“Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush.”
So says reporter Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito) at the end each of his articles in the tabloid paper Hush-Hush. While Sid works as a supporting character in Curtis Hanson’s masterful crime drama L.A. Confidential (1997), his part is essential in establishing and maintaining the tone and style of the piece. There is a reason why Sid is the main narrator, setting up the story and guiding us through its intricate twists. He is representative of the ever-growing fascination the public has with scandal and sleaze news, especially when it deals with the glitz and glamour of 1950s Hollywood. While that kind of journalism seems to dominate mainstream media today, Sid is a symbol of its birth. In a time when Hollywood and the movie industry were in their so-called “golden age,” this movie peers beneath those layers toward its seedy underbelly in gritty fashion.
