The Salton Sea is a 2002 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by D. J. Caruso and starring Val Kilmer and Vincent D'Onofrio. The film was shot on location in Los Angeles, at LA Center Studios, and the Salton Sea. Plot While playing the trumpet in a burning room, the protagonist's voice is heard in narration. His story begins with him posing as "Danny Parker", a speed freak addicted to methamphetamine, who hangs out with friends while indulging in drugs. He also moonlights as an informant for two corrupt cops, Gus Morgan and Al Garcetti. He is trying to set up a large meth score with notorious drug dealer Pooh Bear, an eccentric psychopath who lost his nose to excessive snorting of "gak" (meth), while also attempting to set up a sting operation for Morgan and Garcetti. When he returns home, Parker sheds his clothes and his personality, and basks in his past life as trumpet player "Tom Van Allen". He reveals to an abused neighbor named Colette that he was once happily married, only to watch as his wife was gunned down by masked thieves during a stopover at the Salton Sea. When meeting with Pooh Bear, Parker becomes fearful of Pooh Bear's displays of bizarre homicidal behavior, so he tapes a gun to the bottom of a table. Parker's parents-in-law track him down, believing he has sunk into depression after his wife's death, but he tells them he does not want their help. As the deal approaches, it becomes known that Parker is not only working for the police but FBI agents working to take down Morgan and Garcetti, who have committed multiple murders. It is also revealed that they were the men who killed his wife and wounded him as they robbed a drug dealer. Parker had started his own investigation when he found out who Morgan was and delved into the drug underworld to become a believable junkie. On the night of the deal, Parker, with the help of his best friend Jimmy, leads the FBI to the wrong location. Meanwhile, Parker arrives at Pooh Bear's house. At the dinner table, surrounded by Pooh Bear's armed friends, tensions rise and one of Pooh Bear's men tries to kill Parker, who retrieves the gun he stashed earlier and shoots the rest of the gang. Shot in the chest by Pooh Bear, Parker collapses to the floor. Pooh