All All. Sign In. Jump to Summaries 5 Synopsis 1 Edit. As corruption grows in s Los Angeles, three policemen - one strait-laced, one brutal, and one sleazy - investigate a series of murders with their own brand of justice. Three very different cops are all after the truth, each in their own style: Ed Exley, the golden boy of the police force, willing to do almost anything to get ahead, except sell out; Bud White, ready to break the rules to seek justice, but barely able to keep his raging violence under control; and Jack Vincennes, always looking for celebrity and a quick buck until his conscience drives him to join Exley and White down the one-way path to find the truth behind the dark world of L.
Three policemen, each with his own motives and obsessions, tackle the corruption surrounding an unsolved murder at a downtown Los Angeles coffee shop in the early s. Detective Lieutenant Exley Guy Pearce , the son of a murdered detective, is out to avenge his father's killing. The ex-partner of Officer White Russell Crowe , implicated in a scandal rooted out by Exley, was one of the victims.
It's the early s Hollywood where organized crime is taking hold. White is the epitome of the muscle, he, who, acting more on emotion, uses his fists before he asks questions in exacting his brand of justice.
He is especially protective of women victims, potential or actual. Of the types, his mentality most closely matches that of Captain Dudley Smith, the two, among others, who systematically corral and rough up the foot soldiers in organized crime to show them who's boss in town.
The son of a famed detective who was killed by an unknown assailant on the job, Exley is by-the-books, none of the beat cops and detectives liking him for willing to rat out what he sees as corruption on the force. Exley is, however, politically savvy and knows how to play the system to his advantage. Vincennes is the slick cop who likes the glamour of Hollywood. As such, he most enjoys his role as technical advisor on the police television show Badge of Honor.
