AC/AL 1974 130m ENG 6m N/V CAST: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez, John Hillerman, Darrell Zwerling, Diane Ladd, Bruce Glover, James Hong, Roy Jenson, Joe Mantell, Nandu Hinds, Burt Young & Roman Polanski CREDITS: Director: Roman Polanski; Screenwriter: Robert Towne; Producer: Robert Evans; Director of Photography: John A. Alonzo; Production Designer: Richard Sylbert; Editor: Sam O’Steen; Costume Designer: Anthea Sylbert; Music: Jerry Goldsmith THE SYNOPSIS Los Angeles, 1937. Water is a very big topic in the city, as there is a drought in effect. Private Detective Jake Gittes (Nicholson) takes more of an interest in it when he’s hired by a Mrs. Evelyn Mulwray (Ladd) to spy on her cheating husband. Jake does and then mysteriously, Mr. Mulwray is found dead the next day. The man in question was actually Hollis Mulwray (Zwerling), the chief engineer for the city's water department. The real Evelyn Mulwray (Dunaway) hires Gittes to solve her husband’s death. Yep, it’s murder. Gittes has to follow the leads while evading his former partner, Lt. Lou Escobar (Lopez), a couple of thugs (Jenson & Polanski) who cut up Gittes’s nose and other assorted characters involved in a waterworks scheme involving the diversion of water from certain areas of the city proper to others. Mad money is to be made out of it. Evelyn and Gittes eventually hook up in an affair that begins to cloud his judgments. He runs across her rich & powerful father, Noah Cross (Huston)—who used to be Mulwray’s business partner as well as father-in-law. Somewhere between figuring out Mulwray’s murder, the identity of his secret lover and the ulterior motives of both Evelyn and her father, the truth lies. And it is ugly… THE CRITIQUE In the pantheon of classic film noir (1940s-1950s), CHINATOWN (1974) ranks right up there with perennial movies like The Maltese Falcon (1941), Laura (1944), Double Indemnity (1944), Sunset Boulevard (1950), Touch Of Evil...the list goes on. Produced during those awkward years of the 1970's between the disgraceful end of Vietnam & scandal of Watergate and the go-go rise of disco & excess, CHINATOWN acts as a throwback to those shadowy B&W movies that worked (brilliantly) as escapism for a society mired in another bloody World War. Mingling some Los Angeles historical facts (the whole waterworks backdrop) with a big fat helping of noir themes & motifs, screenwriter Robert Towne (The Last Detail/The Firm/Mission: Impossible I & II) crafts one hell of a terrific screenplay for the ages. Born and raised in the area, Towne had a good feel for the growing metropolis of Los Angeles; and as the proverbial saying in screenwriting goes: Write what you know... His Oscar©-winning script for CHINATOWN is one of the tightest ever written (with the glaring exception of the ending—but more on that later), with obvious nods to the detective stories of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and many of the aforementioned noir pictures of yesteryear. With input from director Roman Polanski & star Jack Nicholson, the pages of Towne's script crackle with dialogue and plotlines that feel like they are from the 1930s. And as a postscript, Towne (as screenwriter) and Nicholson (as star & director) would reunite for the movie’s sequel The Two Jakes (1990)—a decent picture in its own right, but still merely a shadow of its noir progenitor. CHINATOWN is obviously named after a section of town that's predominantly Chinese. Well, duh! Metaphorically-speaking, however, Chinatown represents a twilight place full of failure and loss. As it were, Nicholson's Jake Gittes lost his soul there years ago, as a detective working the beat—trying to stay above the murky waters of crime, corruption and evil. Hey: whatever happens in Chinatown, stays in Chinatown...right Jake? Producer Robert "Call me, baby...I'm just 7-digits away" Evans hired Towne to write a screenplay based on Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, which Towne famously declined (his rationale: How do you top Gatsby?). However, when Evans read Towne's treatise for CHINATOWN, a deal was struck. Evans, wanting to work with director/friend Roman Polanski again, sent him Towne's script. You'll recall that they last worked together on Rosemary's Baby (1968)—a runaway hit for Paramount. Sadly, the year after, Polanski's beautiful actress-wife Sharon Tate and some friends were brutally murdered by the disciples of the infamous Charles Manson. By the way, she was 8 months pregnant with their first child. It was an event that sent Polanski back to Europe for several years to recoup. CHINATOWN would mark a cathartic return to Hollywood for him. If Robert Towne is the movie's raison d'etre, then Roman Polanski is its master craftsman. Helming this affair with a deft hand and a baroque sensitivity, Polanski cemented his status as an Auteur (he would go on to direct such movies as Tess, Frantic, Death And The Maiden and The Ninth Gate before finally winning a Best Director Oscar© for 2002’s The Pianist. Working with his talented cast and artisans, Polanski brings together this budgeted $6,000,000 ship and steers it towards cinematic history. Speaking of talent, those before the lens are nothing short of revelatory. Embodying the cynical private dick Jake Gittes, Jersey's own Jack Nicholson steals the show. With his snazzy suits, slicked-back hair and devilish grin in place, Gittes is 1930s Los Angeles. Unlike other dicks of the noir genre—those who are boozers, gamblers and occasional degenerates—Gittes has no vices, save for his work. Nicholson carries it all of with bravado, humor, misogyny and even some compassion. The radiant Faye Dunaway (as the tragic Evelyn Cross Mulwray) is a potent combination of Barbara Stanwyck & Ava Gardener. Dunaway drips class, elegance and a twinge of sadness into this noir stew. Her character is not the typical "moll" or "black-widow" usually seen in these types of movies. The rest of the cast is solid, with the late, great filmmaker John Huston turning in a diabolical performance as a rich, powerful man with an evil conscience. Huston commands the screen everytime he's on it, even stealing Nicholson's thunder—which is very hard to do! Also look for a pre-Rocky Burt Young in a small role along with character actors James Hong (Blade Runner), Bruce Glover (Diamonds Are Forever; father of actor Crispin Glover), John Hillerman (yes, Magnum, P.I.'s boss & “Macadamia Nuts” spokesman), Diane Ladd (Rambling Rose; mother of actress Laura Dern) and