice after the "Bloody Christmas" incident. He is also a consultant to the in-universe TV series Badge of Honor and a collaborator to Sid Hudgens in his "Hush-Hush" gossip magazine.

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: He's still corrupt in the film, but he lacks his literary counterpart's worst crimes and complicity in Dudley's scheming.
• The Alcoholic: He was one prior to the novel, though he quit drinking and drugs after accidentally shooting an innocent couple while drunk and high.
• Anti-Hero: He's a corrupt Attention Whore guilty of some truly vile things, but he's genuinely trying to atone for his crimes.
• The Atoner: He 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.
• Attention Whore: He loves being involved in Badge Of Honor and the attention it gets him. He also deeply enjoys the glamor of working in Narcotics and the publicity Sid's coverage affords him, and he hates working in Ad Vice because the more mundane and boring work doesn't give him the opportunity to increase his celebrity status.
• Batman Gambit: He said "Rollo Tomasi" to Dudley Smith before dying because he was betting Dudley would throw it into the investigation to bait Ed. He does.
• Being Evil Sucks: Jack is tormented by guilt for everything he's done, and while he loves the fame he's afforded, he also despises himself for having hurt so many people.
• Berserk Button: Don't mess up his suit.
• Byronic Hero: A classic moment for this trope happens when he broods in a bar after setting Matt Reynolds up to be ruined for a second time, looking at himself in a bar mirror, as Lee Wiley's "Oh! Look At Me Now" plays in the background.
• Conversation Casualty: Dudley Smith shoots him mid-conversation, spinning around and putting a bullet through Vincennes' heart.
• Deadpan Snarker: He gets quite a few one-liners and witty remarks. Then again, he is played by Kevin Spacey.
• Defective Detective: Jack has completely forgotten why he wanted to be a cop in the first place, having chosen showbusiness over the law.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the original novel, Jack is killed after being shot during a gunfight. In the film, this is changed to a deliberate killing, with Jack being murdered by Dudley mid-conversation in the privacy of Dudley's own home.

• Dirty Cop: Like many others, Vincennes is corrupt but not quite to the same extent as others. He busts criminals to help Sid Hudgens sell papers while boosting his own profile and making some cash on the side.
• Dying Smirk: After being shot by Dudley, he smiles because he's just played a Thanatos Gambit that ultimately brings down his killer.
• Fair-Weather Friend: With Sid Hudgens. They get along pretty well but neither cares for the other beyond their business relationship.
• The Fighting Narcissist: He's a flashy, vain diva who revels in his fame. He's also a competent detective and a good marksman, although he slacks off in this regard because he's more concerned with increasing his fame through easy cases.

• The Friend Nobody Likes: During his time in Ad Vice, his coworkers quickly grow fed up with him having little interest in doing his job and his constant requests to be transferred back to Narcotics.
• Glory Hound: He's become one over the years. He loves the attention he gets from his consulting role on Badge of Honor and the coverage he gets from Sid Hudgens, which motivates him to do some truly shady things. It takes getting an innocent man killed to snap him out of it.
• Have You Told Anyone Else?: Winds up on the recieving end of this from Dudley Smith.
• Heel Realization: After watching Sid gloat about how Matt Reynolds going along with their blackmail scheme will just ruin his career further, Jack goes to warn Reynolds after stewing in guilt only to find him dead, which results in Jack becoming The Atoner.
• Heroic BSoD: After finding Matt Reynolds' body, which severely disturbs him and guilts him into becoming The Atoner.
• Hidden Depths: Sure, he's a vain Glory Hound but Jack does have a conscience and is a highly competent detective when he can be bothered to put the work in and reveals during a heart to heart with Ed that he doesn't even remember why he became a cop in a tone which shows he really regrets the path he's taken.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a vainglorious attention seeker with little interest in anything greater but Jack does have a conscience and a desire to do good. After setting up Matt Reynolds again and finding him dead, he feels intensely remorseful and tries to make things right.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Not said, but his expression says it all after he finds Matt Reynolds' body.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Spacey's basis for the character was "what if Dean Martin was a cop?"
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: His attempt to make up for what happened to Matt Reynolds gets him killed.
• Saying Too Much: To Dudley Smith, which gets him killed.
• Serious Business: Bloodying his suit. When blood gets on his suit during the Bloody Christmas brawl, Jack joins in.
• Shameless Self-Promoter: A rare example Played for Drama. Jack goes out of his way to arrest celebrities for drug use or being gay so that Sid Hudgens will write articles about it in his popular tabloid Hush Hush, thereby increasing Jack's fame and reputation as a local hero. It's made very clear this ruins lives, but Jack doesn't give a damn… at first.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: In contrast to other detectives, Jack is fond of wearing colorful and expensive looking suits. He even joins in the Bloody Christmas brawl only after his suit is messed up.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: Doubles as a Wham moment since it also reveals that Dudley is the Big Bad.
• Thanatos Gambit: After being fatally shot by Dudley Smith, Jack says 'Rollo Tomasi', a name that only he and Exley know. It works as a clue that points Exley in Smith's direction, since Jack knew Smith would inevitably question someone about the name.

Bud

Officer Wendell "Bud" White

Portrayed By: Russell Crowe

"If I could work cases like a real detective, I could prove it. But I'm not smart enough. I'm just the guy they bring in to scare the other guy shitless."

A violent officer who hates men that hit women and sometimes does dirty jobs for Capt. Dudley Smith. When his former cop partner, Dick Stensland, is killed in the Nite Owl massacre, he starts investigating it and discovers very dark secrets. He also becomes infatuated with the prostitute Lynn Bracken and starts a romantic relationship with her.

