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Dudley Smith's tie while arriving at the Nite Owl crime scene - subtle forshadowing or overanalyzing? *Spoilers*


Hello, folks.
So due to the pandemic/quarantine, I have been binging on my favorite noir movies. I recently re-watched LA Confidential and re-watched Chinatown a few days later. So one of those odd details that stood out to me in LA Confidential took place during the sequence in which Dudley arrives to the Nite Owl crime scene, his necktie is tucked into his shirt while he tells Edmund that he is taking over the case. (Whenever I see a character in any film with a tie tucked in, I always notice it: I am still bitter about getting a bad grade for tucking in my tie while doing a presentation for my 12th grade speech class. Hahahaha). So anyhow, when I did my Chinatown re-watch a few days later, I couldn't help but notice how Noah Cross has his tie tucked into his shirt in a very similar way. I then realized how both of these seemingly polite villains had their ties tucked in while they arrived to the scene of a crime where they both were the guilty party in their respective films/stories. Hell, both Noah Cross and Dudley Smith present themselves as charismatic and lovable tall guys with the affable "grandpa" vibe to them before the audience finds out how insane and cold the two really are: the fact that their shining public images never suffer, really makes me feel like these similarities and smaller details were not accidental.

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That's a sharp eye! I'm sure Curtis Hanson studied Chinatown while prepping LA Confidential so you could very well be right.

Still remember my jaw dropping during the Dudley reveal. One of the many things that makes it such a great film.

Out of curiosity, have you ever seen Hickey & Boggs? It's an underrated gem of LA noir.

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