''Brown's Requiem'' is a 1998 American

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

written and directed by Jason Freeland. ''Brown's Requiem'' was the 1981

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

by noted crime author James Ellroy, and his third to be adapted to film following '' L.A. Confidential'' in 1997, and '' Blood on the Moon'' ( filmed under the title ''Cop'') in 1987. The film premiered at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Fest in November 1998, and was not released in the United States until over a year later on February 25, 2000.

Plot

Fritz Brown is a disgraced former LAPD officer now working as a

private investigator A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI; also known as a private detective, an inquiry agent or informally a wikt:private eye, private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. ...

, part-time repo man and struggling on-the-wagon ex-alcoholic. Fritz is hired by an obese caddy named Freddy 'Fat Dog' Baker, supposedly to keep tabs on Fat Dog's sister, Jane. In the course of his investigation, Fritz learns that Jane is indeed living with an elderly millionaire named Solly Kupferman, and that their relationship is odd at best. Fritz follows Solly and witnesses a transaction between Solly and Cathcart, the Internal Affairs Chief who disgraced Fritz and had him expelled from the police force Brown suspects Fat Dog of being an arsonist and discovers that Kupferman owned Club Utopia through a proxy. Brown, thinking there might be a connection between the two men, decides to look for Fat Dog, who has disappeared and force him to confess but finds him dead in Mexico instead. He has been killed by Richard Ralston, with whom Fat Dog had started an illegal trade in social welfare benefits. Ralston failed to find a notebook where Fat Dog had meticulously noted their illegal transactions. Fritz soon finds himself involved in a complicated set of circumstances involving crooks, hit men, corrupt police and murder.

Reception

On the review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, 50% of six reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The film garnered writer/director Jason Freeland the ''Prize of the City of Grândola'' at the Festróia-Tróia International Film Festival, and also received the ''Jury Award'' for ''Best Premiere'' at the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival.

Cast

* Michael Rooker as Fritz Brown * Will Sasso as "Fat Dog" Baker * Selma Blair as Jane Baker * Harold Gould as Solly "Solly K" * Brion James as Cathcart * Jack Conley as Ralston * William Newman as Augie Dougal * Brad Dourif as Wilson Edwards * Christopher Meloni as Sergeant Cavanah

References

External links

* * 1998 films 1998 crime films American detective films American neo-noir films Films based on American novels Films based on works by James Ellroy 1998 directorial debut films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films English-language crime films {{1990s-US-film-stub