Stupidity: When White and Exley meet outside the motel and realise they've been set up, White suggests they leave, but Exley says it's too late. It wasn't even close to too late. There were no other people around, they had cars and there was a road right in front of them. Then they decide to go trap themselves inside the motel. It seems like they wanted to be shot.
La Confidential (1997)
1 stupidity
Directed by: Curtis Hanson
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kim Basinger, James Cromwell
Continuity mistake: Bud and Exley are sitting in their car talking - Exley looks OK. His lip and eye are almost healed and there's only a little black and blue on the upper part of his left cheek. Than in the next scene with Lyn he looks like he's been beat up again worse than before. (01:56:10 - 01:56:40)
Ed Exley: Why'd you become a cop?
Jack Vincennes: I don't remember.
Trivia: Kim Basinger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Lynn Bracken, even though she's only in the film for 15 minutes.
More questions & answers from La Confidential
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Chosen answer: A 12g shotgun blast at that range would cause an incredibly bloody death, especially as there is a good chance it hit the man in the face. Exley has killed a person in the line of duty before this, but not in such a spectacular way. And while he may not have meant to kill him he chose to shoot over letting the man escape.
Grumpy Scot