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• Alliterative Name: Wendell White.
• Awesome by Analysis: One of the first signs in the novel that Bud's a genuinely competent detective is when he's able to realize Ed faked killing a Japanese platoon to earn a reputation as a war hero simply by recognizing Ed had to have shot them all at the same time, which Bud knows is highly implausible.
• Berserk Button:
  • As a Wife-Basher Basher, he'll explode when he sees, hears or suspects that a woman is being abused. He will even kill for that like the large Scary Black Man that abused a defenseless young Mexican woman. Also explodes when It's Personal.
  • Insulting his mother is another one.
• Cop/Criminal Family: His father was an abusive lout who murdered Bud's mother and went to prison for it. Bud by contrast is a cop, albeit an extremely violent and corrupt one.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Towards the end of the film, due to finding out Lynn slept with Exley.
• Dark and Troubled Past: His father beat his mother to death and ran away while the young Bud was tied up to the radiator. That was the reason he became a police officer and a Wife-Basher Basher.
• Defective Detective: Bud is a competent investigator, but he's crippled by his anger issues and his lingering trauma from his Dark and Troubled Past. As a result, he's a very unstable Rabid Cop whose use of violence makes him regarded as a Dumb Muscle.
• Dumbass No More:
  • In the novel, he uses money passed to him by Stensland to enroll in and pass a forensics course offered by the FBI, and after studying hard passes the sergeant's exam (after failing it twice before). On his own, he cracks both the Nite Owl case and a related series of prostitute murders.
  • In the film, with Lynn's encouragement, he asks a lab technician about the Nite Owl case, and notices several details in the crime scene photos that indicate there's more to the case than the department believes.
    Ray Pinker: You know, he's not as dumb as I thought.
• Dumb Muscle: What Exley and other officers think of him, and what he fears he is. More importantly, it's what Dudley Smith thinks of White and why he drags him into his scheme. It's one of Dudley's few, but vital, mistakes: while Bud may have muscle, he's far from dumb and actually proves to be a fairly competent investigator on several occasions.
  Bud: Whoever killed my partner, is still out there. I... If I could work cases like a real detective, I could prove it. But I'm not smart enough. I'm just the guy they bring in to scare the other guy shitless.
• Embarrassing First Name: He isn't really fond of his first name "Wendell". Although Edmund isn't so much better.
• Establishing Character Moment: He's introduced beating the hell out of a wife-beater, threatening him with a Frameup before gently comforting the wife.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • He shoots a black man dead who put up his hands in surrender, because he'd just raped a Mexican woman tied up in the other room - but it's actually not due to race, but because violence against women is his Berserk Button. He's portrayed as one of the least racist members of the L.A.P.D.: when some drunken cops at Christmas start beating up Mexicans in lockup he rushes in to break it up. He only gets involved when one of the inmates yells profanities about his mother.
  • In the novel, he and Stensland beat up Ed for getting the latter fired, but Bud is unwilling to take the revenge further. He's disturbed when Stensland keeps threatening Ed and even contemplates murdering him at the opening of Dream-a-Dreamland.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Exley. The two start off hating each other, and even try to kill each other at one point, but are eventually forced to put their differences aside and form an effective partnership to solve the case. By the end of the film, the two of them manage to part on good terms.
• Freudian Excuse: He watched his father beat his mother to death in front of him while he was handcuffed. Bud's Police Brutality is borne from him venting his frustrations about this and the fact he was never able to murder his father.
• Genius Bruiser: He's a very tough guy and is generally only seen as a mindless thug but he's also a talented detective and much smarter than he thinks he is.
• Good Cop/Bad Cop: You guess what he is. Most prominently shown when he and Exley visit Ellis Loew to interrogate him.
• Good Is Not Nice: While Exley is cold and unfriendly, Bud is more aggressive and tough.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He is very impatient and violent. Dudley uses this to attempt to eliminate Exley, showing him pictures of Exley and Lynn having sexual intercourse taken by Sid Hudgens.
• Heroic BSoD: 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.
• Hidden Depths: Bud's smarter than most people (including himself) give him credit.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Even in a police department department as corrupt as the LAPD in The '50s, he's infamous for this. Dudley Smith recruits him to beat confessions out of perps and some of his interrogation techniques in the film involve putting a gun in the mouth of a rapist and dangling the District Attorney out of a fifth floor window.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In the film. Bud may be one of the biggest cases of Police Brutality and the ultimate bad cop, but he's one of the least racist cops in the L.A.P.D, is sympathetic for any woman who's a victim of abuse, and genuinely cares about his girlfriend, Lynn.
• The McCoy: He's the most emotional and hot-headed of the three leads. Whenever Bud feels upset, he will act on it in the most violent manner possible. And while he is corrupt, he sticks staunchly to his own moral code and doesn't take well to people who hurt women.
• Never My Fault: He holds a grudge against Ed for snitching on the cops who participated in the Bloody Christmas incident, especially because while Bud came out unscathed, his partner Stensland was fired. At no point does it occur to Bud that it never would have happened had he and his colleagues not been beating unarmed suspects.
• Not Quite Dead: After being shot by Smith twice, he suddenly recovers and stabs the Captain on his leg while he's distracted with Ed, and is immediately shot through his right cheek. Kind of an Heroic Sacrifice to buy his friend some valuable time. Granted, he doesn't die, but presumably ends up with some degree of speech impediment.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: An unintentional variant. Most people tend to dismiss Bud as mere Dumb Muscle, and he has low enough self-esteem to agree, but he's legitimately competent at investigative matters.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Captain Smith is the only one to call him "Wendell".
• Police Brutality: A specialty of his. Bud will absolutely savage people if they've hurt a woman, and he's well-known in the department for beating confessions out of people. In the novel, Dudley comes to recruit him because he likes Bud's willingness to use violence, and how he blends it with genuine competence unlike his other colleagues.
  Dudley Smith: I admire you as a policeman - particularly your adherence to violence as a necessary adjunct to the job.
  • Smith even utilizes this, turning Bud into a Torture Technician of sorts, viciously beating various out of town criminals looking to fill the Evil Power Vacuum which Smith wants to fill himself until they agree to go back home. This actually causes a rift between Smith and Bud as, while the latter is absolutely capable of extreme violence, he finds himself disgusted by having to hurt people who cannot fight back.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: In the novel, Bud uses racial slurs quite frequently, as do most protagonists in The L.A. Quartet. He also agrees with Dudley's belief that Los Angeles's black population needs to be "contained".
• Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: Bud is gruff, violent, and rude, in contrast to Dudley and Patchett's Faux Affably Evil personalities.
• Properly Paranoid: When he gets a message ostensibly from Exley to meet at the Victory Motel, he knows it's a trap, so, knowing that his and Exley's service revolvers alone won't cut it, he packs a 1911 and a shotgun to have some more firepower.
• Rabid Cop: Bud is constantly on the verge of going crazy and ripping the head off the nearest criminal.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: If Bud catches you red-handed raping a woman, or in the next room after just raping a woman, he will kill you - and only later worry about planting evidence to make it look like you shot first.
• Self-Made Orphan: Subverted. Bud vowed to murder his father for beating his mother, and decided to make good on it once he was released from prison. However, his father disappeared, and Bud took his rage out on whatever wife-beaters he could find to satisfy his anger.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: Wields a shotgun during the Victory Motel shootout.
• The Teetotaler: According to Crowe:
  James Ellroy, kept telling me that Bud White wasn't a drinker. I said, "Come on, this is 1953. He's a blue-collar bloke, a cop. You're telling me he doesn't sit around with the boys after his shift and have a beer?". And Ellroy says, "Absolutely not." So for five months and seven days, I didn't have a drink. It's probably the most painful period of my life.
• Token Good Cop: Downplayed as he is willing to use excessive force to get results, but he disdains being used as muscle and genuinely wants to use his position for justice, especially against those who abuse women, in contrast to many of the other cops like Jack or Dudley who use their position for their own gain. He eventually works with Ed, one of the other relatively honest cops on the force, to find the true culprit of the Nite Owl case and eventually uncover the corruption that was within the force.
• Tranquil Fury: Whenever Bud is at his angriest, he's usually acting more stoic than visibly angry.
• Undying Loyalty:
  • Even as he learns of Stenland's less savory actions, White still wants revenge for his death. The book explains that when White first came on the force, Stensland was the one who taught him how to channel his rage into police work, particularly when going after men who abused women.
  • In the novel, Bud has this to the LAPD as a whole. Even when snitching on his colleagues for the Bloody Christmas incident would help salvage his career, Bud defiantly refuses to talk. His career is only saved because Dudley decides he could be useful.
• Vigilante Execution: In the novel, during a raid he shoots the Nite Owl suspects' accomplice in cold blood for raping Inez Soto. Ed later calls him out for killing one of the only witnesses they had.
• Wife-Basher Basher: He's introduced kicking the crap out of a wife-beater, tying him to his porch with Christmas tree lights 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 False Roulette (probably) with him. He continues to play the trope arrow-straight until he hits Lynn when he finds out she slept with Exley. This was major Heroic BSoD on his part, however.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: As a Wife-Basher Basher, you'd think hitting a woman is the last thing he'd ever want to do. To an extent, that's true. But after finding photographic evidence of Exley being with his girlfriend, he confronts her about it and subverts this trope.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Lying in bed with Lynn, he admits his belief that he's not smart enough to find out the truth about the Nite Owl murders, and he's just the Dumb Muscle everyone in the department believes him to be. Her response is quiet and powerfully certain:
  Lynn: You're wrong. You found Patchett, you found me. You're smart enough.

