Robert Towne deservedly won an Oscar for his screenplay of this masterly, complex mystery. It all starts off on a familiar footing, Jake Gittes (Nicholson), a Los Angeles private eye, is hired by Evelyn Cross Mulwray (Dunaway) to investigate the adultery of her husband. From there Jake is led through a world of intrigue, corruption, and double cross as the husband turns up dead and every lead he has points to a connection with water.

Although, the plot is convoluted, the quality of the script provides a clear path through the maze of events. Add in some wonderful dialogue and the journey is a fascinating one. Nicholson is magical, in Gittes we can see the superstar he will become, and his face can tell a thousand stories, with or without the plaster on his nose. His wicked grin softens the world-weary cynicism and adds a sympathetic side to his hard, somewhat aloof character. Dunaway is enchanting as the enigmatic, classy blonde and Huston is the perfect foil as her disturbing and pitiless father. The gorgeous cinematography and varied score by Jerry Goldsmith adds the final touches to a classic piece of filmmaking by Polanski.

The inspiration for the film was the Southern Californian land grab in the early part of the twentieth century, where water supplies were manipulated by various magnates to acquire land for redevelopment. In addition, this was the first film Polanski made after the murder of his wife, Sharon Tate, by the Manson gang. These events go some way to explaining the tragic conclusion of the film and certainly must have contributed to the feeling of despair it leaves you with.

When noir was first created in the 40's, it was the biggest thing to hit films ever. It created a new style of film making the likes of which no one had ever seen before. it broke new ground in cinematography and set the benchmark for crime films of that era. Well the 40's and 50's ended and the noir genre fell off the earth, until 1974 when a director named Roman Polanski decided he wanted to make a period piece mystery film centered in and around Los Angeles. And his film happened to just be named, Chinatown.





When I was younger I never heard of Roman Polanski's Chinatown, I didn't hear of it until I was fifteen and even then it took me a year to see it. And now that I have I'm glad I did, Chinatown was everything a noir fan or a fan of movies could hope for;It's brilliant, extremely well acted, complex and at sometimes dark. It's one of the most well made and most brilliant Neo-Noir I've ever seen since L.A. Confidential, this film get's everything right and it plays out well but the only thing that it get's wrong is the pace. The pace is so slow in the first two acts nut after the third kicks in you've got some serious intrigue and mystery. But all in all this film is nothing short of breathtaking and intriguing, It's the kind of movie that once your in. Your in.




Jack Nicholson turns in a fantastic performance as the jaded P.I. hired to crack this case, he is amazing to watch onscreen and he gives such a mysterious and dark presence to an otherwise standard character. Faye Dunaway is also fantastic in this, she plays the mysterious lover of J.J. Gitties and in the film you don't know who she really is and what she really wants. Or even if she can be trusted. But none the less the cast does utterly fantastic here they bring a standard Noir film out of oblivion and turn it into a movie experience that will blow you away.





While Chinatown did set the bar for Neo-Noir's it also had the bad misfortune of being far too boring for it's own good. But It makes that up with it's inguinal storyline and amazing performances which will more than satisfy any fan of Noir or Nicholson, or film for that matter. All in all Chinatown is one case you want in on.