Chinatown (1974)

Director:

Roman Polanski

Writer:

Robert Towne (written by)

Release Date:

20 June 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

A private detective investigating an adultery case stumbles on to a scheme of murder that has something to do with water.

Plot Keywords:

Great Depression | Severed Nose | Water Engineer | Secret Past | Nose Bleed

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 17 wins & 22 nominations

Cast

Jack Nicholson	...	J.J. 'Jake' Gittes
Faye Dunaway	...	Evelyn Cross Mulwray
John Huston	...	Noah Cross
Perry Lopez	...	Lieutenant Lou Escobar
John Hillerman	...	Russ Yelburton
Darrell Zwerling	...	Hollis I. Mulwray
Diane Ladd	...	Ida Sessions
Roy Jenson	...	Claude Mulvihill
Roman Polanski	...	Man with Knife
Richard Bakalyan	...	Detective Loach (as Dick Bakalyan)
Joe Mantell	...	Lawrence Walsh
Bruce Glover	...	Duffy
Nandu Hinds	...	Sophie
James O'Rear	...	Lawyer
James Hong	...	Kahn

Runtime:

131 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Brazil:12 | Argentina:16 | Iceland:16 | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:15 (video rating) | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Ontario) | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16 | UK:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

1972 Canyon Drive, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Long Road

Trivia:

Roman Polanski eliminated Jake Gittes' voiceover narration, which was written in the script, and filmed the movie so that the audience discovered the clues at the same time Gittes did.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: The tires squealing when Gittes pulls into the driveway of Katherine's house.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Jake Gittes: All right, Curly. Enough's enough. You can't eat the Venetian blinds. I just had them installed on Wednesday.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Spin City: Chinatown (#6.11)" (2001)

Soundtrack:

Easy Living

noir.

Polanksi's 'Chinatown' stands as one of the classics of 1970s American cinema, the last classic period in American cinema. It's a great reminder of how utterly engaging cinema can be without the special effects, flimsy plots and outrageous stunts of many major studio productions now, not evening mentioning the obvious marketing tie-ins.

The cinematography and screenplay could be considered almost economical in its minimalism as it is really the story, script and characters that drive this movie forward.

Chinatown tells the story a detective, confidently played by Jack Nicholson, who gets embroiled in an investigation involving the mysterious murder (suicide?) of the head of the Water Board. During the investigation, he gets involved with Evelyn Mulwray, the wife of the murdered man who appears to want to get to the bottom of the mystery but during the course of the movie demonstrates that she is not telling the whole story and has something to hide.

Everything in this movie works from already mentioned tight editing down to the costumes and sets.

Nuff said!

10/10