Exley

Det. Lt. Edmund "Ed" Exley

Portrayed By: Guy Pearce

"I wanted to catch the guys who thought they could get away with it. It's supposed to be about justice. Then somewhere along the way, I lost sight of that."

A young honest cop who desires to become a detective though he doesn't have a good sense of companionship for his fellow workers taking his honesty up to eleven.

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• Adaptational Heroism: In the novels, Exley develops into a quite ruthless Well-Intentioned Extremist. In the film, he lacks his literary counterpart's worst actions despite developing into a Cowboy Cop himself.
• Alliterative Name: Edmund Exley.
• Ambition Is Evil: He starts off as well-meaning, but Ed's ambition starts to consume him and he grows increasingly if obliviously more invested in ensuring a promotion than justice.
• Anti-Hero: He's a ruthless opportunist, but Ed is genuinely dedicated to seeing justice done at any cost. Even as he develops into a Well-Intentioned Extremist, it's still with the goal of seeing justice happen.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: Book version only: Ed Exley undergoes this arc as he slowly turns from being a By The Book Hero Worshiper The Fettered Cop into being a Cowboy Cop and Manipulative Bastard halfway between Bud White and Dudley Smith. Ironically, it's because he does become utterly devoted to his belief in justice.
• Best Served Cold: In the novel. After Bud and Stensland beat him up while wearing masks as revenge for ratting them out for their participation in Bloody Christmas, Ed instantly identifies them by their body language and begins plotting his revenge. He primarily focuses on getting back at Stensland, hiring two patrolmen to follow him and catch him in a parole violation.
• Black-and-White Morality: Ed starts off the novel with a rather simplistic worldview, dividing the world into lawbreakers and law-abiding citizens. While he's the only one willing to stand against the LAPD's corruption and a deeply pragmatic man, he also has a hard time recognizing the morally gray or understanding how criminals think.
• Born Detective: Preston raised both his sons to follow in his footsteps as a cop, and to dedicate themselves to the ideal of "absolute justice". Ed eventually joined the LAPD himself to follow in his father's footsteps, and uses his mentoring to become an excellent detective.
• Breaking Speech: Whenever he interrogates someone, he utilizes their every weakness and insecurity to break them down into confessing. It's demonstrated most effectively when he interrogates the Nite Owl suspects and proceeds to thoroughly break each of them down mentally until one of them confesses to rape.
• Broken Pedestal: In the book, he has a case of hero worship/one-sided rivalry with his father, a legendary LAPD detective turned construction magnate. A big chunk of the story is Ed learning his father was not the paragon of virtue he thought him to be.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: It's widely acknowledged that Ed is a great police officer and extremely competent at what he does, but he's also cold and asocial to everyone. This and the fact he violated the blue wall of silence makes him quite a hated figure amongst the LAPD, even as he starts rising through the ranks.
• Byronic Hero: While he has a strong sense of right and wrong, and is obsessed with catching "the ones who get away with it", Exley is also a political animal hungry for advancement as Dudley describes him, and is not above selling out his fellow officers when they don't live up to his high moral standards. He even sleeps with Lynn out of sheer jealousy of Bud White.
• By-the-Book Cop: Exley follows the rules to the letter and frowns at how his colleagues violate them at a moment's notice, making him quite unpopular in the casually corrupt LAPD. He grows out of this in the book and film, especially the latter where he becomes increasingly amoral in the name of seeing justice happen.
• Cop/Criminal Family: Ed is consistently dedicated to cleaning up the LAPD's corruption and seeing real justice done, even as he moves into morally darker territory. As he discovers, his father Preston was actually a corrupt cop who helped cover up the Dr. Frankenstein killer's identity.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: The book version of Exeley reacts to Inze's cheating with disgust and outrage.
• Defrosting Ice King: He starts off the book/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, his morals have begun to shift to the point where he agrees to continue to lie for the police department to protect Bud and Lynn, in addition to cleaning out the department of corruption from the inside.
• The Determinator: Book version. By the end of the book, he's willing to burn down the entirety of his life to get at his enemies. Still true, albeit downplayed, in the movie.
• Dirty Coward: Ed is frequently accused of being this. Inez points out that while he's given her social connections and money, he hasn't done anything for her that would actually cost him anything. She argues that his reluctance to use violence isn't a sign of morality, but cowardice. Indeed, he faked being a war hero simply to escape fighting in World War II. Despite this, he ultimately proves to be willing to sacrifice everything if it means taking down Dudley.
• Distracted by the Sexy: He's so seduced by Lynn's (blackmailed) charms that he forgets he visited her for professional purposes. It gets him into a lot of trouble with Bud when he finds out and Bud tries to kill him.
• Fair Cop: He's described as being handsome in the book, and he's played by Guy Pearce in the film.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: In the novel, Ed is regarded as a war hero for killing an entire regiment of Japanese soldiers during World War II. In reality, he found the soldiers already dead and faked killing them so he'd be sent home from the war. He's still legitimately brave, but Ed himself notes that he's just not very good in a physical fight.
• The Fettered: Ed is extremely moral and frowns at the general brutality and corruption of the LAPD, him at odds with his more jaded co-workers. His book version changes from this to something much darker.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Bud. From the beginning, the two of them are usually at each other's throats. But as the case starts to unravel, they put their differences aside and form an effective partnership.
