"Dark Blue" by Ron Shelton

March 7 and 8, 2007

Of all the films based on James Ellroy’s writings, Dark Blue (2002) is undoubtedly the most neglected. Perhaps the deeply political subject matter has something to do with this. Ellroy and Ron Shelton recount their police thriller against the backdrop of the Los Angeles riots which followed on the heels of the verdict in the Rodney King case.

"They should have wasted that motherfucker's ass," says LAPD Detective Eldon Perry (a superbly cynical Kurt Russell). This loyal soldier of a corrupt system is all too familiar with the methods of manipulating evidence, taking bribes and executing disagreeable suspects. While Perry is in the process of explaining the rules to his new junior partner, a lone wolf in the Department is trying to expose the dirty tricks routinely employed by the officers.

In the film, the jury consultations in the King case function like the ticking of a bomb: when it goes off, the film hurtles through the riots together with its bigoted hero. The connections between actual and filmed events cannot be ignored, and the wounds are deep on both sides.