A Story is a Promise
Bill Johnson's A Story 
is a Promise & The Spirit of Storytelling book cover
A seventh edition of my writing workbook, A Story is a Promise & The Spirit of Storytelling, is now available for $2.99 from Amazon Kindle.

This edition offers new, unique tools for creating vibrant story characters, how to outline a novel, and a guide to writing a novel, screenplay, or play, how to evaluate a manuscript, review a screenplay, and tools to revise a novel; and my new essay, Storytelling and the Superconscious Mind.
Essays on the Craft of Writing

About the Author

Advancing A Complex Plot Along a Story Line
A Review of LA Confidential

by Bill Johnson

Because a story's characters are often the most visible and engaging aspects of a story, there always exists a temptation to try and make a story more complex and interesting simply by introducing more characters. The flaw in this logic is that if each character introduced doesn't communicate to a story's audience some sense of a story's promise, each new introduction can make a story increasingly boring or unengaging. This happens because an audience wants some cue to the purpose of the character in the world of the story, a sense that a character's actions have some purpose, even if it isn't immediately apparent. Introducing a series of characters who act to no discernible purpose forces a story's audience to memorize character details until a story context is established. This quickly becomes work.

This isn't to suggest characters be introduced with a cue card that announces their role in fulfilling a story's promise. It does mean that the storyteller have a sense of each character's purpose in fulfilling a story's promise so that every action of every character communicates something important. Something that draws the story's audience into the world of the story. Something that suggests each character's actions have some purpose in advancing the story. Whether the full scope of a character's purpose is revealed early in the story or later is a choice for the storyteller. To introduce characters with no sense of purpose, however, to simply offer details of their description and environment, quickly and brutally suggests the writer has no understanding of how to tell a story.

Most commercial films introduce a main character who embodies a story's promise and whose actions advance the story along both its story and plot line. Because this character often has issues that arise from the dramatic issues at play in the story, they become a guide through the story for the story's audience. As they react to a story's events, the story's audience is cued to the story's promise. Having a single main character can help both the storyteller and the audience assign meaning to and track the action of the story.

LA Confidential is an example of a complex story (by American movie standards) with three main characters. The story succeeds because there is a core story issue about how we live up or down to our inner sense of a moral code while reacting to the demands of the people and events around us. The actions of each character advance the story toward both the resolution and fulfillment of what's at stake in the story's world along a single story line. While each character feels driven to attain different goals, because their goals arise from their need to define or redefine who they are, the story's plot operates to ensure each man's sense of moral identity is attacked, undermined or offered what appears to be new opportunities for fulfillment. Each man's actions as they react to plot events, then, advances the story toward its outcome along its story line.

Because each character in Confidential is created around a clearly defined story promise, they come across as vivid and what might be called life-like. In reality, they are story-like. They exist inside and make vivid the world created by the storyteller. That is their ultimate purpose. Bringing the world of the story to life in an engaging way, they offer to reward the interest of the story's audience drawn in to experience the journey toward an outcome of the moral issues these men and women grapple with. By extension, sharing their journey to resolution and fulfillment, the story's audience finds their own needs fulfilled.

In life, having an identity (corporate manager, gang banger, decent human being who helps others, white knight who fixes women in distress, enabler) gives people a sense of belonging. People who feel stuck with an identity need to believe that one can redefine oneself. Stories about character who lose an identity or must redefine themselves are powerful story staples because they meet powerful needs.

The Review

LA Confidential opens with a frame, a character's voice over, that sets out the world of this story. One dramatic purpose of this frame is to suggest the story's world -- a place of illusion and deception, where nothing is as it appears. The narrator suggests California is both a paradise while his laughter suggests that the real 'story' here will be told.

There are a number of points here. By suggesting the audience will get the 'real' story of life in L.A., the storyteller offers something audiences seek, a vivid journey into a new, interesting view of our world. By suggesting that the storyteller here has a clear focus on the purpose of their story, the audience is also reassured they can relax and enjoy the journey.

In a quick, unforced way, the issues and ideas the story will explore are also set out in the frame.

We're introduced to the cop show Badge of Honor, a show where all policemen are honorable, criminals caught and justice prevails.

We're then told that the major fly in the ointment in this paradise of LA is Mickey C, a gangster who is protected by his bodyguard Johnny Stampanano. Mickey C's record of murder and corruption is a blot on the illusion of paradise others want to project through programs like Badge of Honor. Something has to give, the narrator suggests. That something is that Mickey C is sent away for tax evasion.

A point to note here, the frame offers a little mini drama with a setup and resolution around what's to be done about Mickey C. The frame is not a static offering of information. It both introduces and advances the story. This opening thrust sets the story's plot into motion because the question is, who will replace Mickey C? So the story starts with a plot and story question that the action of the story will answer.

