Chinatown (1974)
Crime | Mystery | Thriller

A landmark movie in the film noir tradition, Roman Polanski’s Chinatown stands as a true screen classic. Jack Nicholson is private eye Jake Gittes, living off the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-war Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite (Faye Dunaway) to investigate her husband’s extra-marital affair, Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits, uncovering a web of personal and political scandals that come crashing together for one, unforgettable night in ... Chinatown.

Co-starring film legend John Huston and featuring an Academy Award--winning script by Robert Towne, Chinatown captures a lost era in a masterfully woven movie that remains a timeless gem.

Storyline: JJ 'Jake' Gittes is a private detective who seems to specialize in matrimonial cases. He is hired by Evelyn Mulwray when she suspects her husband Hollis, builder of the city's water supply system, of having an affair. Gittes does what he does best and photographs him with a young girl but in the ensuing scandal, it seems he was hired by an impersonator and not the real Mrs. Mulwray. When Mr. Mulwray is found dead, Jake is plunged into a complex web of deceit involving murder, incest and municipal corruption all related to the city's water supply. Written by garykmcd

User Comment: jdberkley (jdberkley@hotmail.com) • Some might go with the operatic grandeur of The Godfather, or the gritty psychic trauma of Taxi Driver, as the finest achievement of the Seventies in American film. For my money, though, nothing tops Roman Polanski's masterpiece. A noir thriller that somehow transcends noir, Chinatown becomes a meditation on the bottomless well of human mystery. Flawlessly performed by its superb cast, with an especially terrifying piece of underlaying from the great John Huston as Noah Cross. Easily one of the six or seven best films ever made.

Summary: The apex of the 1970s American film renaissance.

--- JOYA ---

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