Mulholland Falls
by Lee Tamahori
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Product details
Actor: Chazz Palminteri, Jennifer Connelly, Melanie Griffith, Michael Madsen, Nick NolteDirector: Lee Tamahori
Cinematographer: Haskell Wexler
Editor: Sally Menke
Producer: Lili Fini Zanuck
Producer: Mario Iscovich
Producer: Richard D. Zanuck
Writer: Floyd Mutrux
Writer: Peter Dexter
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Color, NTSC
Running Time: 107 minutes
Release Date: 1998-09-01
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
VHS Movie Reviews of Mulholland Falls
Movie Review: Entertainment plus
Summary: 5 Stars
Mulholland Falls is one of Nolte,s best. A strong cast with no weak links coupled with a thriller/mystery.Movie Review: A period detective film for fans of period detective films
Summary: 3 Stars
I must first confess my undying admiration of the gorgeous Jennifer Connelly. Now, with my bias out of the way, married plainclothes detective Nick Nolte and doomed party girl Connelly have a torrid affair such that it hurts both to break it off. Hard-guy Nolte and his 3 partners are members of the thuggish but sharply-dressed "Hat Squad," who take it upon themselves to rid the city of organized crime figures transplanted from Back East. With the gracious assistance of the "Hat Squad," these organized crime figures have a way of rolling down the side of the canyon off Mulholland Drive, which is their "hint" that they have overstayed their welcome in L.A., and that it is time to leave town. Hence the title. This was obviously before the days of internal affairs divisions and citizen review boards' influence.
Recovering a woman's body found in an open field, Nolte is shocked to discover that Connelly was the victim. Probing deeper, Nolte and his partners determine that Connelly may have been killed for what or whom she knew. Nolte takes it personally. He and his men place themselves in harm's way with the FBI and other well-armed federal agencies. The plainclothes L.A. cops do battle the Feds and, of course, get way in over their heads. Ultimately, no one wins. When you dig deeply enough, no one ever wins.
The upside: this film stars a great ensemble cast--Nolte; Melanie Griffith, his wife; Chazz Palmintieri, Chris Penn, and Michael Madsen, his partners; Connelly; Andrew McCarthy, an effeminate witness; Daniel Baldwin, a smug FBI agent; John Malkovich and Treat Williams. The film looks super, and it recreates 50's L.A. in clear detail, and the dialogue is convincing. Philosophy and psychology are also briefly discussed, which earns it a half-star with me.
The downside: although most scripts made into movies are implausible, the film has difficulty making a believable transition from everyday murder investigation to the scale of atrocity uncovered by the "Hat Squad." This lack of a smooth transition detracts from the credibility of the plotline and the cohesiveness of the film.
The director was obviously influenced by "Chinatown," which is superior viewing, as is "L.A. Confidential," which was released soon afterwards. "Mullholland Falls" is a "Chinatown-lite," although set 15 years or so later.
If you can avoid overly critical comparisons with the best films of this type, you should enjoy it, too. (Adapted from my review of 5/23/00.)
Movie Review: Well made film noir
Summary: 4 Stars
A fine cast led by Nick Nolte recreate early L.A. and L.A.P.D. An elite unit latch on to a murder and take it to the limit; not backing down for a minute against very powerful, sinister forces.
Well worth the investment.
Movie Review: Film Noir Classic, LA Mystery of the 1950s
Summary: 5 Stars
Note: Your helpful votes are appreciated. Thanks.
Nick Nolte is perfect in this movie set in 1950s Los Angeles. It has a well-developed plot that slowly unfolds. A young woman is found dead, having been thrown from an airplane, but the crime is not as simple as it appears. The military is involved in a cover-up on atomic bomb testing.
That's enough. After you see the movie, read a longer review.
"Mulholland Falls" is the kind of mystery you wait months and months to appear. PS: the "falls" doesn't refer to a waterfall.
I also highly recommend "Lantana" (an Australian mystery) and "Mulholland Drive" (set in Hollywood). For your convenience, I inserted these links.
Lantana
Mulholland DriveMulholland Drive
Movie Review: In the realm of movies like "Chinatown", it comes very close to being almost as good.
Summary: 4 Stars
Set in the 1950's, this movie possesses the same elements as the other great "period" pieces, such as "Chinatown", "The Two Jakes", and "LA Confidential". While not as great as "Chinatown", it comes very close to its mark in all the ways that "Chinatown" does (see my review on "Chinatown"). I enjoyed this movie very much due to its similarities with the other movies mentioned and for the totally new story it portrayed, including the dramatic twist of the ending. No, Nick Nolte is not Jack Nicklson, but he certainly holds his own in this extreme account of murder and mayhem in 50's Los Angeles. In fact, with the settings being the same in all four movies, we get a great scenario of Los Angeles from the late 30's to the mid 1950's, making it a grand occasion to watch these four movies together in chronological order!
Summary of Mulholland Falls
Too much surface. Director Lee (The Edge) Tomahori's noir story serves as a McGuffin to its ripe style. Amid secret agendas and unspeakable acts onscreen you stare at the fall of light across old cops' desks. Musing on super-8 footage of naked Jennifer Connelly, your mind wanders. Ah, yes, an allusion to the opening shots of Chinatown. Roman Polanski's grand reinvocation of the dark intuitions of 1940s noir is there, too, in the sumptuous look, the plump list of stars (Nick Nolte, Michael Madsen, Melanie Griffith, John Malkovich), and the swoony, bittersweet soundtrack. The zigzags of the story that bring together two cheating husbands, one pneumatic babe, and (somehow) homosexuality waywardly recall The Big Sleep. The Atomic Energy Commission subplot feels like an homage to Kiss Me Deadly. With so many other movies to please, by the middle of the film it's clear that the story isn't going to thicken, that for all the amperage in Nolte's performance, for all the male rage in Michael Madsen and Chazz Palminteri, the hints of sexual malfeasance aren't going much past Nolte's domestic guilt about his affair with Connelly. And yet there are rich things. Tracing a path from his girlfriend to the head of the Commission (Malkovich), Nolte listens, hat in hand, to a purring existential science lecture about the invisible world of atoms. "Yeah," Nolte growls, "well, I see too much." Would that the filmmakers had let us see more. --Lyall BushMurder Video
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