Chinatown

Rating:
Summary: Excellent story
Review: At last... an American film that pulls aside the curtain to reveal disturbing -and realistic- social elements, but does not try to "lift you up" with a false happy ending. This is an excellent film. When I want to feel better I'll play with my dog, but when I want to THINK and FEEL give me well-written films such as "Chinatown."

Rating:
Summary: Film Noir at its best
Review: I've seen thousands of great film noir movies but this tops everyone of them. A excellent cast that gives stellar performances. This is Polanski's best film, for me anyway. The writing is superb Robert Towne won a well deserved oscar for this masterpiece. The score is beautiful yet haunting, cinematography is beautiful as it captures the glory of 1937 Los Angeles, the costumes bring the style of time, and the direction will never be topped in the Film Noir genre. Love it or hate it Chinatown will be at the top of Film Noir classics.

Rating:
Summary: Chinatown, possible spoiler (Movie, 1974)
Review: This is a superb, as the amazon reviewer says, deeply satisfying movie. New layers are constantly revealed to the plot, and Nicholson's character thrills with his reckless persistence in the face of the unknown, and his ability to always know more than people think. That he survives through the end of the movie simultaneously defies commonsense and thrills, like watching Emmet Smith dodge five tackles in a row (only to lose the ball on the goal line).

What does Nicholson say in his final line?

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: Previous to watching this movie in full I often caught small pieces of the movie on cable and it always struck me as slow moving and thus boring. The reviews here pushed me to watch it in totality. The slow moving description still holds but, in the context of the entire movie, it works. The story and looks are film noir, Raymond Chandler style. Nicholson plays a somewhat jaded PI who, at the beginning doesn't think the truth is necessarily a good thing ('let sleeping dogs lie') but who still has a heart. Perplexed by what he knows he does seek out the truth. The movie is told entirely from his perspective. We learn what he learns and see what he sees. The plot expands around a number of odd events that the movie slowly ties together. There are jolts and twists up until the end as the relationship between Nicholson and Dunaway grows.

There is almost nothing wrong with this film. At least I couldn't find anything. The directing is top notch. Polanski's slow moving sequences actually provide symbolic function or help the feel of reality in the movie. The acting - unbelievable. The writing is flawless.

The DVD version is nice. Sound and picture are strong. The extras are minimal - a preview and an interview with the producer, writer, and director but the interview is very enlightening and will assist with a greater understanding about the film.

Rating:
Summary: Chinatown on DVD
Review: Chinatown is my favorite film. It really captures the 1930s in LA along with great characters, plot, dialougue, and technical aspects. Chinatown is also full of little details. This is why the film is great for repeat viewing. I've seen the film ten times now, and I learn something every time I view it. It's truly ironic that the best film nior came out of the 70s. You knowthe plot, so i won't waste your time going into that.

The Chinatown DVD isn't packed with extra features, but they are still very interesting. Only two stand out. The first extra feature isn't much but it's interesting. I'm reffering to the 2+ minute theatrical trialer. It is an interesting little look atwhat trailer were like 25 years ago. The other extra feature worth mentioning is the interview with producer Bob Evans, director Roman Polanski, and writer Robert Towne. It is a wonderful look at what these three men did to get the film made. Each men has something unique to bring to the interview. Too bad it only last ten minutes. The menus of the DVD are great, except it's hard to tell what you're selecting sometimes. This is a must have for any fan ofthe nior genre of ofthe film itself.

Rating:
Summary: Classic Film Noir
Review: Ah, the good ol' days of the 1930s. Gritty private eyes, rich socialites, political corruption. All of these long forgotten qualities are showcased in Roman Polanski's Chinatown, the 1970s film noir detective classic about J.J. Gittes' journey through the tangled web of a Los Angeles mystery. Jack Nicholson provides yet another timeless role as the hard-boiled Gittes, whose investigation of an illeged affair leads to a road of corruption, power, incest, and money. Faye Dunaway is also brilliant as the tortured Evelyn Mulray, who lives in her father's dark shadow and hides an incredible secret that brings down her world.

Every aspect of this movie resulted in flawless filmaking, from the shady cinamatography to the changes of scenery in and around Southern California. Polanski creates a multitude of sleazy characters, all of whom hide dark flaws, even Gittes. In Gittes' world, no man (or woman) can escape from the city's corruption; this is Polanski's ultimate goal, to show the flaws in his characters. Polanski himself even makes a cameo appearance, as a knife-wielding hoodlum who gives Gittes alot of pain, literally. But the most interesting character, besides Gittes, is John Huston's Noah Cross, the rich water boss who is seemingly capable of any crime. His dense character begs the viewer to ask, "What drives this guy to be evil?"

