Set in the early nineteen fifties this film follows the 'Hat Squad'; four LAPD detectives willing to do whatever it takes, including murder, to rid the City of Angels of organised crime. Then one day they are called in when a woman's body is found outside the city; she is half buried and just about every bone is broken as if she was pushed off a cliff but there are none around. She is Alison Pond who we soon learn was involved with Detective Lieutenant Maxwell Hoover, the leader of the squad. Not long after they start investigating somebody sends in a reel of film which shows Alison and a man in a compromising position. He is soon identified as a general in charge of the US Atomic Energy Commission. He has an alibi for the time she died but as pressure from above is applied to Hoover and his squad it looks as though Alison was killed because she saw something she wasn't meant to; what that is remains a mystery though.

I really enjoyed this film; it provided an interesting mystery and great atmosphere. As others have said it doesn't just feel like a film set in the fifties, it feels almost like a film made them. The cast does a great job; Nick Nolte is on top form as Hoover and Chazz Palminteri, Michael Madsen and Chris Penn impress as the other members of the Hat Squad. There are also solid performances from Jennifer Connelly and Melanie Griffith and Alison and Hoover's wife Katherine. The story unfolds at a good pace and while the identity of the killer isn't a total surprise and the mystery of how Alison came to die seemed pretty obvious it didn't really matter as the big question as to why she was killed wasn't obvious at all. At the end things do get a bit melodramatic but that goes with the genre. There are some fairly violent scenes and some fairly tame sex scenes; I was surprised that it was given a UK-18 certificate though... unless there was something I missed I suspect it would be given a 15 if it were rated today. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of neo-noir films; the story of good and the atmosphere is great.

Nick Nolte heads the cast of Mulholland Falls which came out a year earlier than L.A. Confidential and covered the same time period with similar themes. L.A. Confidential is a much better film, but Mulholland Falls does have its supporters.

The title refers to no waterfall because as a bad guy in the film so aptly put it, there aren't any waterfalls in Los Angeles. What it is, is a cliff off Mulholland Drive in which Nolte and his elite squad make a habit of throwing wise guys off. If they survive they have the option of a further trip or go back where they came from.

This was in the days of Chief William F. Parker of Los Angeles who took over one of the most corrupt police forces in the country. He dealt with systemic corruption in much the same manner J. Edgar Hoover did in taking over the corrupt Federal Bureau of Investigation after the Teapot Dome Scandal. Both men were authoritarian in the methods and their temperament. And both men have their supporters and detractors to this day.

But the main body of the film concerns a homicide of party girl Jennifer Connelly who as it turns out was not only involved with Nick Nolte, but with U.S. Army General John Malkovich who was just appointed to the Atomic Energy Commission.

Malkovich has an aide in Colonel Treat Williams who is every bit as extra legal as Nolte and his squad are. In this case the rule book is out on both sides.

In addition to those mentioned some nice performances are given by Melanie Griffith as Nolte's wife, Andrew McCarthy as the photographer and friend of Connelly who taped her sexual sessions. And stealing every scene he's in is Chazz Palmenteri as Nolte's partner, undergoing psychological therapy.

Though L.A. Confidential is definitely the superior film, if you liked that film, you'll no doubt like Mulholland Falls.

It's 1950s L.A. Lieutenant Maxwell Hoover (Nick Nolte),Coolidge (Chazz Palminteri),Hall (Michael Madsen) and Relyea (Chris Penn) are a squad of rough LAPD detectives who throw bad guys off a hill on Mulholland Drive. They investigate the murder of Allison Pond (Jennifer Connelly) who actually is linked to Hoover. They uncover secretly filmed sex sessions as well as the Nevada Atomic Testing Site. They are threatened by Colonel Fitzgerald (Treat Williams). She also had an affair with General Thomas Timms (John Malkovich),head of Atomic Energy Commission.

It's a tightly wound neo-noir. Connelly is a sort-of-femme-fatale on celluloid. Maybe they should have included a sister following the investigation in the present. The flashback aren't as interesting. Nick Nolte is good at being hard but his desperation needs to be heightened. This movie has most of the elements of a hard-boiled film noir but it does lack the sharp dialog. It needs more thrills to go along with the style.