We are then introduced to our narrator, the publisher of a Hush-Hush, a tabloid that promises the 'real' story of life in paradise. Our narrator is a guide, someone who can offer us the 'truth' of this story world. By introducing us to our narrator, the storyteller also advances the story. We've crossed from the frame to the body of the story.

Another note, we start by seeing the narrator alone. It can help an audience take in the dramatic purpose of a character if they are introduced either alone or in a small group. Introducing a number of characters at once risks the storyteller falling into the trap of offering details that suggest no deeper purpose, or offering so many details they obscure the purpose of individual characters.

One last note about the story's frame... I found it a bit clumsy. By trying to offer so much information, the story got off to a diffused start.

We now open full on the face of detective Bud White as he sits in a car listening to a domestic dispute. Even though he is in a car with his partner, the storyteller arranges for the audience to clearly focus on Bud. This tells the audience who the main character is here.

The partner makes a remark about Santa Claus and Bud keeping a list of who is 'nice.' We're cued here that Bud is a moral man, the partner, who's drinking, is not. Also that the partner is indifferent to the woman in the house being abused. So the introduction of Bud operates around a dramatic question, what's Bud going to do here? It also introduces Bud in the context of the moral world he inhabits, which suggests something about his dramatic purpose in the story, and the overall dramatic purpose of the story itself.

The partner's line to Bud, "Leave it for later." It comes out that the two men are supposed to pick up some booze for a party at the police station.

Question, will Bud leave it alone? Note how even this small moment in the scene is set up to be dramatic, to have a pay off, to move toward an answer. That's how one creates drama. By introducing something in motion, one can create drama around an outcome of its destination. Conversely, it's a struggle to create drama when a story, its characters and plot events don't suggest they are in motion.

Note also how the dialogue foreshadows naturally the coming party. Audiences like to feel in the know, to have a sense of where they are and where they are going.

Bud calls in for a prowl car to come get the abuser. Now we know Bud's going to do something, but what? Again, one answer sets up a new question. Moment by moment, we are drawn forward. His partner remains indifferent. That sets the audience up to have a desire, an expectation about what will befall the partner later.

Approaching the house, Bud pulls a Santa and sleigh off the roof. This quickly cues us that Bud is a forceful character who won't allow the 'facade' in this house to stand, just as a character in the story he will not allow the 'facade' of evil he encounters to stand. So the scene operates around an apparent purpose, what will Bud do here to the abusive man, but his actions speak to his deeper purpose in the story. In that way his actions advance the story along its story line and plot line.

Bud makes short work of the wife beater, also threatening to have him sent to prison as a kiddy raper if he ever hits his wife again. Bud dispenses his own brand of justice here according to his own moral code. Note also he's a man of action. He doesn't sit in the car debating with his partner whether to act or not. It takes a skilled writer to advance a story with characters who are only talking about what they're going to do, or just thinking about it. Many struggling writers start with talk, then escalate to action. This scene quickly progresses to action, and the dialogue compliments the action.

Wife to Bud, "Merry Christmas."

Bud doesn't leave the scene until he knows she's safe.

Bud is a 'ripe' character dramatically. We're drawn in to want to know why he acts this way.

Next scene, we immediately cut to Sgt. Jack Vin. Again note the close up. We're allowed to visually see this is another main character. The super of his name reinforces that. Again, audiences want to be cued to what and who's important.

Jack, a technical advisor on Badge of Honor, is in the middle of seducing a woman who wants a 'real' cop, not an actor. It's clear Jack relishes his role as advisor to Badge of Honor, that his life revolves around it. This role has become, in effect, his world, i.e., Jack's a ripe character because it's clear he's lost contact with what he is, a detective. This suggests the question, will Jack be able to regain contact with what he is?

Quick, neat work.

Sid, our narrator, now approaches. This naturally allows Jack to introduce Sid. The young woman is obviously disgusted with Sid. She prefers Jack's artificial glitter. Sid mentioned the actress was mentioned in a piece about ingenue dykes. It's a small revelation, but it plays against the obvious seduction scene we just witnessed. Such small revelations help keep a story fresh and new for an audience. If something new and fresh isn't revealed in a scene, why is that scene in the script?

Sid makes his pitch. He has some bit actors lined up for Jack to arrest on a marijuana conviction. Sid wants Jack to be charitable about what this staged arrest will 'cost' Sid because it's Christmas, which means nothing to Jack. Again, Jack's in a world of his own moral code, cut off from the wider world.

The scene ends with Sid promising greater things if he, Jack and Hush-Hush can continue to titillate the world.

The next scene begins with a close up of Sgt. Ed. Exley. His introduction is achieved through a reporter off screen talking to him. It varies the way this main character is introduced. Again, a choice was made to find a different, fresh way to introduce his character and communicate that he is the story's third main character in place of doing a third super of a name.

