From: Jasper
Remote Name: 192.168.7.47
Date: 18 Apr 2008
Time: 19:50:18 -0400
Solitairea1— http://smartfellowspress.com/_0408/00000034.htm (last paragraph). Mulholland Falls could just as easily have been titled The Hat Squad because that was the name of the LAPD detective squad in the mid 1950s that the movie revolves around. This four-man team of thugs with police badges did their thing independently. That means they answered only to the police chief (sometimes) and dispensed their idea of justice independent of the official LAPD chain of command or the law. ……….In the areas they paroled, everyone knew them because they drove around in Buicks and wore suits toped with dress hats. A similar unit in Detroit, which also drove around in Buicks, was called The Big 4. It consisted of three detectives in suits and hats and one uniformed driver. I wonder if the real Hat Squad in L.A. was also composed of three detectives and one uniformed cop. I’m thinking of Phillips’ description of his West L.A. functions when he said in the O.J. criminal trial that he “wore three hats.” ………..Anyhow, there is no way Brad could have named his boat Hatt Squad without knowing the brutal history of these units. In the movie there was only one such unit but in fact there were several, all with the same name and the same methods of operation. –Jasper