Mulholland Falls (1996)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Lee Tamahori

Writers (WGA):

Peter Dexter (story) and
Floyd Mutrux (story) ...

Release Date:

26 April 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

This isn't America, this is Los Angeles

Plot:

In 1950's Los Angeles, a special crime squad of the LAPD investigates the murder of a young woman.

Plot Keywords:

FBI | Investigation | Murder | Police | 1950s

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Nick Nolte	...	Max Hoover
Melanie Griffith	...	Katherine Hoover
Chazz Palminteri	...	Elleroy Coolidge
Michael Madsen	...	Eddie Hall
Chris Penn	...	Arthur Relyea
Treat Williams	...	Colonel Nathan Fitzgerald
Jennifer Connelly	...	Allison Pond
Daniel Baldwin	...	McCafferty
Andrew McCarthy	...	Jimmy Fields
John Malkovich	...	General Thomas Timms
Kyle Chandler	...	Captain
Ed Lauter	...	Earl
Larry Garrison	...	Perino's Maitre d'
Chelsea Harrington	...	Lolita
Johnna Johnson	...	Bar Woman

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality, violence and language.

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Iceland:16 | South Korea:18 | Singapore:M18 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Germany:16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:R (Manitoba) | Canada:AA (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

City Hall - 200 N. Spring Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Largo Entertainment

Trivia:

Cameo: [Bruce Dern]The Chief.

Goofs:

Continuity: As the Hats approach the crater at the restricted testing range, the brown canvas bag that had been hanging over the front of the car disappears.

Quotes:

[trying to thread a projector]
Coolidge: Damn it! I can't get my finger in there. It won't fit.
Esther: Try your dick.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Open Water (2003)

Soundtrack:

Harbour Lights

Pretty good cop thriller (spoilers within).

Looking at the four stern faces of the suited men on the cover, you'd think this was yet another movie about gangsters. But it isn't. Fans of another fantastic period cop drama, L.A. Confidential, should enjoy this film, as they are quite similar in theme. Like Russle Crowe's hard-edged cop character in L.A. Confidential, the four cops in this movie, do what they must to dispense justice. Despite their violent methods, they are nonetheless vigilante about justice.

Unorthodox and often unethical Los Angeles cops, Max Hoover (Nick Notle), Elleroy Coolige (Chaz Palminteri), Eddie Hall (Mike Madsen), and Arthur Relyea (Chris Penn), do what they can from keeping the trash from moving into the city. Tossing gangsters down Mullholland Falls, the symbolic dumping site for the exiled criminals, and tearing up coke dealers and pimps with a handy black jack, these cops don't take crap. (It should be interesting enough at this point to see both Penn and Madsen not playing their usual roles as sadistic gangsters).

The four cops are preoccupied with a new investigation after Max's former lover, Allison Pond (Jennifer Connelly), is discovered dead in a development yard. The case tests Max's limits on the ability to sift out the suspects and overcome whatever obstacles stand in his way of justice. At first, it seems as though this is just another story in which the villain turns out to be zealous leaders of the mafia who go to all ends to get what they wants (usually a profit venture). But that is not the case here. Max and the gang find themselves going up against the government and military, implicating Atomic Energy Commissioner (John Malkovich) and an eager Colonel (Treat Williams), to find out what is what that Allison was involved with that lead to her death. The movie takes place during the 1940s around New Mexico's White Plains nuclear testing site, and makes some challenges to the ethics of nuclear testing.

This movie has a tremendous cast, even in minor roles. Nick Nolte does a fantastic job, as does John Malckovich in the role of the dreamy, dying Atomic Energy Commissioner.

I also compare this film to L.A. Confidential because it seemed like some of the settings (and even the arrangement of scenes) are very similar to those used in the former. For example, Max Hoover's house (especially the living room and bedroom) looked almost identical to the one where Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito break into the house in the beginning to bust up a minor "pot party." The bedroom looked much like that one for Kim Basinger's house as well. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the same people involved in Mullholland Falls likewise worked on L.A. Confidential.

It isn't your traditional cop drama/political thriller because of the nature of the main characters. They don't always play by the rules, but in the end, they are the good guys. And, it's got a good finale.