|
|
Release
Date: |
09/15/2006
- Nationwide |
Run
Time: |
1
hr. 59 min. |
MPAA
Rating: |
|
| For
strong violence, some grisly images, sexual content and language. |
Genre: |
Drama |
Starring: |
Josh
Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank, Aaron Eckhart, Mia Kirshner |
Director(s): |
Brian
De Palma |
Producer(s): |
Rudy
Cohen, Moshe Diamant, Art Linson |
Writer(s): |
James
Ellroy , Josh Friedman |
Studio: |
Universal
Pictures |
|
| Synopsis |
| Elizabeth Betty Short,
a 22-year-old aspiring actress from the East Coast who wore a delicate
flower in her raven hair and became many things to many people--dear
friend, beloved sister, estranged daughter, frequent girlfriend and
accused prostitute. On January 15, 1947, she was discovered brutally
splayed in a vacant lot near Leimert Park in downtown Los Angeles.
Enter onto the scene two ex-pugilist police officers, Lee Blanchard
and Dwight Bucky Bleichert, the poster boys for 1940s LAPD. The new
partners' first homicide case starts with a call from their supervisor,
Detective Millard, to investigate the slaying of the ambitious silver
screen B-lister Betty Short, just as they leave a deadly shootout.
Blanchard and Bleichert, like the rest of the fascinated city, become
drawn into the lurid world of the Dahlia's L.A. While Blanchard's
growing preoccupation with the Dahlia's murder threatens his relationship
with girlfriend Kay Lake, Bleichert finds himself irresistibly drawn
to the enigmatic Madeleine Linscott, the daughter of one of the city's
most prominent families--who just happens to have an unsavory connection
(and resemblance) to the Dahlia. Blanchard spins into obsession trying
to solve the case, seeing in Betty the chance to redeem himself for
letting down the other women in his life that he failed to protect.
Bleichert, too, begins to question his own footing as his feelings
fluctuate wildly between two disparate dames: the seemingly innocent
Kay and the knowingly seductive Madeleine--whose unhinged mother,
Ramona, proves to hold more than a passing clue to the mystery. Determined
to be famous, destined to be infamous, Betty Short affected more lives
dead than she could possibly alive. She dreamed of being photographed
for the big screen but wound up the pin-up girl of tabloid autopsy
photos. |
|
