L.A. Confidential

In early 1950s Los Angeles, LAPD Sergeant Edmund "Ed" Exley (Guy Pearce) is determined to live up to the reputation of his father, famed detective Preston Exley, who was killed by an unknown assailant whom Exley nicknamed "Rollo Tomasi". Already isolated from other officers by his intelligence and career ambitions, he volunteers to testify against them in the "Bloody Christmas" case (6 Mexicans were brought into the station for allegedly beating up 2 officers. The rumors grew through the night till the cops believed one man lost an eye and the other died. They launch a full on assault on the 6 Mexicans while they were in the locker. Exley was locked up as he didn't participate and instead threatened to name everyone in his report) in exchange for promotion to Detective Lieutenant, against the advice of precinct captain Dudley Smith (James Cromwell). Exley is very "by the book" and refuses to plant evidence or stage an encounter even when it is clear that the perpetrator is guilty. Plainclothes Officer Wendell "Bud" White (Russell Crowe), whom Exley considers a "mindless thug", is obsessed with viciously reprimanding woman-beaters. White hates Exley due to his partner, Dick Stensland (Graham Beckel), being fired thanks to Exley's testimony in the "Bloody Christmas" case. With crime boss Mickey Cohen (Paul Guilfoyle) imprisoned for 10 yrs for tax evasion while his underlings are being mysteriously killed, Cpt. Smith recruits White to torture out-of-town criminals trying to gain a foothold in Los Angeles to encourage them to leave town. While at a liquor store, White also encounters Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger), a hooker resembling Veronica Lake, and former cop Leland "Buzz" Meeks (Darrell Sandeen). Both work for Pierce Patchett (David Strathairn), whose Fleur-de-Lis service runs high-end prostitutes altered by plastic surgery to resemble film stars. Sergeant Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) is a narcotics detective who moonlights as a technical advisor on Badge of Honor, a TV police drama series. Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito), publisher of the Hush-Hush tabloid magazine, tips him off on celebrity criminal activity in order to facilitate high-profile arrests that Hudgens can then feature prominently in his publication. Exley soon investigates a robbery and multiple homicide at the Nite Owl coffee shop. Stensland was one of the victims. Exley and Vincennes track down & arrest three African-American felons for the crime; Exley interrogates them and cleverly gets them to confess that they raped and bled a white girl (but they technically never confessed to the Night Owl murders; White gets the address and is able to rescue the white girl they had been raping (White kills the 4th perpetrator who was holding the girl hostage and plants evidence to make it look like he was shot at, which Exley doesn't appreciate); The perpetrators later escape from police custody and are killed by Exley in a shootout. Exley is decorated for bravery. Although the Nite Owl case appears solved, Exley and White individually investigate further, discovering evidence of corruption all around them. The rape survivor admits that the rapists were with her the entire night, on the night of the Night Owl incident. White begins a relationship with Lynn, and recognizes Nite Owl victim Susan Lefferts (Amber Smith) as one of Patchett's escorts. White is surprised when Patchett tells him that Meeks no longer works for him. Lefferts' mother tells White that Stensland was Susan's "boyfriend"; He smells something odd in the Leffert house; White searches the crawl space under the mother's house and finds Meeks' corpse. He then interrogates Johnny Stompanato (Paolo Seganti), Mickey Cohen's ex-bodyguard, who says Meeks was trying to sell a large stash of heroin he had stolen. Exley finds that White was looking around the Night Owl files and follows him to the Leffert house. After White leaves, he brings Meeks body to the morgue for identification and asks for Vincennes's help. Hudgens, with Vincennes' knowledge, paid struggling actor Matt Reynolds (Simon Baker Denny) to engage in a homosexual tryst with District Attorney Ellis Loew (Ron Rifkin) with the intent to set Loew up for arrest and public humiliation. After Reynolds is found murdered, a guilt-ridden Vincennes joins Exley's investigation to find the killer. Vincennes & Exley follow White and find out that he met Stompanato and that he is seeing Lynn as well. Exley and Vincennes find that they body belonged to Meeks, an ex-cop. Vincennes looks at his old files in the archives. Exley goes over to Lynn to find out why she has been fucking White. Lynn seduces Exley and he starts fucking her, only for Hudgens to take photos of them having sex (on Patchett's instructions, who was concerned when both Vincennes and Exley came over to his house for interrogation on Leffert and Reynolds).. Vincennes later confronts Smith with evidence that Meeks and Stensland worked together under Smith's command a decade earlier, and dropped an investigation on Patchett, who had Hudgens photographing businessmen with hookers in a blackmail scam. Smith suddenly shoots Vincennes, who dies after murmuring "Rollo Tomasi", a name that Exley told him in confidence. The next day, Exley's suspicions are aroused when Smith asks him who "Rollo Tomasi" is. During an interrogation of Hudgens, Smith arranges for White to see photos of Lynn having sex with Exley, which sends White leaving in a rage to find him. At the police station, White and Exley fight, but stop when both realize that Smith is corrupt. They deduce that Stensland killed Meeks over the stolen heroin, and that the Nite Owl killings were to allow Smith to kill Stensland. The three African-Americans were framed by evidence planted by Smith's men. Finally collaborating together, Exley and White interrogate Loew, and learn that Smith and Patchett (aided by Hudgens' blackmail photos of Reynolds with Loew) have been taking over Mickey Cohen's criminal empire (Reynolds had heard the whole thing and hence was killed), and that the killings were because of Smith tying up loose ends. They later find Patchett and Hudgens murdered. They manage to save Lynn before Smith and his goons get to her. Smith lures Exley and White into an ambush. After the pair kill Smith's hit-men in a gunfight, White and Smith wound each other. Exley holds Smith at gunpoint, but when Smith tries to surrender to arriving police, Exley shoots him dead (against his own principles). At the police station, Exley explains what he, Vincennes and White learned about Smith's corruption. The LAPD thus decides to protect their image by saying Smith died a hero in the shootout, whilst awarding Exley a second medal for bravery. Outside city hall, Exley says goodbye to Lynn and White before watching them drive off to Lynn's home in Arizona.