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The Black Dahlia (2006)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers (WGA):
Release Date:
15 September 2006 (USA)
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Tagline:
Inspired by the most notorious unsolved murder in California history.
Plot:
Two policemen see their personal and professional lives fall apart in the wake of the "Black Dahlia" murder investigation. full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for Oscar.
Another 1 win
&
6 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(74 articles)
Exclusive: Producer Talks 30 Days of Night: Dark Days From the Set
(From Dread Central. 23 November 2009, 11:59 PM, PST)
Is "Charlie's Angels" going to wing it back to television?
(From AfterEllen.com. 16 November 2009, 11:00 AM, PST)
(From Dread Central. 23 November 2009, 11:59 PM, PST)
Is "Charlie's Angels" going to wing it back to television?
(From AfterEllen.com. 16 November 2009, 11:00 AM, PST)
User Comments:
Disjointed murder in the first degree
more (602 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Josh Hartnett | ... | Dwight 'Bucky' Bleichert | |
| Scarlett Johansson | ... | Kay Lake | |
| Aaron Eckhart | ... | Lee Blanchard | |
| Hilary Swank | ... | Madeleine Linscott | |
| Mia Kirshner | ... | Elizabeth Short | |
| Mike Starr | ... | Det. Russ Millard | |
| Fiona Shaw | ... | Ramona Linscott | |
| Patrick Fischler | ... | Deputy DA Ellis Loew | |
| James Otis | ... | Dolph Bleichert | |
| John Kavanagh | ... | Emmett Linscott | |
| Troy Evans | ... | Chief Ted Green | |
| Anthony Russell | ... | Morrie Friedman | |
| Pepe Serna | ... | Tomas Dos Santos | |
| Angus MacInnes | ... | Capt. John Tierney (as Angus MacInnis) | |
| Rachel Miner | ... | Martha Linscott |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
MPAA:
Rated R for strong violence, some grisly images, sexual content and language.
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
121 min
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Australia:MA |
Ireland:16 (theatrical rating) |
UK:15 |
Canada:14A (British Columbia/Ontario) |
Canada:18A (Manitoba) |
Malaysia:18PL |
Indonesia:Dewasa |
Singapore:M18 |
Philippines:R-18 |
Taiwan:R-18 |
Netherlands:16 |
Portugal:M/16 |
Italy:VM14 |
Japan:R-15 |
Germany:16 |
Finland:K-15 |
Greece:K-13 |
Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) |
Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) |
Hong Kong:IIB |
USA:R (certificate #41496) |
Norway:15 |
Sweden:15 |
Canada:13+ (Quebec) |
South Korea:18 |
Argentina:16 |
Brazil:16 |
Spain:18 |
Ireland:18 (DVD rating) |
Denmark:15
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The book was optioned in 1986. It took twenty years for it to be made.
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Goofs:
Anachronisms: Seeing Madeleine for the first time, Bucky observes that she is not the first Dahlia "wannabe" he's seen, but she is the best. The word "wannabe" did not come into usage until the mid 1980s.
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Quotes:
[first lines]
Ofcr. Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert: [voiceover] Mr. Fire versus Mr. Ice. For everything people were making it out to be, you'd think it was our first fight. It wasn't. And it wouldn't be our last.
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Ofcr. Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert: [voiceover] Mr. Fire versus Mr. Ice. For everything people were making it out to be, you'd think it was our first fight. It wasn't. And it wouldn't be our last.
more
Movie Connections:
References Gone with the Wind (1939)
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Soundtrack:
Love for Sale
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FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (602 total)
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"For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak/With most miraculous organ." Shakespeare's Hamlet
Murders are messy on the screen and in real life; screenplays about them can be chaotic and disjointed also. Such is the case with Black Dahlia, a film noir from Brian De Palma, a past master of the macabre and the complicated (Blow Out, Body Double). It has all the trappings of a first-rate detective novel (James Ellroy) made into a 1940's thriller with appropriately moody music of the soulful trumpet (Mark Isham), lush production design (Dante Ferretti), and equally impressive costuming (Jenny Beavan), all set in a timelessly seedy Los Angeles.
There's also the conflicted, sometimes dark hero detective (Josh Hartnett) and the sexy, dangerous femme fatale (Hilary Swank), accompanied by the questionably good voluptuary sex bomb (Scarlett Johansson). As if these noir troublemakers were not enough, writer Josh Friedman seemingly adapts Ellroy's every subplot, every story thread, as if each had to be accounted for in the best CSI tradition.
The original novel was based on aspiring actress Elizabeth Short's unsolved grizzly murder in 1947. After a considerably convoluted exposition, with plot lines rarely intersecting in a unified way, the film has the nerve to offer one of the most extensive denouements in film history, could be a half hour, with lengthy explanation of how all those ends tied together. Needless to say, anti climaxes abound in this last segment, leaving not only more confusion about the plot but also a desire to get back to The Big Sleep without sleeping, a state Black Dahlia threatened several times.
Hartnett's detective says, "Nothing stays buried forever. Nothing." I say this weak noir wannabe should stay buried until a bright 22nd century scholar sees its cultural and aesthetic significance. Until then, it's a jumble of plot points resolved in the end by tedious narration. Even Scarlett Johansson's pulchritude couldn't win me, and that's murder in the first degree.