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

The book was optioned in 1986. It took twenty years for it to be made.

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Goofs

In the diner scene the cash register shows a purchase of 4d which was the British symbol for pence, not something you're likely to see in LA.

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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

"In the Mood"
Written by Joe Garland (as Joseph C. Garland)
Used by Permission of Shapiro Bernstein & Co. Inc. (ASCAP)

User Reviews

Disjointed murder in the first degree

"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.