Jesus is flying over Rome, a statue hoisted by a helicopter, in the opening shot of Fellini's "La Dolce Vita." In the opening shot of L.A. Story," which debuted 25 years ago this week (on February 8, 1991), instead of Jesus, it's a giant prefab frankfurter.

And that may be all you need to know about how the movie industry portrays its hometown on screen. In the movies, at least, Los Angeles is a city of jarring contrasts -- artifice and practicality, glittering dreams and prosaic reality, sunshine and drought. Though it's a comic fantasy, "L.A. Story" paints as effective a portrait of Los Angeles as any movie, but as the list here makes clear, there are lots of L.A.s, each with its own screen story.