Titus Techera, who hosts a podcast for the American Cinema Foundation on which he and his guests discuss important films of the past and present, invited me back for the latest in a series of conversations about film noir and “noir-adjacent” films.
In the latest episode, we discuss Curtis Hanson’s L.A. Confidential, written by Hanson and Brian Helgeland, scored by Jerry Goldsmith, and starring Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger, and James Cromwell. Our hour-long conversation is now available on line.
Here’s Titus’ summary of our conversation:
To listen to or download this episode, go here.We have a reversal of the noir—the femme fatale helps redeem rather than damn protagonists who were corrupt before they came to make a serious moral decision. Curtis Hanson’s movie makes for a revision of heroism away from noir’s tragic destiny toward American drama, where happy ends are possible, in limited ways, for some of the people who deserve them.