C.T. Phipps’s Reviews > L.A. Confidential > Status Update

It's interesting to see the three cops immediately drop their incredibly powerful grudges against one another when Dudley Smith's corruption becomes involved. I'm not sure I buy it that they're all so dedicated to justice that they can work together.

A lot of characters accuse Exley of being a coward and Bud White being a hero as well as real man. But there's an interesting implication Exley is willing to burn everything to the ground while Bud's claims of being a hero to women is only thin skinned.

Inez Soto is a character I regret we didn't get much more development from in the movie as she's a fascinating character here. What she does to Exley is awful and hurtful but I don't blame her. Except I kind of do. She cheats for years on a man she knows hates her husband and vice versa.

There's a lot of humor in the fact that the name of the young prostitute that Bud White befriends is named Kathy Janeway.

The Nite Owl killings are tied together with the frame-up job but it's more clearly something motivated by racism and even then the cops quickly ditch the idea. I'm more interested in the character of Jack Vincennes who is a far deeper as well as, oddly enough, more repellent character than the one in the movie.

The opening Christmas Riot was a lot more involved than in the movie and plays a much bigger role. Exley is a lot more calculating but also a lot more unsure this time around. It's also interesting they combined Exley's dad and Dudley Smith in this book.

It's interesting how the book is already different from the movie. Exley's father being alive being the first major change. We also have an epilogue to THE BIG NOWHERE that establishes what a bad dude that Dudley Smith was where it was more of a surprise in the film.