crime pays

When films set in Los Angeles routinely involve the city’s destruction by aliens or lava the noir-ish Fifties wonderland of police corruption depicted in “L.A. Confidential” seems positively boosterish. Attending the premiere was gold-plated townie Mayor Riordan, below, and cast members Russell Crowe, Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito and Guy Pearce. Also on hand: co-leading man Kevin Spacey, bottom left, and a bow-tied James Ellroy, upon whose thriller the movie was based.