It also comes up in his introduction that Exley has a well-known, legendary father, a decorated, deceased cop. In a quiet, unforced way it suggests the world Exley must live in and raises a question, how will he live in that world? What does he want to achieve on his own?

When asked why he became a cop, he answers, "I like to help people." As the story will act out, we'll be getting a revelation about who Exley really wants to 'help.'

In the background, we see that Exley is working while others are beginning to party.

Exley's asked by the reporter what he thinks about two officers being assaulted that evening. He responds in a cool, calm manner that it goes with the job. Again note the quiet, natural foreshadowing.

He's asked if he's too young to be watch commander. Exley says it's only for a night, but it suggests he's on the way up in the ranks. By working on Christmas Eve, he's also creating a persona that he offers a world that loves easily digestible personas. It raises the question, who is the man behind the persona? A question the story answers.

We next meet Captain Dudley, who is the next major character, but not a lead. It continues the steady, measured progression of introducing the main characters either alone, or with one other significant person, so we can take in who they are and a sense of their dramatic issues.

The Captain takes Exley aside and tells him he's ranked first on a test to be Lieutenant (again, Exley is ambitious). When asked what he wants, Internal Affairs, Patrol, Exley answers, "I was thinking detective bureau." The Captain turns away in a way that suggests something is going on here. Again, the moment is given dramatic shape. We're set up to expect something here.

Captain, "You're a political animal. You have the eye for human weakness, but not the stomach." The story, of course, is set up to show us Exley's journey to having a new stomach.

The Captain asks, "Would you be willing to plant evidence? Beat a confession out of a suspect? Shoot a known criminal in the back to avoid a trial?" Exley tries to evade the first question, then answers 'no.' Note how the questions suggest the kind of moral universe the Captain inhabits. He ends by telling Exley to forget being a detective. Which, of course, we now know is what Exley wants. So Exley and the Captain stand squarely in opposition to each other. They are in conflict. They are in conflict because their characters inhabit moral universes in collision; the story has put them into an environment where they cannot avoid this conflict. They are joined together. Because their conflict is rooted in each man's moral sense of order, it serves the purpose of the larger story.

Exley, "I don't need to do it the way you did...or my father." This suggest Exley is also in conflict with his father's memory. The storyteller always looks for ways to bring into focus what puts characters into conflict with each others, themselves, or their environment.

Dudley, "At least get rid of the glasses. I can't think of a single man in the bureau who wears them." The Captain walks off with this final slam against Exley's manhood, another set up.

We have now met our main, male characters.

We now return to Bud buying liquor for the party, something set up earlier. Again we begin the scene with a close up on Bud. A mysterious woman enters the liquor store in a fashion we can't see her face. In a simple way, this pulls us into the question, what does she look like?

She is the female lead for the story. That's why her introduction is given dramatic weight and happens now.

Bud circles around to get a look at her. He is a kind of guide through the scene/story for the audience here. Just as he wants to see what she looks like, the audience is set up to want the same thing. It's quick, neat work.

But speaks to Lynn (Kim Bassinger), who recognizes Bud as a cop from his persona.

This is a subtle but vital point. Lynn is someone who recognizes others for who they really are, so her introduction suggests her dramatic purpose in the story.

Returning to his car, Bud sees a woman in another car with a bandage on her nose. We know from the first scene he won't walk away from a woman he thinks is being battered. So we have a new thrust here that builds on the opening thrust of the introduction of Bud. It raises the question, what will happen here?

The woman in the car sits with a man and a driver. The man tells the driver to get rid of Bud. So now we have another question, what's going to happen here? Only this time, of course, the audience is primed to expect what's going to happen, but the character confronting Bud is in the dark. Audiences like being in the know, like this sense of anticipation.

Bud manhandles and disarms the driver, Leland Meeks, an ex-cop. Again note how we're able to focus on Leland here and take in who he is. Again a scene is structured to limit us to two characters on screen.

Bud asks the woman with the bandage, "You okay?" Her arrogant male partner answers, "She's fine."

Bud asks her, "Did someone hit you?"

Now the beautiful blonde comes up and says to Bud, "It's not what you think." Which sets up the audience to wonder, of course, what is it, then? Again, this series of dramatic moments within a dramatic scene. We get an answer to one question, the woman hasn't been battered, but it sets us up to want an answer to another question, so what did happen to her?

Woman in car, "You got the wrong idea, Mister; I'm fine." Of course, we'll find out later she's not really fine, so the scene here plays out on different levels along different plot tracks. Also note it will later be revealed the kind of moral universe these two women exist in.

