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Mulholland Falls on DVD (1996)

Mulholland Falls cover art
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Average rating: 61%
1214520101012
3.0
from 172 members
 
Starring: Nick Nolte, Melanie Griffith, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Madsen, Christopher Penn, Treat Williams, Jennifer Connelly, Daniel Baldwin, Andrew McCarthy, John Malkovich
Director: Lee Tamahori
Studio: 4 FRONT VIDEO
Run time: 107 mins
Certificate: 18
Genres: Action/Adventure, Thriller
Languages: English
Released: 02/02/2004

Brief synopsis of Mulholland Falls

The murder of a well-connected seductress swings the true-life maverick 1950's L.A. police unit known as the "Hat Squad" into action in this atmospheric thriller. Unconcerned with protocol, this group of tough cops makes up their own rules, but when one of them is implicated in the murder they may be faced with more than they can handle.

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Critics Reviews

Rating of 3 stars out of 5 Radio Times

A flawed bid to re-create the sleazy glamour of postwar Los Angeles, an era that would be stunningly evoked a year later by the Oscar-winning LA Confidential. Nick Nolte heads a very starry cast, playing the hard-nosed head of the Hat Squad — a group of detectives prepared to take the law into their own hands to deal with mobsters. Nolte becomes entangled in a political conspiracy when investigating the death of a beautiful woman (Jennifer Connelly) who had been his lover. Director Lee Tamahori stylishly evokes the period and elicits excellent performances from a cast that also includes John Malkovich, Melanie Griffith, Treat Williams and Chris Penn. However, all are let down by the muddled script that fails to flesh out the intriguing premise.

Rating of 1 
	  stars out of 4 Halliwell's Film Guide

Period thriller that looks better than it plays; it never fully engages an audience's attention, and the ending is unsatisfactory.

Time Out

Meet the 'Hat Squad', a free-ranging unit of the LAPD comprising Detectives Hoover (Nolte), Coolidge (Palminteri), Hall... Read more on www.timeout.com

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Members Reviews

Reviews Voted Most Helpful

Rated - 4 starsGood fun

Michael McGhie from Bury, Lancashire. , 01/06/2004

I rented this mainly because I like Jennifer Connelly and she does look radiant (except when she plays dead). However, Nick Nolte has a great role as leader of a squad of LA detectives in the 1950s, who sorts out an FBI man in great style in one scene. Indeed there are several good scenes (and much atmospheric smoking) and even though some of the dialogue is difficult to hear the atmosphere is good and it's quite a satisfying film.

  2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 2 starsAverage movie

A customer from Slough , 08/02/2007

Story doesn't have much in it.

  2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 4 starsExcellent

A customer from Nottingham , 18/04/2005

In the same vein as L.A.Confidential but not quite as good.A special police squad in L.A in the forties headed by Nolte specialise in persuading criminals to leave los Angeles.A dead girl leads them to an atomic weapon facility in the Nevada desert.The Army and the F.B.I. object. Lots of violence, good atmosphere, good entertainment.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
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Rated - 4 starsSuperior detective drama, graphic violence

Mike Wilson from Wrexham, North Wales , 05/10/2004

A complex and interesting plot which held my attention and left me a little baffled the first time I saw it. A second viewing helped fill in some gaps. The film certainly stands a couple of viewings. It looks terrific with post-WWII America lovingly recreated -- the clothes, the cars, the planes.

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Most Recent Reviews

Rated - 4 starsAlmost as good as Chandler

Forpor from Henley-On-Thames [Highly rated reviewer] , 25/07/2008

Greay sense of time and atmosphere. Noir but laconoic and casually brutal with a touch of dead pan humour. Very watchable --- and lingers.

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Rated - 1 starsGive it a miss

yogaboy from Londonium [Highly rated reviewer] , 26/01/2008

Perhaps making films is a bit like playing football? You might shoot all night but if you keep missing the post by inches you still won't score and you'll end up losing or appearing dull.

Maybe this film was really close to being good, as it had a good cast and the right ingredients, and it just needed a small nudge here and there to end up being really good. But it wasn't, it was a waste of my time, and I won't ever know if was just missing the post by inches, or if it really was missing by a mile. But it felt like it missed by a mile.

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