sol- Investigating the suspicious death of an attractive young woman, four LAPD detectives uncover a conspiracy involving atomic energy in this mystery thriller set in the 1950s during the peak of the Cold War. Luciously shot by the legendary Haskell Wexler and accompanied by an appropriately moody music score, the movie succeeds in creating an experience that is part film noir homage and part 70s paranoia thriller homage. The performances are also uniformly excellent. The film bites off a little more than it can chew though. The origin of the title, for instance, is revealed very early on as we see how shady the detectives are, resorting to letting some criminals (who they cannot legally touch) dive off the edge of Mulholland Drive. For the vast majority of the film though, they are shown as far less corrupt, which is a shame because morally ambiguous policemen are always far more interesting. A subplot involving the lead detective's neglected wife does not quite gel with the story-line either and mostly feels like a distraction from the Cold War conspiracy that the detectives eventually unfold. Generally speaking though, this is a fairly enticing affair. Released after the end of the Cold War, the film benefits in particular from speculating over what may have been in terms of government whitewashes and corruption during this heightened period of international tension.

begob A thug cop runs up against military thugs as he investigates the mysterious murder of his former mistress.Great potential to this movie, but it's a dud. Brilliant cast, with Nolte doing his thang, and you can see him trying to spark some life into his character in the slap scene. But there's a constant sense of the actors crying out for drama and good lines. And John Malkovish looks bored as hell.The story is good, setting good, and it looks good. But the whole thing feels flat due to bad writing, directing, editing. At one point Nolte gets out of a car - after unbelievably knocking out two soldiers - lights a cigarette, and in the very next shot flips the cigarette away as he enters a doorway. Daft.There is an interesting theme in throwing people away, but not explored.Also the music is constant, hardly any silences, and all a bit gorgonzola.Basically this needed a dose of Tarantino or Lynch - either dynamic violence or weird malevolence. Thankfully we got it soon after in Reservoir, Pulp, and the other Mulholland.

maxdaddytj 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.

paul weissman When I watched this film recently I thought that it must have been made by people trying to capitalize on the success of L.A. Confidential. It has the same look and it has nothing short of a phenomenal cast list. But it actually came out a year before L.A. Confidential. I suspect that the L.A. Confidential producers wee quaking in their boots after this attempted film noir bombed at the box office. But of course, L.A. Confidential turned out to be a great success and is remembered as one of the truly great modern film noirs, combining all of the best features of a great film, and getting that 40's and 50's feeling just right.About all the Mulholland Falls gets right is the 40's and 50's feeling. But the cast of the Hat Squad come off as almost comic book figures. They drive around town in a big convertible but their hats never even flicker, less blow off in the breeze, even when they are trying to outrace an Army jeep at a nuclear test site. Indoors, they take off their coats but never their hats.The pace of the movie is glacially slow. It's difficult to stay awake. The writing is sub-par and all too predictable. The two talented and beautiful women in the movie, Melanie Griffith and Jennifer Connelly are largely wasted with relatively little screen time. In one comical scene Connelly is slapped by her mobster boyfriend and barely flinches. She returns the slap and almost knocks the guy over. Aren't mobsters supposed to be able to hit better than that? Or at least take a slap from a girl? Parts of the plot are beyond ridiculous. At the nuclear test site, the Hat Squad takes off down a road marked restricted, shoots the padlock off a locked gate, and then acts surprised when the Army comes after them. And John Malkovich as an effete and intellectual Army general in a red smoking jacket is so out of place to be absurd.Continuity is also a shambles in this film. During the airplane fight, Treat Williams has one of the rip cords from a parachute tied around his neck as he is thrown to the floor of the plane in front of the door. The next shot is a close-up of him sitting on the floor and the cord is mysteriously gone. At the end of the film, the three surviving members of the Hat Squad place their hats on the coffin of their fallen comrade. Nick Nolte then proceeds to put on his hat (not the one on the coffin) as they walk away. Where did that hat come from? The film has its moments but its poor writing and incredibly slow pace waste a great cast that tries as best they can to overcome the deficiencies of a crummy plot.