Bud's partner comes over and eyeballs Leland, but only offers that he doesn't know him but has seen him around. It's a subtle moment, but again it's another plot track. Like every detail in every scene so far, it has a purpose in both the moment, the scene and the overall context of the story and its world.

We now go to Sid telling Jack the actors are ripe for an arrest. Jack stage manages where the cameras should be to record him in action.

Jack makes the arrest, then on the scene finds a card that reads Fleur de lis. This is a significant moment, and we're presented with just Jack looking at the card. Again, the scene is restricted to what the storyteller wants to communicate. Irrelevant details are edited out. Again, this is why an audience trusts a good storyteller. They quickly develop a sense that if they're shown something, it's important to the story. They don't have to work to filter out what has meaning or not.

Jack keeps the dope at the scene, another nice little revelation.

Sid narrates his story out loud, talking about Jack as a celebrity cop. That's what Jack is in his world. It's clear he's not too happy to hear Sid describe him in this way. It raises the question in a subtle way, why does it upset him?

We now see Bud and partner delivering the booze to the police party, then Exley on the phone. Jack is immediately on the scene and identified as "Hollywood Jack." He's a celebrity whose appearance at the station is call for comment.

We now have our principles together in one scene. The story has begun a new thrust.

Jack offers Exley his gratuity from Hush-Hush for being watch commander the night of the arrest. Exley refuses it. Now Exley is in conflict with Jack's world. Immediately, some men are hustled into the station and accused of being the ones who assaulted some cops, something mentioned earlier. Jack immediately sets off a rumor that the assaulted cops are seriously injured, which Exley denies. Again, they are in conflict. The situation is tense.

In the next scene, a drunken cop suggests something be done to the men being held.

Question, will something be done?

Cut to answer: cops going to get them. Exley tries to stop them, but they push past him.

Note here we have a set up, will something happen to these men? Then a payoff to the set up. By introducing a question and then answering it quickly, the storyteller suggests they have the ability to pay off on the story questions that are not being immediately answered. In this way, the storyteller creates a continuous pull on the attention of their audience. Exley cannot stop the mob, so we see just how much 'moral' authority he has in this world. Jack joins the mob.

The scene intensifies because the reporter/photographer from earlier are also still on the scene. So characters introduced in a background, offhand way now has a stronger purpose in the story.

Jack tells Bud he needs to put a 'leash' on Stencil. This will bring Bud and Jack to the scene of the developing melee.

Jack pulls Stencil off a man he is beating with a blackjack, but another man then insults Bud, and the melee gets out of hand. A bloodied man stumbles into Jack, getting blood on his nice suit, and Jack punches him.

Exley is locked in another room. The photographer gets a picture of the melee.

Next scene, the photo is on the front page of the paper. The outcome of the brawl isn't in the story, because it has already served its purpose. A panel of three men asks Bud if he'll testify against the others involved to save himself. Bud refuses. It goes against his moral code. These men are clearly trying to set up Stencil. Bud is suspended.

Bud passes Exley going in to testify. Exley is happy to testify against everyone else.

Exley is praised as being a 'new' kind of officer. He gets his promotion to Lieutenant on the spot. It's decided Stencil will go down, and Bud. But they need another witness. They force Jack to testify by threatening to take him off Badge of Honor permanently. Jack caves immediately. He doesn't care about ratting out fellow cops if it gets him what he wants.

Each of our three leads has responded in a different, very distinct fashion to the same event. In this way the audience is cued more deeply into who these men are. It's quick, neat work.

Passing Exley in the hall, Jack lets him know Bud's going to get him. That sets up another expectation for the audience.

Next scene, Dudley offers Bud a 'deal.' That Bud will be reinstated and transferred to homicide to work under Dudley doing unofficial work, no questions asked. Bud accepts and gets his badge and gun back.

Next Sid narrates a scene about two possible successors to Mickey C, which takes us back to the opening frame. The men are immediately assassinated, which sets up the question, who will fill this vacuum left by Mickey's absence?

Next we meet another Lieutenant of Mickey C who is also immediately killed and a suitcase of heroin taken. These scenes are played for humor, but also set up a question, who is doing these killings? Who has the heroin?

Sid continues with the story, that the LA PD are using extra legal means (Bud beating people up) to keep organized crime figures out of LA.

This is an advance on the earlier scene with Bud and Dudley.

Next Jack is reinstated, but to Vice, where he doesn't want to be. He's told his only way out is to make a major case. That raises the question, will he?

Jack now calls the Fleur de lis phone number to see what will happen and if it will lead to something. He speaks to a woman, then is cut off. Jack calls Sid for information. Again, because of Sid's job, he has information that helps Jack and advancing the story.

Bud sees Stencil off. Exley (now sans glasses) has something knocked from his hands by Stencil, then Bud goes past. It's a tense moment.

