ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, April 27, 1996               TAG: 9604300017
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 10   EDITION: METRO 
                                             TYPE: MOVIE REVIEW 
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT

`MULHOLLAND' HAS STYLE OVER SUBSTANCE

"Mulholland Falls" is one of those films that looks better than it actually is.

The '50s props are terrific - sharp suits, two-tone shoes, wonderful cars (the Buick Roadmaster convertible deserves a Best Supporting Auto nomination). Pete Dexter's fact-suggested script works with solid themes. A large cast does fair to good work with so-so characters. In search of atmosphere, director Lee Tamahori tends to let the pace plod, but his brutally efficient action scenes work well.

In early 1950s L.A., the "hat squad" really was a plain-clothes police unit that was given sweeping power to do whatever it wanted. As portrayed here, Hoover (Nick Nolte), Coolidge (Chazz Palminteri), Relyea (Chris Penn) and Hall (Michael Madsen) are supposed to keep gangsters out of town. But when Hoover's lover, Allison Pond (Jennifer Connelly), is found dead under horrifying circumstances, the squad swings into action.

An incriminating home movie points them to Gen. Timms (John Malkovich) with the Atomic Energy Commission. The complicated events that follow aren't quite complicated enough. The mystery unfolds without many surprises, and the cops are usually a couple of seconds behind the audience in figuring out what's going on.

The characters don't generate much sympathy, either. Mostly they adjust their hatbrims and fire up unfiltered cigarettes with loud Zippo lighters. Hoover's agonizing over whether he should tell his wife (Melanie Griffith) about his affair is typical Nolte histrionics.

The larger problem here is one of comparison. Writers James Ellroy and Newton Thornburg (to name two of the best) have shown how rich and enjoyable the political-criminal history of California can be. Tamahori and company dd never really get into the meat of it.

Mulholland Falls

**1/2

An MGM release playing at the Salem Valley 8 and Valley View 6. 107 minutes. Rated R for violence, strong language, nudity, sexual content.

LENGTH: Short :   49 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  Christopher Penn, Nick Nolte, Michael Madsen and Chazz 
          Palmieri star as a team of elite 1950s Los Angeles police detectives
          nicknamed "the Hat Squad" who are investigating a murder in 
          "Mulholland Falls."