James Ellroy: Demon Dog of American Crime Fiction.

• Author: ROTHENBERG, ROBERT S.
• Position: Review

James Ellroy: Demon Dog of American Crime Fiction

First Run Features / 90 minutes / $59.95

Most of those who saw the 1997 award-winning film "L.A. Confidential" probably are not conversant with the author of the novel from which it was adapted. As seamy and gritty as the movie is, it is almost Disney-like when contrasted with the fevered persona of James Ellroy, who wrote the book and nine other novels dealing with the sociopaths--on both sides of the law--that populate the underbelly of the ironically labeled City of Angels.

Ellroy, hunched over the steering wheel of his vintage Cadillac convertible, leads viewers around the mean streets of Los Angeles, offhandedly pointing out locales that have figured prominently in vicious crimes, both factual and in his fiction. En route, he matter-of-factly relates episodes from his troubled youth--shoplifting, breaking and entering, and abusing his body with everything from alcohol to amphetamines, marijuana, and cough medicine. Ultimately, his obsession with books on crime and entry into an Alcoholics Anonymous program steered...