Bud and Stencil meet alone. Stencil tells him he has something set up, but won't say what. It's meant to draw the reader in to wanting to know what.

Exley works late and alone because the others still don't like him. Because he's alone in the homicide department, he takes a call about a homicide at the Night Owl Coffee shop. He responds and finds a bloody scene that includes several bodies. So we have the immediate question, what happened here? And the deeper question, what does this have to do with the overall story? By this point we can trust that the storyteller will reveal the information to us.

Dudley shows up and takes the case away from Exley. It comes out that the killings involve three men with shotguns. Then the revelation that one of the dead men is Stencil. This cues us back to his conversation with Bud.

Now we see Bud at the morgue and a morgue attendant's voice over that he thought the dead woman from the Night Owl Cafe was Rita Hayworth. This is the woman Bud met with the bandage on her nose at the beginning of the story. The pace of the story has picked up again and now the story threads are starting to more clearly weave together. This story holds together during this process because of the careful work here to only show relevant information. Because of the craft of the story, and the series of small set ups and payoffs, the audience is cued that they won't be left hanging about the story's mysteries.

Exley sees Bud. Exley tells him what happened at the cafe.

The mother of the slain woman can't identify her daughter, because her appearance has been changed. It comes out the woman's daughter had left her mother after an agreement with a boyfriend, another important clue that appears to be background information.

Dudley tells a roomful of men that three Negro men were seen shooting shotguns and driving a car resembling one seen at the scene of the Night Owl Cafe. Dudley sends out the men to find the three young Negroes. A commissioner tells the men to use all necessary 'force,' i.e., kill the suspects.

Bud refuses to go with his partner. Jack also refuses to take his assignment, but Exley offers to go out with him.

Bud goes back to the liquor store and gets Lynn's address. He goes to a house in the hills and comes across the arrogant man, Pierce Patchett, from the opening scene.

He puts off Bud. Again the two men are the only ones in the scene. Pierce wants to know how Bud found him. Pierce has a bodyguard, but not Leland. Pierce claims that the slain woman hurt her nose in a tennis match.

Pierce tells Bud he needed a "Rita Hayworth." That Lynn is Veronica Lake. He has women transfigured to pass as movie stars for prostitution. Pierce offers to reward Bud for finding Susan's killer.

Next scene, we see a Veronica Lake movie and then Lynn with a john who mouths off to Bud. Bud gets rid of him. A comic moment.

Bud questions Lynn, which gives more background information about Pierce. Lynn tells him that Piece is expecting Bud to ask for a bribe. Bud tells her to never try to bribe him. This is a hot, conflict fueled scene. He tells her she looks better than Veronica Lake.

As Bud leaves, he tells Veronica he would like to see her again. She asks if he's asking for a date or an appointment? Tight dialogue with punch. This is a boxing match here. There's clearly more to play out here. Note also how this relationship has advanced from his introduction.

Next Jack and Exley interview a black man. They screw him over to get information about the suspects. Again the scene plays out against a backdrop of morality, showing Exley moving to dropping his morality for expediency.

Jack and Exley find two other cops already on the scene where the suspects are staying. The cops on the scene want the collar, but Exley pulls rank to take credit as well. The first two cops on the scene exchange a 'look' that is explained later.

The four men burst in on the suspects and Exley prevents a massacre. This seems natural, and developed from earlier scenes about the kind of man Exley is, but it also plays into the story's plot.

Now we move to the interrogation. Bud, Exley and Jack are there. Bud wants at the suspects because they killed Stencil.

Dudley says there's proof that the men are guilty. Exley is responsible for getting confessions.

The question here, will Exley get the required confession?

Exley attacks one of the suspect's manhood via his questions.

One suspect denies owning the shotguns.

Exley controls what the other cops can hear about the interrogation. He only lets them here what he wants them to hear.

The second suspect denies killing anyone. He blurts out, "I didn't mean to hurt her." "I just wanted to lose my cherry." It's clear he's confessing to something else, not the Night Owl killings. Exley realizes a girl is involved with this. Bud, hearing a girl is in trouble, breaks in and gets a confession about where the girl is.

Next scene, Bud is allowed by Dudley to go in and get the girl free. He kills the man holding a Mexican girl.

But this deepens the question around what's happening here? What does this have to do with the Night Owl killings? We're being drawn forward to get more information.

Bud executes a black man on the scene, then drops down a gun to make it look like he killed the man in a shoot out. Bud has escalated from beating up people to killing someone. It shows the direction he's moving as a character. He then comforts the hurt girl and makes sure Exley can't interrogate her before she's taken to the hospital.

