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One fine morning the foursome take a drive into the desert to view a body, one which looks like its been crushed into the ground. Gingerly lifting an arm that trails like damp spaghetti, they turn her over and stare into the face of an obviously once pretty lady - from which Hoover recoils. It turns out that Allison Pond (Jennifer Connelly) was your typical actress-wannabe who turned tricks for a living. When a 16mm film turns up unexpectedly the crucial difference between Allison and all of the other LA hookers is that she was seeing General Timms (John Malkovich), the head of the Atomic Energy Commission. The twist is that it could just as easily have been Hoover in the home video, on an extra-marital trip away from devoted wife Katherine (Melanie Griffith).
Apart from the film, which doesn't prove much apart from the fact that Allison was surgically enhanced, precious few other clues emerge. Some fragments of glass in her feet turn out to be highly radioactive, just about every bone in her body was broken - almost as if she'd been thrown over a cliff. The case has a terrible resonance for Hoover of course, given that he was almost in love with her for six months. The rest of gang can't do much to help him as he wrestles with personal demons, mainly to do with not hurting Katherine with the truth. Then slimy middleman Jimmy Fields (Andrew McCarthy) turns up, asking for protection and hinting about the semi-pornographic films. It looks like this case is about to blow wide-open.
The basic premise of Mulholland Falls is fine, dealing with the collision between post-war nuclear secrecy and a team of licensed vigilantes, with offshoots into personal morals. This is an area ripe for a lively film noir examination of corruption, power and violence. Mulholland Falls thinks that it can do this and, in shooting so high, fails completely. The script itself is utterly formulaic, superficial and adept at telegraphing the plot far in advance. This logic-defying screenplay squanders its possibilities with implausible actions and scenes which are just not believable (such as Hoover beating up an FBI agent and suffering exactly no consequences, in fact the agent plays no further part in the film).
However, being stuck with a vacuous and unoriginal script doesn't have to signal the end for a movie. If the cast is compromised of some really excellent roles, characters who have depth and background (in short, people we can care about), then a step back from the brink is possible. Unfortunately Mulholland Falls disappoints once again, dealing out a bunch of two-dimensional clichés to spout dismally inane dialogue. The entire "Hat Squad" is fairly repulsive, a group of cops who feel that laws only apply to other saps, although Hoover is by far the most unpleasant fedora wearer. He certainly doesn't deserve the love of Katherine and the movie sure doesn't encourage sympathy (when he evade personal responsibility so cruelly).
There are a few good points in the frankly ridiculous Mulholland Falls, mostly the fine camera-work and the creation of a detailed 50s backdrop. All of the expected props are present and correct, even if the cars and suits look too new. Ultimately a much better viewing choice would be Chinatown, unless you fancy watching a watered-down, gratuitously gory copy.
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