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

James Ellroy's book was based in part on the true story of the murder of Elizabeth Short, an aspiring actress who'd moved to Hollywood in the late 1940s from Medford, Massachusetts. A drifter and hanger-on who never managed to break into films, she disappeared in early January 1947. On January 15, 1947 her horribly mutilated corpse was found in an empty lot in South Central Los Angeles. Her murderer was never publicly identified or apprehended.

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Goofs

During the scene in the park when Bucky arrests the woman, in the first shot of the ice cream truck in the upper left corner is a 1980's white pickup truck, which is masked out in subsequent similar shots.

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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 JCVD (2008)

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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

Black Dahlia, a black hole in the movie making universe

Brace yourself for some real truth. As you noticed on IMDb, this movie was advertised as "Crime / Drama / Mystery / Thriller". The trailer makes the movie look the same. Unfortunately, if you go to this movie with that in mind, you may and should be disappointed. When I see the genre described as it was, I want to see just that. Oh, you can add comic relief, maybe good music, some reasonable horror and nostalgia, but do not do what was done to The Black Dahlia.

They obviously didn't intend to make this a serious movie, but rather it was a cheap attempt to imitate a Film Noir sometimes, a TV mystery sometimes and then other times I don't think they knew what they actually wanted to do.

When I am sucked into a movie that I believe is going to be a mystery, I want to be able to enjoy the movie throughout and get involved in the mystery. In this case, the viewer has to spend far too much time trying to figure out what the movie is trying to do. Just give me the mystery that the movie is about. No one needs to make the movie-making process a mystery.

For those of you who are going just to see Scarlett Johansson, I have to say I am very disappointed in her. Her acting needs a lot of improvement or she needs to find movies that embrace her sensuality. Yeah, she is sexy in this movie, too, but her voice does not fit her actions and her acting is puzzling, not mysterious. I want the Scarlett I knew from "Lost In Translation" and "American Rhapsody" at least she could act and her voice fit her character. Other main characters were just as puzzling, however. And honestly, the best and most interesting characters were treated somewhat like extras, though one of those "extras" was by far the best actress in the movie.

You can call this an imitation Film Noir Graphic Novel that should have taken a more serious approach to even those genres.

I gave it a 4 out of 10 out of generosity.