Bud confronts Exley. Exley accuses Bud of being a bad cop. Bud tries to go for Exley. Dudley tells Exley to leave Bud alone. Then, we find out the three suspects have escaped. Exley tracks them down. Exley is now acting forcefully. This is a transition for his character and the kind of character he was when introduced. As characters react to the events of the story, how they change becomes a way for the story's audience to track the movement of the story along its story line. By Exley acting in a Bud-like manner, we see his moral universe shifting.

Exley finds the three black men with two white men. In a bloody shoot out, five suspects and one detective are killed. Exley, however, is now gaining respect from his peers. His new nickname, "Shotgun Ed."

Exley gets the medal of valor for his actions. He's completed one stage of his personal journey.

Jack gets returned to paradise, again the advisor for Badge of Honor.

Bud goes to see Lynn.

Each character seems to have gained/regained something they want.

Next we have a scene where a council member is blackmailed by one of Pierce's operatives. So we now see that Pierce is deeper into corruption. The complexity of the story deepens. Things never stand pat in this story.

Next we see Dudley and friend beating a hood from the East Coast. Bud walks out. So Bud is in transition as well. It's clear he's starting to rethink the morality of what's he's doing, something Lynn has pushed him to see. This is an important point. These characters by their very natures act as goads to each other.

Bud goes to see Lynn. She shows him her 'real' room, that has mementos of her 'real' personality. They are intimate. This is a quiet moment for the story. We're offered a sense that there might be a real relationship here, movement for both characters.

We then cut to an election meeting where a corrupt DA is using the Badge of Honor cast to try and get elected. Sid appears. He schemes to set up the young man busted for pot early in the story to sleep with the DA. Sid wants to ruin the DA's career and capture the event on film. This is the DA who got Jack suspended earlier in the story. The kid mentions a Fleur de lis party to Jack. The young man also tells Jack what he's doing isn't where he intended to 'end up' when he came to LA. Jack agrees, which communicates that he's in transition as well. When the kid hesitates to hustle the DA, Jack suggests he can get the kid a part on Badge of Honor. The young man then goes over to hustle the DA. Jack is still clinging to his old world, but it's clearly painful for him now.

Sid tells Jack where they can find the kid and DA later. Jack asks Sid about Pierce. It's suggested that Pierce is a player in the power games of L.A., but to what end? It's another question the story will answer.

Bud and Lynn attend a movie, Bud again in transition, moving toward having a normal relationship.

Jack looks at the fifty dollar bill he'll earn to do in the DA. In a shift in Jack's moral universe, he leaves the money at a bar and goes to warn off the DA that Sid is coming. But what Jack finds is the young man, dead. He sent him to his death. The DA has killed him. So now Jack is really adrift, lost, without any moral bearings.

Just like Bud and Exley, Jack is adrift in a world where his old ways of getting things done aren't enough anymore. This issue of lost characters finding their way again is a potent story issue.

Now we cut to Exley talking to the young Mexican girl. He finds out that she lied in her statement about when she was raped. Exley realizes if she's lying, it means the black men had an alibi and couldn't have done the Night Owl killings.

Now Exley faces a moral dilemma. What will he do?

Cut to Bud and Lynn. He tells her of his feelings for her, not her Veronica Lake imitation. She tells him about her life. Like the men, Lynn has lost something along the way, her real identify. Again we continue this quieter pace, but the storm clouds are clearly developing, looming, gathering force.

Bud tells Lynn how he saw his mother beaten to death and how he was with her body for three days before they were found. We now have the answer to what drives his personality. Lynn asks him if that's why he became a cop, if he still likes it. It comes out Bud wants to be a real detective, not a strong arm guy for Dudley. He tells Lynn there's something wrong with the Night Owl killings, but he's not smart enough to prove it. Lynn tells him he is smart enough. Again, this continuing transition of characters and what they think of themselves. Each of the main characters is in transition, reaching for something.

Bud goes to speak to another cop about the Night Owl killings. He finds out Stencil was hit over the head before being killed. Bud realizes something about Susan. He goes to see her mother. He asks about her daughter's boyfriend. It turns out that Stencil was the boyfriend. A revelation. But what's the connection? We have a revelation that pulls us deeper into the story.

Now Bud finds a body under the house. It is Leland Meeks. Note how characters introduced casually in the story now have a clearer, larger purpose. We now know that Stencil probably killed Meeks, but why? We get one answer, but it raises a larger question.

Exley questions the records cop about Night Owl, and finds out Bud is also on the case. Exley tracks down Susan's mother as well and finds the body of Leland Meeks.

Exley asks Jack's help, that he tail Bud. Exley asks Jack if he thinks the black men were responsible for the Night Owl killings. Exley mentions the name, "Rollo Tomase." Exley says that it's the man who shot his father six times, a name he made up. That it was the reason he became a cop, to get justice. But he 'lost sight of that.' It's clear this speaks to Jack, as well. Jack, when asked why he became a cop, responds, "I don't remember." This speaks directly to how adrift Jack is in his universe now. He's unhinged.