• Fish out of Water: Part of the reason he doesn't fit in at the LAPD is because he's one of these. Most officers come from a working-class background, but Ed is a rich kid and socialite. Not only that, but he's dedicated to following the letter and spirit of the law in an organization filled with rule-bending and outright corrupt cops, and where Police Brutality is routine.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Zig-Zagged in the book. He's extremely popular with the citizens of Los Angeles because of his reputation as a war hero and how he reported on the Bloody Christmas incident, but his fellow officers despise him for being The Stool Pigeon. However, Ed manages to curry Chief Parker's favor and starts advancing through the ranks.
• Gentleman Detective: Ed comes from a wealthy background. He's the son of Preston Exley, a famous LAPD detective and construction magnate, and as a result Ed is very well-educated and famous. Most officers regard him as out-of-touch both because of his background and because he frowns on the LAPD's general corruption.
• The Glasses Come Off: Played Straight in the movie. He subverts it in the book by never taking his glasses off because he knows he looks softer and more merciful without them. Lynn mentions it, too.
• Glory Hound: He starts turning into this in the film, becoming increasingly (and unconsciously) concerned with promotions and the limelight, until he realizes that the Nite Owl suspects he gunned down weren't the actual culprits, at which point he snaps out of it.
• Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Ed is very good at identifying people's weaknesses and the best way to manipulate them into doing what he wants, which makes him an excellent interrogator. However, he's unable to understand the mindset of criminals and why they engage in such pointless brutality, no matter how hard he tries.
• Good Cop/Bad Cop: Exley asks the questions and does most of the talking. When that fails, Bud goes bad. Tell that to DA Ellis Loew.
  Loew: "Get him off me, Exley!"
  Exley: "I don't know how."
• Good Is Not Nice: Ed is morally upright, but he's also cold, unfriendly and shows no professional courtesy or comradeship to his colleagues.
• Guile Hero: Ed is extremely cunning and intelligent, and relies primarily on his wits. He's an excellent investigator, and despite being rather asocial, he's quite good at figuring out social dynamics and how to figure out people's weaknesses. It both helps him ingratiate himself with the LAPD's upper echelons and makes him an excellent interrogator.
• Guns Akimbo: Wields a Colt Detective Special in one hand and a Colt M1911 semi-automatic handgun in the other during the Victory Motel shootout.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: An interesting version. Ed's quite popular with civilians and his superiors, but the LAPD and most people who know him personally assume he's a coward hiding behind his money.
• Heroic BSoD: He has one in the book, when he finds out his father and Ray Dieterling covered up the Atherton murders.
• Hidden Depths: He's not afraid to get his hands dirty and can engage in shootouts with the best of them.
• Humble Hero: Subverted. Ed plays the act of being one of these to improve his reputation, but he's arrogant if not overtly so and tends to think of himself as above his colleagues.
• Hypocrite: Despite generally protesting Police Brutality and despising Bud for his use of it, Ed beats up Stensland after he's arrested while he's handcuffed. Inez calls him out on it, pointing out how he's acting just like the man he claims to despise.
• Ironic Nickname Played with in the case of his nickname. He's despised by the men until he guns down the Nite Owl suspects, and is nick-named 'Shotgun Ed' by Captain Dudley (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.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ed's morally upright and one of the few, if not the only good cops in the LAPD, as well as one of the least prejudiced characters in the Quartet. He's also a cold, blunt, and unfriendly man who views himself as above his colleagues, and a ruthless political animal.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • Ed regards his colleagues at the LAPD with barely disguised contempt and views himself as above them, resulting in them hating him. Considering that most of them are prone to horrific acts of Police Brutality, casually racist, and corrupt, it's hard not to blame Ed for looking down on them.
  • While he's condescending and insensitive about it, Ed rightfully points out that he's made sure Inez's rapists will face justice and be executed, and that making them suffer even further is just pointless vengeance.
• Knight in Sour Armor: He becomes this by the end of the book.
• Knight Templar: At the beginning of the book, Ed has shades of this before getting into the Nite Owl case. He's dedicated to "absolute justice" and, while willing to compromise, very much believes that any violation of the law should be harshly punished. By the end of the book, he's become far worse.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: By the time of White Jazz, he's a ruthless Well-Intentioned Extremist who commits numerous crimes in the name of seeing justice done, but he's nowhere near as evil as Dudley Smith and he ultimately wants to purge the LAPD of its rampant corruption.
• Living Lie Detector: In the book more than the movie. He can almost instinctively tell when people are lying or telling the truth, which helps make him an excellent interrogator. He's even able to identify that the Nite Owl suspects are being honest that they didn't commit the massacre.
• Maligned Mixed Marriage: Ed Exley has a long affair with Inez Soto, who he meets during an investigation. He never marries her, because it's the 1950s, and marrying a Mexican woman would hurt his police career.
• Manipulative Bastard:
  • A heroic version. He plays the Nite Owl suspects against each other, making each one think the other is a traitor.
  • In White Jazz, Exley has become this in order to try to bring down Dudley Smith down. Every action he takes is calculated and full of deniable assets.
• Morality Pet: While usually cold and blunt, Ed's quite nice to Inez Soto and shows a softer, even gentle side around her.
• Nerd Glasses: Wears them which gets him no end of shit from other cops. Captain Smith, another superior, and his own father even outright tell him to get rid of them to be taken more seriously at various points.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Klein points out Ed is quite similar to Dudley in how he manipulates and discards people. It's one of the few times someone manages to get a reaction out of Ed.
• Opportunistic Bastard: Ed is dedicated to rising through the ranks, no matter what it takes. He's willing to take any opportunity he can to advance his station, and it works out quite well for him. By the end of the Quartet, he's built up enough goodwill that he's able to run for governor.
