Titus & Terry Teachout discuss L.A. Confidential, another story about the origins of Los Angeles & the modern America of glamour. We have a reversal of the noir--the femme fatale helps redeem rather than damn protagonists who were corrupt before they came to make a serious moral decision. Curtis Hanson's movie makes for a revision a heroism away from noir's tragic destiny toward American drama, where happy ends are possible, in limited ways, for some of the people who deserve them,
