- In this seedy neo-noire tale, two Hollywood homicide cops investigating a movie mogul's murder stumble upon a child-pornography ring.
- Disillusioned quippy alcoholic, Al Mackey, and emotionally distraught family man, Marty Wellborn, are homicide cops in Hollywood hot on the trail of the murderer of a movie mogul who was moonlighting by making child porno pictures. While Marty deals with his failed marriage and a snitch turned surrogate son he's put in danger, Mackey focuses on the case and his main woman of interest, in more ways than one, becomes a feisty actress called Willie, one of several suspects with motive, opportunity and the evil means to carry out this act. The investigation takes the police duo straight into the viper's pit that is the city's seedy underbelly, and the real question quickly becomes would a medal be in order for the killer instead of being arrested. The movie's title refers to the name of the bar where Mackey spends his evenings.—Richard Jones <rjo339@swbell.net>
- Sgt. Aloysius 'Al' Mackey and his partner, Sgt. Martin 'Marty' Wellborn, are two veteran homicide cops in Hollywood investigating the parking lot murder of a powerful elderly Hollywood movie mogul.
Al, who also serves as the narrator of this neo-noire story, happens to be a rather funny self-deprecating functional alcoholic who uses humor and booze to keep his increasing disillusionment with his job at bay and try and hold on to his ideals of truth and justice as much as realistically possible under the circumstances. His favorite hang out place happens to be a local night club and bar called The Glitter Dome, where he spends his evenings getting drunk and picking up barflies using his cynical charm.
Marty, on the other hand, is a deeply moral and religious man who's become increasingly troubled and unable to deal with the ugly side of the job, especially after his wife took their kids and left him. A recent case of particularly nasty parental child abuse has made things even worse for Marty, giving him recurring nightmares that just won't stop. He's also developed a surrogate father-son relationship with his young Latino gang informant, which only further jeopardizes both the kid's safety and his own clear-mindedness.
The two detectives meet Willie, one of the top actresses in the mogul's studio, who gives the boys a few clues, but also turns out to be Al's kind of gal - a pervy, rowdy, cocaine-fueled, foul-mouthed, feisty girl with the heart of gold and quick wit. Naturally, the two immediately start flirting and almost hit it off until Willie shows her BDSM side and asks him to role-play a rape scene with her. However, they do make up and make out eventually in a more quaint manner that he's more comfortable with.
As the murder investigation progresses with the help of some undercover cops and regular street cops, the number of suspects continues to rise and the case becomes increasingly convoluted, leading the two detectives straight into the Hollywood's seedy underbelly of gay porn, teenage prostitution, lesbian predators, gang violence, rich pedophiles, child pornography and snuff films, which eventually brings up the controversial question - what to do with the killer once he or she is found, if the victim turns out to be a true monster, and what is the price for making such a call.
Their first big break happens during a police sting at a roller skating rink when they catch the man who shot child porn films for the mogul. Their undercover colleagues, Weasel and Ferret, locate the mogul's shady partners which ends up in a shootout. Al and Marty eventually locate a young girl that the mogul used for his movies. At first they suspect her overly protective and much older lesbian lover, Lorna Dillman, who also works for the studio, to be the killer.
Meanwhile, Marty risks his informant's life to catch the gangbanger who bragged about committing another murder that he's investigating. Unfortunately, not only does Marty fail to break the gangbanger, but he also outs his informant and the gangbanger vows revenge against the snitch. When Marty later finds out that despite warning his beloved informant to leave town, he still ended up being shivved to death on a beachfront, his already fragile mind finally shatters to pieces.
The child pornographer is soon released for lack of evidence so he goes back to his old habits and starts shooting another child porn film. Unfortunately for him, the underage girl he's filming refuses to have sex with a boy he brought in and runs away before his goon can shoot her up with heroin to calm her down. Luckily, the girl immediately runs into two beat cops who raid the shooting location and chase the child pornographer into a building. Al arrives there as well and after a shootout in which Al gets a flesh wound, they get their man, only to realize that he actually isn't the killer either.
After spending romantic night with Willie, Al finally figures out that the killer is actually not the girl's lesbian lover but the girl's father, a quaint diner owner he and Marty already interrogated once. Unable to contact Marty, Al confronts the diner owner who quickly breaks down and confesses everything. That's when he gives Al a farewell letter from Marty in which he asks him not to ruin another life and arrest the diner owner, since the mogul was pure scum and Marty is willing to pay the price for taking the law into his own hands like this. As Al reads the letter, unhinged and ecstatic Marty drives his car at full speed over a cliff, committing suicide. Al decides to respect his late friend's wishes and lets the diner owner go.
In the end, the mogul's murder is simply pinched to the child pornographer's Asian goon who can't speak any English and Al retreats with Willie to his favorite hang out place, the Dome, to consider, this time optimistically, their prospects of living happily ever after together.
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