Victory Motel Shootout Scene

The Victory Motel Shootout scene in L.A. Confidential plays around with lighting, moving characters in and out of brightness streaming from outside and leaving viewers on their toes. The scene begins with Bud and Exley vaguely key lit inside the motel in overall obscure lighting, save the strong refraction of light off Exley’s glasses, creating a suspenseful mood. Finally, the shooting begins, creating several pockets of Rembrandt lighting. Exley and Bud try desperately to avoid being exposed by any light, as illumination could mean certain death. A “bad guy” stepping into the motel in a bright pocket and being immediately shot reinforces this notion. All the more fearful of the light, Exley dashes toward the door to shut it and darken the setting. The scene then reaches a turning point, in which the “bad guys” go around and under the house to be more covert. Bud and Exley spot a hole in the ground, even darker than above ground. Bud uses the space below to stay hidden and shoot anyone coming into the light, this time the “bad guys” with the unfortunate exposing light on them. Exley also adopts this strategy and begins opening the windows and using the light this time to see his enemies and shoot. Then the “bad guys” begin percolating into the motel, some alight and some dark, creating confusion as to who is on which side of justice. A key moment of this is when two of the “bad guys” are standing on either side of the door, one in compete Rembrandt lighting and one just barely visible. The scene ends with a final “bad guy” walking toward Exley and getting shot as he passes over the dark hole in the ground. Overall, the light seems to reflect the motif of the movie as a whole: light is used against and for either side of justice, and the varied lighting of characters creates uncertainty regarding specific identities, perhaps mirroring the idea that no policeman in the movie is entirely good or entirely evil, and it’s difficult to distinguish which side someone is really on.