• Perp Sweating: He shows a great talent for this, and he's widely regarded as one of the LAPD's best interrogators. When he interrogates the Nite Owl suspects, he expertly plays them against each other and gets them to confess to raping Inez Soto - though this unfortunately presses Bud's Berserk Button and causes him to storm in and start assaulting them.
• Phony Veteran: Downplayed. Ed did serve in World War II, but the incident that gave him a reputation as a war hero was entirely fake. He's alleged to have killed an entire platoon of Japanese soldiers; in reality, Ed found them already dead and set up the scene to make it look like he killed them so he'd be sent home.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Downplayed, especially by the standards of The LA Quartet. While he uses a few slurs, he's mostly unprejudiced and rarely judgmental of minorities like most of the cast.
• Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: Ed can be polite and charming, but he's generally cold and blunt with people he doesn't respect. His Arch-Enemy Dudley Smith is by contrast folksy and amiable to conceal the depths of his depravity.
• Pragmatic Hero: Despite his idealism, Ed is a deeply pragmatic man and a political animal. He makes sure to pick his battles, always tailors his behavior to blend in with whatever crowd he's consorting with, and he's at times willing to lie if it benefits him, as seen with how he earned his reputation as a war hero.
• Proxy War: Starts one of these with Dudley White in White Jazz.
• Rank Up: He gets promoted from uniformed Sergeant to Detective Lieutenant early on in the film in exchange for testimony against corrupt officers. In the book, he's promoted to the rank because he passed the exam, although his testimony didn't exactly hurt matters.
• Secretly Selfish: Inez argues he's not obsessed with justice so much as he is his own ambition, and argues that his desire to lawfully interrogate the Nite Owl witnesses is borne from a desire to torment Bud.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: His use of a shotgun against some perps even earns him the nickname of "Shotgun Ed".
• Shrinking Violet: Downplayed. He's willing to socialize if it benefits him, but Ed prefers his own company and is rather introverted except around his loved ones. However, he's not insecure nor does he have a lack of self-confidence, and in fact has these qualities in abundance. He just doesn't care for how corrupt his fellow officers are.
• Socially Awkward Hero: Interestingly subverted. Ed is a very stoic and unfriendly man to his colleagues, which makes him rather unpopular in the LAPD. However, he's quite adept at social situations and can be extremely charismatic when he wants to be, and he's very much a politician with a badge. The implication is he doesn't socialize with his colleagues because he thinks he's above them and doesn't see them as worth his time rather than any awkwardness.
• The Social Expert: In the novel. Ed is very adept at social situations and politicking. He's very charismatic and knows just how to ingratiate himself with his superiors. On the flip side, he's also very adept at identifying people's weaknesses and the right ways to get them to do what he wants, making him an excellent interrogator and helping him immensely with his attempts to rise the ranks.
• The Spock: Ed is always focused on the big picture and what will benefit him and his goals in the long run. He's coldly logical about everything and dedicated to the greater good, and by the time of White Jazz he's very willing to sacrifice people if it means a positive end result.
• The Stoic: He rarely shows any emotion and remains calm at almost all times. Most of the LAPD hates him because he's not just a By-the-Book Cop, but very cold and asocial. He also rarely loses his cool even in the worst of situations; it's only when he's been personally betrayed that Ed starts showing real emotion on the surface.
• Stoic Spectacles: Exley wears a set, mostly because he's Blind Without 'Em. They reflect both his cold personality and his mercilessness towards people who break the law.
• The Stool Pigeon: A heroic version; Exley believes in upholding the law, even if it means ratting out his fellow (corrupt) officers.
• Token Good Cop: He believes himself to be this, holding up the principle of not taking bribes or using excessive force. However, it is subverted as he is willing to throw his colleagues under the bus if it means advancing his position and finds himself abusing his power more and more as the story goes on, particularly in the novel with his relationship with Inez Soto. He eventually humbles himself and becomes more willing to work with Bud White, another relatively honest cop who wants to seek justice, to find the true Nite Owl culprit and uncover the corruption in the police force.
  "Rollo Tomasi is the reason I became a cop. I wanted to catch the guys who thought they could get away with it. It was supposed to be about justice. Then, somewhere along the way, I lost sight of it."
• Token Good Teammate: Where Jack and Bud are corrupt and sleazy, Ed is morally upright and principled. He becomes a darker character in the book, but he still remains fundamentally well-meaning and dedicated to justice.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: He's much more ruthless and cold in White Jazz than in the previous book.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: In the book, he would bend over backwards to win his father's approval, and he's tormented by the knowledge his late brother was Preston's favorite. Well, until he learns his father let a child-killing psychopath walk because it was his best friend's son, and covered it up.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He evolves into this over the course of the novel, becoming much more ruthless and amoral in the name of seeing justice done. It reaches its apex in White Jazz, where he mercilessly manipulates and breaks the law to finally take down Dudley Smith.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Inez calls him out for trying to prove the Nite Owl suspects innocent, pointing out they will almost certainly not be prosecuted because in 1950s LA, no one will care about a Mexican woman being raped. Ed takes this to heart, and tries to help get her back on her feet.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Ed is dedicated to the idea of absolute justice and views the world with Black-and-White Morality, which blinds him to the moral complexities of the world around him and how to deal with the corruption around him.

