Chinatown (15)

Some excellent Nicholson moments, however, I think, not up to the best Polanski standards. It becomes at some point really slow and unexciting, and the plot drowns into stereotypical film noir complexities without creating real intensity. Also, the movie unpleasantly contains, in my opinion, an element of outright anti-Asian racism with abundant cultural clichés, as well as complacency towards heavy-handed domestic violence against women, which – as much as child sex abuse practices apparently existent in supposedly-progressive circles of the time, ironically and tragically anticipated here three years before the well-known scandal – is not entirely forgivable by the genre or an otherwise refreshing un-PC 70s context. Perhaps out of moral dehydration, it seems that the movie has not aged very well, despite its superb restoration– although it might appeal to Polanski and Nicholson unconditional fans, and old-movie lovers in general, as a dry historical curiosity. A long drink for the show might be a good idea.

Possibly the best film about corruption ever made, featuring the 2nd coolest performance by a male actor, Nicholson ... the coolest of course, being Martin Sheen in Apocolypse Now. If you are seeing it for the first time, I envy you.

I loved this film when it was first released and it's good to see it so beautifully restored and back on the big screen. It has everything. A great scriot, a suitably convoluted plot, terrific characters very well acted, a great score, superb photography and Polanski's sure hand on the tiller. Interesting to discover that originally the film had a happy ending. The dark ending was Polanski's idea and a very good one it is. Much more appropriate. This is a movie to restore one's faith in cinema when confronted with some of the overrated dross currently on offer.

Greatest Private Eye movie e-v-e-r

In my opinion the original reviewer wasnt a fan of Nicholson and this impinged on their enjoyment of the picture. In my opinion he is in early 70's Jack mode and me having the benefit of hindsight I would have to say its excellent to watch him consume Gettes with his fierce appetite. But in this perspective shall we look back in forty odd years about DiCaprio's showing in Shutter Island? its unlikely... Polanski was never better than this, no question...at the risk of sounding obvious check out Peter Biskind's piece about the film in his book Easy riders raging bulls, I read it again the other day and almost shed a tear for the lost days of Towne and his glorious indulgences. Five stars...six if they had them

About as perfect a screenplay as was ever made. 35 years after its release as a "sort of" Noir film, it now defines that genre's perfection. Every role is cast perfectly. Every scene concise and flawlessly positioned. With the soundtrack, you really feel like you're living in 1930's Los Angeles watching events unfold!

The Rating,of course!

Chinatown This is a remarkable film, possibly the best work of it’s director, Polanski, it’s leading actor, Nicholson, and it’s screenwriter, Towne. The film is bathed in sun-drenched landscapes suggesting dehydration and water scarcity. This film works at leisurely pace and is a loving recreation of 30s noir.Jake Gittes is a well-dressed private eye who has a dark past as a Chinatown cop he’d rather not talk about. As played by Nicholson he is a cynical, cool operator with a hint of vulnerability and makes enough to hire two co-workers. He works in the field of divorce and adultery. The title is more about a state of mind: everybody does as little as possible and if you help people you make sure you hurt them. But the film ends in Chinatown. The main subject is water shortages and the corrupt diversion of water supplies from the LA populace to irrigate orange groves. There is also land theft going on: bought cheaply and sold at enormously inflated prices. Against this public corruption there is a story of incest and sexual scandal, all coming together in the figure of Noah Cross(Huston) played malevolently with great swaggering malice. He “owns� the future and pulls all the strings, leading to murder of Hollis Mulwray, his business partner and chief engineer of the LA Water Department . Hollis’s wife, Evelyn(Dunnaway), sets Gittes on the trail of what happened. She is a very alluring femme fatale with many secrets which she slowly reveals to Gittes. She is Cross’s daughter and she seems to know about the young woman her husband was supposed to be having an affair with. We see Nicholson change from a dapper,witty , charming teller of jokes to a man who gets in over his head and becomes bloodied,bowed but doggedly determined to unravel the whole sorry mess. The cinematography is excellent with low horizon wide screen vistas of muted colours and radiant light. We are between the desert and the sea with low slung architecture and nothing to blot out the sunlight but shadow.The music is jagged and drawn out. This is Polanski’s first Hollywood film since the murder of his wife Sharon Tate in 1969. It was also with the forthcoming sex trial going to be his last. We see what his future might have been. He also imbues the film with Greek Tragedy giving it the darkest(and best) ending possible,taking your breath away. He plays a mean cameo role as the midget who slices Nicholson’s nose. Faye Dunnaway is remarkable in the role of a patrician lady with a dark vulnerability. Nicholson never acted better, with ‘The Passenger’ and ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ ahead. The script is lean, tight and full of witty lines(it went on to win Oscar for screenplay). This is real noir without one cliché and real backbone and bite. Polanski’s personal tragedies have a great bearing on the crushing despondency of the outcome.