Perry Lopez (Kelly's Heroes) as Jake's former partner-turned-annoying-yet-still-loyal-police-lieutenant-buddy/antagonizer, Lou Escobar—another character who returns for the sequel. In addition to the wonderful creation and contributions by Polanski & Towne, I also want to commend the elegantly-gorgeous widescreen-lensing of the late, great cinematographer John A. Alonzo (1983's Scarface/Blue Thunder/1989’s Internal Affairs). Under Polanski's guidance, Alonzo's soft-focus and aurum-hued cinematography exhibits a nostalgic, old school quality that elevates the already-lauded material onto another dimension. Why CHINATOWN didn't win the Oscar© in this category is beyond me (The Towering Inferno won the 1974 cinematography award instead; go figure...a bunch of flames beat out a blazingly-great visual palette). In fact, while the movie was nominated for a whopping 11 Oscars©, it only won for Towne’s screenplay. A bummer for the CHINATOWN crew, but for Paramount it didn’t matter: their other prestige picture The Godfather Part II walked away with 6 golden statuettes after being nominated for 11! But I digress… Rounding out technical accomplishments, kudos are in order for are veteran production designer Richard Sylbert (Oscar©-winner for Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf & Dick Tracy) for creating/dressing some incredible sets and locations with a mise-en-scene that brings out the luminance of old Los Angeles. Throw in the elegant period costumes by Anthea Sylbert (1976's King Kong), disciplined & well-paced editing by the late, great veteran cutter Sam O'Steen (The Graduate) and a lavish score by the late, great Jerry Goldsmith (Oscar©-winner for The Omen) and you have one of the greatest movies of the 1970s...if not all of Cinema. So, having re-watched this movie for the first time in its entirety in about 15 years, I can honestly say that this one is top-shelf. Maturity kicks in, and one begins to have an appreciation for the classics. My one complaint in the entire affair is the tragic ending. According to Towne, he wrote an ending where Cross dies and Evelyn lives (yes, a typical Hollywood ending). However, Polanski has stated in interviews he saw it reciprocally and actually massaged the last few pages of the script to reflect this dark, ironic ending (his obvious state of mind while still mourning his wife's death). Though they bickered at the time, Towne has since stated that this version works better. Myself? Ehhhhhh...I like happy endings, but I understand the reasoning. Best line in the movie: "Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown." This one line, spoken almost as an afterthought in the movie, really encapsulates the entire 120+ minutes that had just proceeded it. We all have an existential Chinatown in our hearts...that twilight place of failure and loss that dwells within us wherever we go or whatever we do. Mine happens to be my old job at HBO. Just ask Jake; he'll shrug, button up his cream-colored zoot suit and then walk off into the cool, breezy night with a cynical stroll and a lopsided frown... THE BOTTOM LINE CHINATOWN works because the sum of its parts works in tandem. It is a cinematic alchemy that combines great writing with a visual, widescreen mise-en-scene and the intoxicating aroma of Brylcreem, gun oil & cigarette smoke... then further drenched in a toxic mix of liquor and sex. It is indeed the aesthetic child of the aforementioned noir films and the cinematic forebearer of future neo-noir movies like Blade Runner (1982), Basic Instinct (1992), L.A. Confidential (1997) & Mulholland Drive (2001). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_noirhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filmmaking#Productionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-and-white#Mediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenwriterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenplayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenwritinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Awardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenplayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_directorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plot_%28narrative%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_directorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_producerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Mansonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_directorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auteur_theoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_budgetinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movie_camerahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_actorbladerunner.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widescreenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematographyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematographerscarface1983.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_focushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematographyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Awardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Production_designerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_constructionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filming_locationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_en_sc%C3%A8nehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costume_designhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_editinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_editor#Film_editorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_scorehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-noirbladerunner.htmlshapeimage_2_link_0shapeimage_2_link_1shapeimage_2_link_2shapeimage_2_link_3shapeimage_2_link_4shapeimage_2_link_5shapeimage_2_link_6shapeimage_2_link_7shapeimage_2_link_8shapeimage_2_link_9shapeimage_2_link_10shapeimage_2_link_11shapeimage_2_link_12shapeimage_2_link_13shapeimage_2_link_14shapeimage_2_link_15shapeimage_2_link_16shapeimage_2_link_17shapeimage_2_link_18shapeimage_2_link_19shapeimage_2_link_20shapeimage_2_link_21shapeimage_2_link_22shapeimage_2_link_23shapeimage_2_link_24shapeimage_2_link_25shapeimage_2_link_26shapeimage_2_link_27shapeimage_2_link_28shapeimage_2_link_29shapeimage_2_link_30shapeimage_2_link_31shapeimage_2_link_32shapeimage_2_link_33shapeimage_2_link_34shapeimage_2_link_35shapeimage_2_link_36shapeimage_2_link_37shapeimage_2_link_38shapeimage_2_link_39