Los Angeles Police Department

Dudley Smith

Capt. Dudley Smith

Portrayed By: James Cromwell

"Don't start tryin' to do the right thing, boy-o. You haven't the practice."

A highly decorated and friendly police Captain completely altered from his book counterpart, Dudley's a cop trying to pave the way for a new Los Angeles who's got a great relationship with his men and willing to do what it takes to keep criminals at bay, though he's got some secrets of his own.

As the character is a Walking Spoiler, spoilers will be left unmarked beneath.

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: Played with. In the book, we know from the beginning—from the previous book^note  The Big Nowhere , actually—that he's rotten. In this movie, it's a big Wham Shot when he kills Jack, revealing himself to be the villain. The movie also removes his racist personality present in the books.
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: Dudley Smith is friendly and mentoring to Edmund Exley in the movie, serving as a Parental Substitute. 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 Composite Character).
• Adaptational Villainy: While far less viscerally evil than his horrific, racist book counterpart, without any adaptations of the prequel novels Dudley had no interaction with his underling Hideo, whose death brings him to tears in the books.
• Any Last Words?: "You have a valediction, boyo?", said as he enjoys watching Jack—who'd just caught on to evidence of his crimes—bleed out.
• Batman Gambit: He's a master at manipulating his officers into doing what he wants, including sending Exley on a wild goose chase in his desire for glory and manipulating Bud into wanting to kill him later to tie up loose ends. It's his underestimation of Bud's ability to think for himself that proves to be Dudley's undoing.
• Big Bad: He wants to take the niche left by Mickey Cohen and will not share it with any possible collaborator like Pierce Patchett or Sid Hudgens.
• Big Bad Friend: To half the cast, with whom he has a good relationship while manipulating them. For his part, he's sociopathically cheerful in letting them be as his pawns until they catch wind of his plot for LA or become a hindrance to him.
• The Captain: In the books it takes longer for him to climb the ranks but the film has Dudley as a police captain through the whole story and the protagonists report to him.
• Composite Character: The Dudley Smith of the movie is a combination of the titular 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.