Jack asks Exley if he's willing to pay the consequences for solving the Night Owl killings. Jack demands a deal, that Exley help him get the killer of the young man.

Bud goes to see Johnny Stampanato. He asks about Pierce and Meeks. He gets it out of him that Meeks had found a cache of heroin (which goes back to an opening scene in the frame).

The different elements of the story continue to slowly come into focus in a pleasurable, measured way.

Cut to Jack and Exley staking out Lynn. They see Lynn and Bud together. Exley is clearly drawn to Lynn. But is Lynn being paid to sleep with Bud? Or is Bud knowingly being paid off?

Jack makes the Fleur de lis/Lynn connection for Exley.

They go to find Stampanato. Exley sees what he thinks is an ersatz Lana Turner. Thinking she's a hooker surgically altered, Exley insults her, then finds out who she really is. Jack can't quite smiling. It's another odd, comic moment. As Exley tries to take on a new persona, he's taking his lumps.

Exley and Jack speaks to Pierce. They lean on him but get nothing and leave.

Exley sends Jack on an errand so he can go see Lynn.

Sid takes a phone call.

Jack gets the news that Leland Meeks was the body found under the house.

Jack gets background information on Leland.

Exley sees Lynn. She tells him that Bud thinks he's a coward. She tells him he's afraid of Bud. She taunts him, that she sees Bud because she wants to, that he "makes her feel like Lynn Bracken."

Again, Lynn is a goad to another character in the story.

Exley loses control and has sex with Lynn. Sid takes pictures. Exley, like Jack and Bud, is again shifting his position in his moral universe.

Jack goes to see Dudley. He tells him about Meeks. It turns out that Meeks and Stencil arrested Pierce several years previously, and that Dudley was involved in the case.

Jack, finally feeling like he's a detective again and proud of it, goes to see Dudley to ask him about the connection between Stencil and Meeks. Dudley tells Jack to stop trying to do the "right thing." When Dudley realizes Jack hasn't told Exley the latest information, he shoots Jack. As he's dying, Jack tells Dudley the name "Rollo Tomase." Jack dies, a moral man.

Next, Dudley announces Jack's death and the manhunt to find his killer. Dudley calls Exley aside and asks him about Rollo Tomase. Exley now realizes that Dudley killed Jack.

Bud asks another detective about who would deal heroin in LA. Mickey's C's name comes up again.

Dudley tells Bud he needs his help. He tells Bud he has his own extra-circular activities. He tells Bud they're going to question the man who might know who killed Jack.

Exley finds out that Bud is on the trail of Meek's killer.

We find that Sid is the one who is to be interrogated. He is beaten while Bud and Dudley look on. They get information about Pierce, that he has a heroin habit. Sid says that Pierce paid him to photograph a cop having sex with Lynn. Bud goes crazy and tries to kill Sid. He gets the pictures from Sid's car and sees Lynn and Exley. Bud drives off, distraught.

Dudley, "I wouldn't trade places with Exley for all the whiskey in Ireland."

It then turns out Sid was part of this set up to get Bud to kill Exley. But then Dudley kills Sid.

Sid pays the price for trying to play all sides against each other for his personal benefit. The audience has been set up to feel satisfaction over his demise.

Exley is on the trail of the daily report books that will tie together Stencil, Meeks and Dudley.

Bud confronts Lynn. He's distraught. He demands to know what happened. He hits Lynn. Bud has gone into the dark night of his soul.

Next scene, Exley looks at logs. Bud enters and shows him one of the photos of him and Lynn. Bud beats Exley, a scene foreshadowed from the beginning of the movie. Exley pulls out a gun and tells Bud that Dudley set up Bud to kill Exley. It seems Bud will kill him anyway, but he pulls back.

Bud relates that Stencil denied knowing Susan or Meeks. Bud realizes Meeks was killed because of the heroin, that he and Stencil must have taken the heroin when they killed a lieutenant of Mickey C in the story's frame. Another piece of the story now comes center stage.

Exley tells Bud that the two cops planted the shotguns on the original Night Owl suspects.

Exley tells Bud they need to work together. Will they? It's a dramatic moment.

Bud asks Exley why he would undo the case that made his reputation.

The two men agree to work together.

Bud and Exley go to see the corrupt DA. He tries to put them off, but Bud beats a confession out of him. Exley demands wiretaps on Dudley and Pierce, but the DA refuses. He blows them off. Bud sticks the corrupt DA's head in a toilet, then hangs him out a window. Exley now stands by. He's made his full journey to being a mean bastard. In a way, he and Bud have taken on each other's traits. A very neat transition, planned from the opening scene of the story.

