Chinatown

Chinatown (1974)

Runtime: 131 minutes

Directed by: Roman Polanski

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Hillerman, John Huston, Burt Young

From: Paramount

Here is a movie that including the viewing I had of it a few days ago (I got it for free from the local library), I’ve only seen twice, but it is an undeniable classic amongst so many people, and I agree with the general opinion on it.

Go here for a nice (if high-brow) brief analysis of the movie and some reasons why it’s considered great and some of the elements that make it so, such as the cinematography and how it’s plotted. If you don’t know anything about it, I will not reveal too much and instead I’ll deliver a bare-bones version. JJ Gittes (old Jack himself) is a gumshoe detective in LA in the mid 1930’s, where you have stuff like The Great Depression and a drought taking place. He gets hired by the wife of the chief engineer of the city’s Water and Power company to spy on him as she believes he is cheating. But, from there it’s much more complex (yet still easy to follow) as it’s actually a scam put on by someone, Jack gets involved with Evelyn (Dunaway) and you have much intrigue as you follow along with Gittes in trying to figure out what is going on; I will say that a major topic of the film is water and how it’s a powerful commodity and it can make people much money if they can manipulate it a certain way. That part of it reminds me of Quantum of Solace, and it could have been down well in that flick, but believe me it wasn’t. Then again that entire film was a miss and a major disappointment; I may talk about that one of these days. It is done to perfection in Chinatown, though.

These days it is easy to view Nicholson in a parody manner and think that his recent performances are just him playing himself, but even if that’s true you can’t forget how he was and how he delivered so many quality performances worth watching and enjoying. From what I’ve seen, this is clearly amongst his best-ever performances as a sleazy but still caring detective. The rest of the cast also does a great job with their roles and you have some surprises along the way, the biggest being near the end. I won’t reveal it but it comes out of nowhere and is quite shocking and puts a different twist on things. It’s something you should see, especially if you are a fan of mystery/film-noir flicks. Don't be put off because it's from Polanski, a guy who is infamous for obvious reasons (and I won't get into the controversy over him possibly finally going to jail for what he apparently did over 30 years ago; one part of his life makes a revelation in the movie all the more creepy), but instead enjoy the last movie he ever made in America and appreciate how despite some serious faults he's still one hell of a director.

Sometime soon I’ll see the movie’s sequel, The Two Jakes, which I understand is not that great. I don’t think we’ll ever see the proposed third movie with JJ Gittes, which involves the freeway system and the company known as Cloverleaf; yeah, Who Framed Roger Rabbit borrowed quite a bit from that planned third movie. WFRR is something I only fully appreciated when I saw it a few years ago and I could appreciate how while it was live-action and animation combined seamlessly, it was great as a story that was a classic film-noir from the olden days. That is something you should see if you haven’t viewed it recently/through adult eyes.