• Death by Adaptation: Dudley survives the original novel version of L.A. Confidential, and his war with Ed Exley is continued into the sequel, White Jazz. Ed shoots him in the back in the film.
• Diabolical Mastermind: The truncated plot has Dudley with far less competition in conquering the crime world of Los Angeles and he's the true power behind the scene whom even his ostensible partner, Pierce Patchett, is just another pawn to.
• Dirty Cop: Only the dirtiest. He uses his resources and power as a high-ranking cop to fill the power vacuum left by Mickey Cohen. He's a mobster with a badge.
• Evil Old Folks: He's incredibly capable in a gunfight and has the highest kill count in the film with 10 deaths to his name.
• Faux Affably Evil: It's part of what makes him so chilling, his ability to make others completely trust him. Even after he's been exposed, he still never fully loses his charm.
• First-Name Basis: He refers to everyone by their first, formal names such as calling Exley by "Edmund" and Bud White by "Wendell". He asks people to call him Dudley to soften his image.
• Hidden Villain: For three quarters of the film he's shown as the friendly mentor of the three protagonists. It's only when he shoots Jack dead he's outed to the audience as the Big Bad and later to Ed when he lets slip the Rollo Tomasi line.
• In the Back: He dies when Ed manages to find his morals and fight through the temptation of Dudley's promises for his career, blasting Dudley in the back as the only way to stop him when Dudley's planned things to look like a cop responding to a shooting call.
• Karmic Death: He's shot in the back by Ed as a criminal who'd arranged the scene so he could evade justice, something he thought Ed was too soft to do as per his questioning of Ed's ability as a detective.
• Large and in Charge: He towers over the likes of Jack, Exley and White. And he is played by James Cromwell, one of the tallest actors ever (2 meters tall!).
• Lean and Mean: Unlike the book version who's described as broad, James Cromwell gives Dudley a tall yet thinner frame and he remains just as diabolical as ever.
• Manipulative Bastard: He expertly manipulates Bud White and Ed Exley. He knows exactly what they want and uses that knowledge to push them in the direction he wants them to go in. He's so good at manipulating them, nobody even suspects him until he makes one vital mistake.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: He presents himself to Bud as running a dirty job in the name of keeping LA free of organized crime. In reality Dudley is just scaring off rival criminals so he can consolidate all illicit actives under his control.
• Officer O'Hara: Complete with James Cromwell providing an off-the-boat accent and stereotypical expressions.
  "I wouldn't trade places with Edmund Exley right now for all the whiskey in Ireland".
• Parental Substitute: He 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.
• Saying Too Much: He mentions Jack's last words of "Rolo Tomasi" to Ed, tipping Ed off that Dudley was the Jack's murderer.
• The Svengali: He plays the role of mentor alternatively to Bud White and Ed Exley. His real plan however, is to manipulate them into doing his dirty work in tying up loose ends without them knowing it. Smith knows that Exley has the potential to become a Spanner in the Works due to his Constantly Curious nature and Incorruptible Pure Pureness, so he tries to keep him in the dark as much as possible. What Dudley doesn't count on is that Bud White shares Exley's curiosity and desire for justice, and he's not just the Dumb Muscle that Dudley believes him to be.
• Villain with Good Publicity: He's a well-respected upstanding LA Police Captain, in addition to being a remorseless murderer. Even after dying, he's still framed as a heroic cop who died helping Bud and Ed rather than the monster he really was.
• Walking Spoiler: It's very difficult to talk about his character without revealing his true nature.
• Wham Shot: A literal example. The first indication that he's evil is when he turns around and shoots Jack Vincennes.
• A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: To the public, he's an upstanding police officer. In reality, he's a remorseless criminal who uses his occupation as a cover for his illicit activities.

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Stensland

Det. Richard "Dick" Stensland

Portrayed By: Graham Beckel

Bud White's former cop partner and a long-time veteran with bad fame among the LAPD and close to retirement.

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• Adaptational Villainy: He mainly exists in the book to teach Bud White to rein in his own excesses and be the first reminder of how he's sold out to join Dudley's crew. In the film, he 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.
• The Alcoholic: He's a drunk long past his prime in the novel, and he frequently shows up to work drunk.
• Dirty Cop: He was seen among his superiors as a troublesome officer. And he was also involved with Dudley Smith's corrupt racket.
• Dirty Old Man: In his sixties and he dates a much younger and beautiful (fake) redheaded prostitute called Susan Lefferts.
• Dumb Muscle: For Dudley Smith.
• Jerkass: Stensland is a corrupt, boorish drunk.
• Older Than They Look: Stensland is in his sixties and played by Graham Beckel, who was in his late forties.
• Police Brutality: The reason he's fired is due to his actions on 'Bloody Christmas' when he beats two suspects mercilessly.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: In the novel, while he's not as corrupt as most, he's still a violent, boorish drunk and throws around quite a few slurs.
• Retirony: He ends up bearing the brunt of the punishment for the Bloody Christmas incident, since he was the instigator, by being kicked off the force. It's noted that he had a year left before earning his pension. He winds up dead that night.
• Small Role, Big Impact: His brutal murder in the Nite Owl set the plot, yet he only appeared in the first half of the film.
• Turn in Your Badge: Gets kicked off the force for the Bloody Christmas incident.

