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 | One Word Title | Dark Past | Rape Victim | Beautiful Woman

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 | UK:15 (video rating) | Singapore:NC-16 | Argentina:16 | Iceland:16 | West Germany:16 (f) | 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 | UK:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Long Road

Trivia:

The original script was over 300 pages.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Reflected in the glass behind Gittes while he signs the contract with Mrs. Mulwray.

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:

Spoofed in "Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man: Noir Gang (#3.1)" (1996)

Soundtrack:

Easy Living

One of the top 100 films of all time

The year 1974 was very memorable. That year several films were successes which consisted of Francis Coppula's "The Godfather:Part II",Alan Pakula's political thriller "The Parallex View",Robert Aldrich's "The Longest Yard",and not to mention the disaster epics of the day;Irwin Allen's "The Towering Inferno",and Mark Robson's "Earthquake" not to mention the films "The Conversation",and "The Great Gatsby","Lenny",and "Blazing Saddles" to name a few. But one film in particular stood out from all the rest and it shows why that was one of AFI's 100 top films of all time.

The year was 1974. The motion picture is "Chinatown". This was the movie that cemented Jack Nicholson as a bonafide superstar throughout the entire decade of the 1970's. This was the movie that started it all.

Jack Nicholson graduated from star to superstar playing a gumshoe in this marvelously intricate film noir of the 70's directed by Roman Polanski,who has a memorable cameo as a sadistic hood,gives Nicholson the most famous nose job in motion picture history. Robert Towne's Oscar winning script(whom they used in some acting and writing classes as a learning tool in some colleges)brilliantly depicts 1940's Los Angeles as a glittering cesspool of murder,incest,and corrupt land deals. Faye Dunaway steals the picture with a haunting performance as the film's alluring female fatale,and John Huston,as her creepy millionaire father,will make your skin crawl. The stunning finale still packs an emotional wallop. "Chinatown" was the apex of what the cinema of the 1970's was about to become,and this was the prime factor of that as well.

The film was nominated for 11 Oscars including Best Picture and won three for Best Original Score(Jerry Goldsmith),Best Screenplay(Robert Towne),and Best Supporting Actor(John Huston).