MovieChat Forums > L.A. Confidential (1997) Discussion > When Russell Crowe's character confronte...

When Russell Crowe's character confronted that wife beating man at the beginning...

posted 2 years ago by TheMan18 (13052)
6 replies | jump to latest

... I wonder, what if he personally, following what that cop character said, expressed a disagreement at the law and prison system including the brutality of inmates towards other, however also brutal, inmates, and said out loud "That is so unfair!", his situation would probably be worse but...

Wouldn't it also make for a thought-provoking case of considering prison systems and either its inmates and/or guards in their own way unfair and over the top? Granted, yes even heinous criminals must be imprisoned but it doesn't say in any law book or anything that they HAVE to treat a certain group of individuals a certain way because it is an 100% "correct" thing to do and full stop. Most of them are even criminals themselves as well and may even be guilty of serious bad deeds of their own. So they're not exactly moral agents either, seriously. And is this something we have to be proud of or be highly against or just take it as it is?

OK I agree that beating one's own wife etc is terrible and wrong. Committing certain other crimes is even more wrong and at times downright heinous, no doubt. Yes, folks who do it should be punished by being locked up and whatnot so they don't harm others again and also make up for what they did in that sense too.

But isn't committing brutality of any kinds in prison itself like that by one group of inmates towards another or even by guards to inmates etc in its own way also terrible and not something to be especially proud about or accept as normality either? Even towards heinous criminals?

And to also ACCUSE SOMEONE of something more heinous albeit rather falsely like Crowe's character threatened to do... Well, he wasn't exactly fully right either, correct?

And do you think this movie attempted to say something about law, humanity, morality, criminals etc, whether in 1950s Los Angeles or just in general, thanks.

[–] DancingintheDark (1671) 2 years ago

There’s a lot to unpack there, but I do agree with you in that when a man, woman or they, enter a prison their imprisonment is justice being served and from that point on they should be treated with dignity and respect from both the prison guards as well as their fellow inmates. And by dignity and respect I simply mean granted a safe environment where their time can be conducted in a way which allows them to become a better version of themself, if that is in fact something they wish to pursue.

[–] letess (1563) 2 years ago

He’s talking about two things here. Bud’s saving women from men who beat them up. This we find out later was due to his mother being beaten to death by his dad when he was a child and having to watch it. And then Bud as an enforcer - doing what was asked of him by his LAPD superiors and forever loyal to his partner regardless if it was legal or not.

[–] DancingintheDark (1671) 2 years ago

Right, but wasn’t there a duality shared between Bud character as well as Ed, in that both were fairly flawed in their own right but together they became something of what all police officers should aspire to be.
I know that doesn’t address OP’s question, but I think it touches on why Bud was written the way he was.

[–] letess (1563) 2 years ago

You don’t mean Pierce Padget, do you? You mean Exley? I don’t see anything in this discussion about the best of the two of them. I just saw why brutality and injustice. And where’s respect. It didn’t exist.

If you saw Mulholland Falls. Also in the ‘50s with corrupt police department. The Hat Squad. All Los Angeles. And take a look at Perry Mason HBO and the movie Chinatown. That was LA in the ‘30s.

[–] DancingintheDark (1671) 2 years ago

Sorry, yea I meant Exley.

[–] letess (1563) 2 years ago

Actually. If you could mix the best of all 3. Jack. Exley. Bud. You’d have a good guy.