The Black Dahlia (2006)

Two policemen see their personal and professional lives fall apart in the wake of the "Black Dahlia" murder investigation.

Director:

Brian De Palma

Writers:

Josh Friedman (screenplay), James Ellroy (novel)

Stars:

Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 6 nominations.

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

Storyline

In 1946, the former boxers Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert and Lee Blanchard are policemen in Los Angeles. Lee has a good relationship with his chief and uses a box fight between them to promote the department and get a raise to the police force. They succeed and are promoted to homicide detectives, working together. Bucky becomes a close friend of Lee and his girlfriend Kay Lake, forming a triangle of love. When the corpse of the aspirant actress 'Elizabeth Short (I)' is found mutilated, Lee becomes obsessed to solve the case called by the press Black Dahlia. Meanwhile, Bucky's investigation leads him to a Madeleine Linscott, the daughter of a powerful and wealthy constructor that resembles the Black Dahlia. In an environment of corruption and lies, Bucky discloses hidden truths.

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Plot Keywords:

black dahlia | investigation | police | 1940s | friend | 

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Taglines:

Inspired by the most notorious unsolved murder in California history.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, some grisly images, sexual content and language

Details

Official Sites:

Metropolitan Films [fr] Universal Pictures [uk]

Country:

Germany USA France

Language:

English German

Release Date:

15 September 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

La dalia negra

Filming Locations:

Alto-Nido Apartments -1851 N. Ivar Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$306,679 (Brazil) (6 October 2006)

Gross:

$22,518,325 (USA) (20 October 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Millennium Films, Signature Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mark Wahlberg had initially signed on to play Lee Blanchard opposite Josh Hartnett, but scheduling conflicts with the planned The Brazilian Job prevented him from taking part even though production on The Italian Job sequel was eventually pushed back.

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Goofs

At the beginning of the movie, Bleickert hands his father a model and says "C'mon Dad, you haven't finished this model yet." From the shape of the wings it is clearly a P-47 Thunderbolt, but the shape of the fuselage shows that it is the later 'bubble canopy' model P-47 G or H, which did not fly until late 1944. The Zoot Suit Riots, shown just before that scene, were in 1942-43.

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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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Connections

Referenced in Knock Knock 2 (2011)

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Soundtracks

"Love for Sale"
Written by Cole Porter
Performed and Produced by k.d. lang
Published by WB Music Corp. (ASCAP)

User Reviews

over-the-top mess

Anybody expecting to get a great account of the Black Dahlia case, even fictional, will be disappointed going in to this movie. Of course, I knew that it was a fictionalization of the case, but I had no idea the movie would present its own evidence and draw its own conclusions.

But the main problem here is not the lack of factual detail, so much as the confusion of plot that surrounds and overwhelms the Black Dahlia case itself. So much plot and character and sideplots and backstory are built around the central characters that the case itself seems like a distraction. A key plot point and character motivator is the fascination of the two detectives with the murder, but this is never elaborated enough in the film, and we're left to half-heartedly guess at the character motivations.

The tone is never consistently campy, but when the camp arrives it overwhelms the story. A dinner scene between a suspect and her family had the crowd in stitches (the only scene during which the audience laughed). The problem is that the scene is valuable to the plot and should never have been played for laughs. Hitchcock or even Lynch could have shot the same scene, with the same events and dialogue, and made it menacing and creepy, which it needed to be to function in the mystery.

Other problems: De Palma uses the lesbian angle of the movie (never a part of the case) to full exploitative advantage, and the actresses seem unable to master to the expressive 1940s style acting that would have come naturally to even a marginal 40s star.

Although the film brings a clearcut finale rather than a vague puzzle, too many loose threads come together too neatly and rather than bringing the film to a satisfactory conclusion, it leaves you scratching your head, is this what I spent the last 2 hours waiting to hear? Overall, there is too much plot, too little character development and a wildly uneven tone. The movie has its moments but it's a blinding mess all together.