We discover through the corrupt DA that Dudley and Pierce have been taking over Mickey C's rackets, with Dudley using an unwitting Bud as his enforcer.

It's clear now why the information was withheld about who was eliminating the lieutenants of Mickey C.

Exley and Bud find Pierce's dead body, murdered. Dudley is killing off loose ends.

Bud realizes Dudley will go after Lynn as a witness. Other cops already have her. They say that someone already worked her over. Bud is ashamed.

Bud goes to find Sid.

We see the battered Lynn and Exley. They ask if the other is "okay." They have both been beaten by Bud. Lynn has never heard of Dudley. So she's a dead end for information.

Bud goes to Hush-Hush and finds the body of Sid. Bud is told to meet Exley at the Victory motel, where Dudley has had Bud carry out his beatings of other mobsters.

Bud meets Exley. They realize they've been set up, and it's too late to get away. They arm themselves and retreat into the old motel.

Exley asks Bud why he came. Bud, "A lot of bad stuff happened here. It's a good place for it to end."

Bud is determined to atone for his actions if he can.

Exley, "All I ever wanted was to measure up to my father."

Bud, "Here's your chance. He died in the line of duty, didn't he?"

A fusillade of gunfire erupts.

Bud and Exley hold their own for a time.

Will they get out alive?

Exley is shot, but Bud finishes off several more bad 'cops.' They seem close to safety, until Bud is shot by Dudley. Dudley points his gun at Exley, who says, "Rollo Tomase."

Dudley, "Who?"

Exley, "You're the guy who gets away with it."

This line reinforces that Exley's eyes are fully open now. He's fully aware of the world he's in.

Bud is still alive and shoots and wounds Dudley, who shoots Bud at point blank range. Exley gets the drop on Dudley. Dudley asks, "Are you going to shoot me?" We're at the question Dudley asked early in the movie. Dudley proposes that he'll talk his way out of this and he walks away, telling Exley that he'll make him chief of Detectives. It seems Exley might go for the deal.

As police approach, Dudley says, "Hold up your badge so they'll know you're a policeman."

Exley hesitates, then shoots Dudley in the back.

There will be no trial.

Exley has finished his moral journey.

Exley is interrogated. Outside the interrogation room the DA says Exley is throwing his career away.

Exley explains the connections between the different characters and how the fight over the heroin led Dudley and the others to turn on each other.

DA, "The press is going to have a field day with this." The power brokers outside the interrogation room wonder if they can get Exley to go along with a cover-up that presents Dudley as a hero who died defending paradise.

Exley smiles because he's heard what they were saying. He says, "You'll need more than one (hero)."

Next scene, Exley is getting another medal of Valor. He's clearly on an upward career track.

In the rear of the hall, he sees Lynn. He goes out to see her. She leads him outside where....

We see Bud in a car. He's survived. Like a Jesus of Fists, Bud the avenging angel has risen from the dead.

Exley and Bud gaze into each other's eyes.

Exley, "Thanks for the push."

Bud taught Exley the power of fighting for what is right.

They shake hands.

Bud, "Yeah."

Exley goes to Lynn. What will she do? Stay with him? Go with Bud? Up until it's final moments the story is structured to generate drama.

The angelic Lynn goes with Bud and back to the 'real' world where she is Lynn Bracken, not a Veronica Lake look- a-like.

Exley watches them go off into the distance. He's now fully equipped to handle in his own way the corruption around him.

End of film with song lyrics, "You have to accent the positive."

Oh, yes.

Summary

By taking a story issue that resonates with an audience -- people who are lost finding their way again-- and creating around them a creative plot and dynamic, strong-willed characters, LA Confidential found an audience.

The film is a good example of how every element in a story can be constructed around having a clearly definable purpose. Whether someone starts with a clear purpose for a story, finds it along the way, or finds it after writing several drafts, it is because every detail of a story communicates a sense of purpose that gives a story a quality of being more 'true' than life and its messy, unfocused details.

Writing the details of a story around a dramatic purpose is not the same as 'writing' on the nose. It means that knowing where a story is going, and why, the storyteller can make clear choices about what to reveal or not reveal to set up a story's on-going revelations. One can always create a big revelation for a story by simply withholding information, but it risks creating a dull story journey up until that point.

LA Confidential did not ascend to the level of great films like The Maltese Falcon and The Wild Bunch that also dealt with this issue of morality in a corrupt world. Falcon ends with Sam Spade explaining how the death of his partner must be avenged. It is a moral absolute. In The Wild Bunch, the moral 'bad' men prefer to die with honor than live without it. Confidential expends more of its energy making its plot 'work' rather than going for a deeper impact, but it's an enjoyable piece of work and fun to watch.

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