What It's About:

The talented Curtis Hanson brings James Ellroy's dissipated 1950s Los Angeles to teeming life in this police thriller, which details pervasive corruption and vice in the City of Angels, as detectives Bud White (Crowe), Ed Exley (Guy Pearce), and Jack Vincennes (Spacey) all work their territories. The murder of a recently retired cop in a stick-up launches a labyrinthine investigation that exposes the city's underbelly and its myriad lowlifes, including high-class call girl Lynn Bracken (Basinger).

Why I Love It:

Atmospheric, twisty thriller benefits from brisk pacing and lots of suspense, but it also manages to tell a rich, character-driven story. Crowe's smoldering Bud is a tightly wound spring, while Pearce's Exley is the quintessential straight arrow. Spacey almost steals it as Vincennes, a slick celebrity cop in the mold of Dragnet's Jack Webb. Basinger won the Supporting Actress Oscar as the bewitching Lynn, and Danny DeVito has a ball playing the editor of a sleaze tabloid. Top-notch noir, in color.