On June 16, 1959, George Reeves was shot dead in the bedroom of his home. The case was quickly closed as all of the evidence indicated that it was a suicide. However, there was a considerable amount of evidence that pointed towards the possibility of murder. That evidence never led to any revelation about what really happened, and, to this day the truth has never been uncovered.
The mystery is real, however I do not know how much of this film is real. I believe that many of these points are genuine, but with any "based on a true story" films, thay have to be taken with a grain of salt. There are surely details and characters that have been moved around in the name of dramatic intent. Whatever the real case may be, Hollywoodland is a fine tale of mystery that lays out a few possibilities but does not offer an answer. That is left to the viewer to decide, or perhaps to dig a little deeper. I am more intrigued now that I have seen the film, but I cannot say that I have delved any deeper into the facts.
The film centers on Louis Simo (Adrien Brody), a private investigator who is a bit down on his luck, working out of a motel room as he tries to make ends meet. While looking for scrap work from his former partner, he comes into contact with George Reeves' mother. She believes that her son's death may have actually been a murder because there is no reason why he would have shot himself.
Taking those scraps, and his talent for spin, he sets out to investigate what really happened. His research leads him to Reeves' fiancee, Leonore Lemon (Robin Tunney), and to his lover, Toni Mannix (Diane Lane), whose husband was the head of MGM (Bob Hoskins). Along with them, he finds things like bruises, and a pair of holes in the floor, not to mention the lack of fingerprints on the gun, all pointing towards the possibility of foul play. He uncovers a number of possibilities that could have led to Reeves' death, all of which seem like they could be the truth.
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