Fleur-de-Lis

Patchett

Pierce Morehouse Patchett

Portrayed By: David Strathairn

"Well, we all want something."

A multimillionaire that owns a business of pornography and luxurious prostitution.

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• Alliterative Name: Pierce Patchett.
• Answers to the Name of God: Befitting of his smug demeanor he jests about his stature when Bud's taken aback by the level of his High-Class Call Girl scheme.
  Bud: Jesus fucking Christ!
  Patchett: No, Mr. White, Pierce Morehouse Patchett.
• Bad Boss: Sets up a girl to have plastic surgery to become one of his call girls, then has her killed in the Nite Owl shooting with Dudley.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Patchett is set up as a major figure in the LA crime world to fill the power vacuum but despite being a partner to Dudley Smith, he's disposed of by Dudley to tie up loose ends and never even really faces the heroes.
• Blackmail: His usual trick with politicians who frequent his brothels.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: A businessman and millionaire known to be involved in prostitution and blackmail. To enrich himself further he's also working with Dudley to take over organized crime in LA.
• Driven to Suicide: Subverted. Dudley's men try to make his death look as one, but Bud notices that two of his fingers are broken.
• Faux Affably Evil: Patchett never fails to act smugly polite to the officers who come to investigate him but he's so fake they can all see right through it. And he's a criminal mastermind.
• Fingore: His broken fingers reveal that his death wasn't a suicide.
• Fleur-de-lis: The name of his escort agency for prostitutes that resemble Hollywood film stars.
• Smug Snake: Everyone can see through his faux friendly act but he constantly sees himself on top of the world with his money and connections. Too bad his much more dangerous partner Dudley eventually deems him a liability and kills him to blame their joint crimes on Patchett.
• Wicked Cultured: Lynn mentions that Pierce enjoys many of the finer things in life, and taught his girls how to dress and converse with their high-class johns.

Lynn

Lynn Bracken

Portrayed By: Kim Basinger

A beautiful blonde prostitute that works for Pierce Patchett's "Fleur-de-Lis", a company that provides customers with hookers that resemble Hollywood film stars. Lynn is the Veronica Lake. She falls in love with officer Bud White.

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• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Her 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.
• Femme Fatale: A subversion. She is not really dark and her feelings towards Bud are sincere. The closest thing she does is seducing Edmund Exley but it was all a part of the blackmail between Smith, Patchett and Hudgens.
• High-Class Call Girl: Her luxurious prostitution job that makes her resemble a film star. In her case it's Veronica Lake.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: She's very loveable and caring, and has mutual romantic feelings with Bud White.
• Important Haircut: In the end, she cuts her hair to show her rejection of her former life.

Other Characters

Sid

Sid Hudgens

Portrayed By: Danny DeVito

"Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush."

The owner and paparazzi journalist to the gossip magazine "Hush-Hush" and an old acquaintance to Jack Vincennes. He uses his magazine to uncover Hollywood's biggest scandals but also takes part in blackmail.

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• Affably Evil: He's an amoral scumbag who doesn't give a damn whose life he ruins but he's got a sharp wit and Danny DeVito's natural charm, making him hard to dislike.
• Catchphrase: Catchphrase, tagline for his gossip magazine, same thing.
• Deadpan Snarker: He gets a lot of barbed lines, particularly while writing his column.
• Fair-Weather Friend: To Jack Vincennes, and it most certainly goes both ways. They're very aware of the extent to which they're using each other. Sid isn't even particularly sad about the news of Jack's death.
• Lack of Empathy: He doesn't care at all about the lives he ruins with his stories or the men killed during the gang wars he writes about.
• Mr. Exposition: Sid sets up the film with his memorable opening narration.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Sid seems to been primarily based on Howard Rushmore, writer for the real-life celebrity gossip magazine Confidential.
• Paparazzi: He's a particularly nasty flavor of paparazzi scumbag, taking sadistic delight in ruining the lives and careers of other people, which he then profits off of.

Loew

District Attorney Ellis Loew

Portrayed By: Ron Rifkin

One of Los Angeles' most prominent district attorneys.

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Stompanato

Johnny Stompanato

Portrayed By: Paolo Seganti

Mickey Cohen's chief enforcer.

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Matt

Matt Reynolds

Portrayed By: Simon Baker

A movie only character that is busted for reefer possession before being blackmailed into doing favors for Sid and Jack.

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• Composite Character: He's a combination of Tammy Reynolds and Rock Rockwell (the kids Jack busts for smoking pot in the beginning) and Billy Dieterling (tragic young gay actor, whose life is ruined by one of the main detectives - Jack in the movie, Ed in the book).
• Gayngst: He 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 homicide won't help him on the case due to the gay aspects.

Rollo Tomassi

Rollo Tomassi

A purse-snatcher who killed Preston Exley years ago.

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• Allegorical Character: In-story, he's Exley's representation of a Karma Houdini.
• Canon Foreigner: He's exclusive to the film because Preston Exley is still alive in the book.
• Cop Killer: Murdered Preston Exley when the latter tried to stop him from robbing someone.
• Invented Individual: The name Rollo Tomassi technically doesn't exist, but Exley invented the name to give him an identity.
• Karma Houdini: He was never arrested or even identified.
• Small Role, Big Impact: His murder of Preston Exley drove Preston's son Ed to become a cop, to catch those who think they can get away with crimes. The name itself becomes a Chekhov's Gun when Captain Smith mentions the name to Exley after Jack is murdered, tipping Exley off that Smith was involved because the only other person who knew about Rollo Tomassi was Jack.