Everyone in this movie is quite literally at the TOP of their game: Melanie Griffith, Nick Nolte have never been better. John Malkovich, Jennifer Connelly, Chazz Palminteri, Christopher Penn, Michael Madsen,... Fabulous music, great plot. The plot centers around what's come to be called "The LA Hat Squad". There are probably three or four movies written about the same subject but none of them come close to the professionalism and virtue of this movie.The plot centers around five LA Detectives who answered only to the LA Police commissioner. Their assignment and only responsibility was to keep the mafia out of Los Angeles. Well, clearly, that did not work. This is the story of HOW it didn't work and how wreaked havoc on all of their lives I love this movie!

I've never understood why this movie was so underrated and overlooked. Perhaps because I live in Los Angeles, I found the settings compelling. Parts of town, like the Los Feliz Hills where Nick and Melanie lived aren't that changed. A word here about Melanie Griffith - this is possibly the best thing she ever did - amazing - did NOT deserve the Razzie - that was just mean-spirited! Nolte is stunning, Palmantieri is great, Connolly was so lovely and heart-breaking - this was early on - many of us had not yet heard of her! Louise Fletcher is only in a couple of tiny scenes - but has what is perhaps the best line in the movie. And of course, the whole atomic testing thing was so far-seeing. I have had to watch it more than once - the first time was almost too much to take in. Now I get it. And personally, I felt the movie ended the way it had to.

The name of this movie comes from a place in the movie where the good guys throw the bad guys off of a cliff to let them know that they are not welcome in Los Angeles. This movie is set at about the same time as LA Confidential (in fact probably a little after World War II, considering the plot) and at this time the police rule the city and the criminals are being driven out by simple brute force.This movie is more of a murder mystery than anything else. A dead girl is found in an indent in a quarry and it seems that she has fallen from a great height. The thing that makes this death important is that the girl is a cop's mistress (Hoover - played by Nick Nolte) and he wants to find out why she died. As he searches he comes to find out that the girl's neighbour taped her with her men and has taped something that somebody doesn't like, as he lands up very dead.There isn't anything too deep in this movie. It seems to be that Hoover is trying to come to terms with the death of his mistress, and even though he had dropped her a while back, he still seems to feel responsible for it, so he is determined to get to the bottom of it. The bottom involves the military and some testing of atomic bombs, but it is something that J. Edgar Hoover is supporting. What is going on doesn't seem to be that much of a conspiracy (though if the effects of radiation got out then bad things would happen - but we already know about it now).This movie seems to be more of a character study of Hoover than anything else. This is a guy who loves his wife dearly, but also fell in love with another woman, had an affair with her, and then broke it off when he realised that it was not the right thing to do. Even then he still has strong feelings for her and is torn between his love for her and his loyalty to his wife. He does love his wife, and his wife is what matters, so when the bad guys give the film to his wife as a threat, it is simply a threat that has been carried through meaning that they no longer have any hold over him. The ending also reveals this aspect of the movie as it is not him catching the bad guys (which he does) but rather it is him trying to reconcile with his wife, and the movie leaves us hanging - she walks off. It is not a typical Hollywood ending where he is forgiven and they get back together - she simply walks off leaving him to deal with his betrayal of her.Now I come to think of it, it is the deep characterisation and the struggle that Hoover feels within himself that makes this movie stand out from the rest of Hollywood garbage. It is one that does not have a conclusive ending and also attacks the idealistic feel of the fifties.

Mulholland Falls is directed by Lee Tamahori and written by Pete Dexter. It stars Nick Nolte, Chazz Palminteri, Melanie Griffith, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Jennifer Connelly, Treat Williams, John Malkovich, Bruce Dern and Andrew McCarthy. Music is by Dave Grusin and cinematography by Haskell Wexler.1950s Los Angeles and four unorthodox detectives led by Maxwell Hoover (Nolte) are called in to investigate the death of a young woman found crushed at a construction site. The woman is revealed to be an aspiring actress who had recently had a relationship with the married Hoover. Can is open, and worms everywhere, and following those worms leads Hoover down murky avenues...It's the almost nearly great neo-noir movie, everything looks right in principal, it has a strongly assembled cast, the 50s visuals and cinematography are splendid, and the murder mystery element of the plot - with some added sex, sizzle and nuclear shenanigans - looks promising on the page. Yet it never delivers on that promise of being something dark, to be a labyrinthine noir thriller beating a black heart.It starts of so well, based on the infamous "Hat Squad" we reasonably expect the story to expand upon the opening macho machinations of the four tough hombres in the hats, but instead away from Nolte's grizzled Hoover, the other three guys are merely dressed up props. Which means there's some good actors wasted, sadly.As the plot moves slowly forward the investigation and Hoover character axis becomes less interesting. Griffith came in for some critical grief for a lacklustre performance, but she's done no favours by the writers who fail to give her marriage to Hoover any substance. So when things go pear shaped and the characters of Mr and Mrs Hoover should explode on the screen, we really don't care having had no interest previously to hang our emotional being on.It all builds to what can best be described as a poor pay off, the resolution to the hinted at muddy mystery is hardly shocking, and the "big" face-off sequence between good and bad guys (or bad and bad if you prefer) is about as exciting as watching paint dry. It's not an awful movie, but it is a very disappointing one. A film where a bit more thought given by the producers could have yielded so much more. 5/10