L.A. Confidential. Original music: Jerry Goldsmith
The musical styles used in the film L.A. Confidential are dominated by the popular songs of the early 1950s: pop music, from the early '50s hit parade, Broadway show tunes, or the cool jazz style of the period; original score by longtime film composer Jerry Goldsmith.
The popular music of the period is a kind of soundtrack that evokes the dominant cultural cues of the period but in an ironic way. The selections of pop music are critical in that their lyrics are upbeat, celebratory of life. For example, Johnny Mercer's "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive," composed and sung by him, conveys the confidently triumphalist ethos of postwar/early Cold War American society. "Wheel Of Fortune" prays for success, and "Look For The Silver Lining," sung by the silver-voiced Chet Baker, is an injunction for optimism in general. Their ironic standpoint can be seen when the lyrics are contrasted with the themes of the film. A telling line in the Mercer tune is "Don't mess with Mister In-Between," though the film is all about contingency and "in-between-ness," from the sexual ambiguity of Pierce Patchett personally to the aggressively casual corruption of L.A.P.D. to the squalid life of Lynn Bracken's and Matt Reynolds's prostitution vis-à-vis their disappointed dreams of Hollywood glamour--dreams that informed so much of the history of Los Angeles throughout the 20th century and that so often ended in tragedy. The plea for success in "Wheel Of Fortune" or for optimism in "Silver Lining" is in sharp contrast to the surreptitious way in which fortune tends toward justice through Bud, Vincennes, and Exley, whose ethics and methods are by no means pure.
An important counterpoint to the pop-music score is Goldsmith's film score, which is laden with percussion in the opening moments of the film, percussion that in a way seems meant to drown out upbeat triumphalism and gi...