Chinatown is a classic, the kind of movie that comes along every 20 years and causes multiple rentals and becomes a staple of any movie buff's collection. Nicholson, Dunaway and Houston all give memorable performances, perhaps the best of their careers, and Polanski pieces the story together into a mystery/drama/noir, which never gets boring. Every movie fan should be forced to watch this movie and exclaim, "What ever happened to making good movies?" Well, they don't make movies like they used to.

Rating:
Summary: Some people don't understand the ending
Review: I am convinced that the 3 or 4 people who complained about the ending just didn't understand it (one person even said that the movie didn't take place in Chinatown! ).

OK, here it is. The reason Chinatown is universally regarded as a classic and why it won the Oscar for best screenplay is the way the Chinatown theme runs throughout the plot as a metaphor for Giddes's past life. He tells us that Chinatown was a place he worked as cop where the job was to "do as little as possible" where "you never knew what was going on" and where he had tried to help a woman but had only ended up hurting her.

At the end when Evelyn has been killed--despite jake's efforts to save her--and when Jake realizes that the police are going to ignore Cross's crimes, Jake whispers (barely audible) "as little as possible" and then his partner says "Come on Jake, it's Chinatown."

The ending ties up everything that has happened in the rest of the film, and, by extension, in Jake's life.

As Movieline's Top 100 film site says: "The best thing Jack Nicholson will ever do. The best thing Faye Dunaway will ever do. The best thing Roman Polanski will ever do. The best thing Robert Towne will ever do. Etc."

Rating:
Summary: An all-time classic, that's for sure
Review: Hard-boiled, cynical characters, seasoned with just the right amount of sleaze. Private detective Jake Giddes (Jack Nicholson) specializes in marital cataclysms, and that's how Chinatown opens. A client named Curly is looking at photos in Jake Giddes' office, photos of his wife making love with another man. Curly moans in anguish. He drops the photographs on Giddes' desk and sweats heavily through his workman's clothes; a drop plunks on Gittes' shiny desktop. Gittes looks at the drop of sweat, glances at the fan whirring overhead. He looks crisp and cool in his white linen suit despite the heat. Without taking his eyes off Curly he lights a cigarette.

This is our introduction to Jake Giddes, definitely not a high-society detective, even if he does have a secretary and two "operatives". Jake will remain fastidious in dress throughout the picture -- except when he's getting beat up.

Faye Dunaway, as Evelyn Cross Mulwray, may have performed as brilliantly in another film, but never better. Evelyn's beauty is somewhat faded and is all the more magnetic for it, and she reveals throughout the film a desperate honesty that makes you want to take her in your arms and comfort her.

John Houston is a perfect Noah Cross, Evelyn's chillingly pragmatic, super-rich, super-cynical and corrupt father. Near the end he tells Jake, without the slightest display of emotion: "You see, Mr. Gittes, most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and right place, they're capable of anything."

Jake's exterior is tough-as-nails, but deep inside runs a streak of believable compassion. He's not a Mike Hammer; he displays fear when that's appropriate; he's cautious when caution is called for. In this picture Nicholson has not one humorous line. He plays the character Towne created. Even Noah Cross, who seems to revel in his complete lack of fatherly compassion for his daughter, reveals in the end that his granite exterior is a veneer -- even if he believed it was real until a crucial test proved him wrong.

The underlying theme of Chinatown is Los Angeles' insatiable thirst for water. The opening of the reservoir gates for clandestine nightly discharges of water into the ocean was based on fact, even if the movie was set in the thirties and that activity was carried out in about 1907. The purpose was to amplify a water shortage to gain public support for bonds to finance the Los Angeles Aqueduct to bring in water from Owens Valley. The water was stolen from the Owens Valley and carried to L.A. through a 230-mile aqueduct.

Noah Cross' explanation to Gittes about how Los Angeles would annex much of the San Fernando Valley so the water brought there would technically be brought to L.A. actually occurred, but in 1913. And the buying up by L.A. big-shots of thousands of acres of cheap desert destined to become valuable irrigated farm land was based on the genuine occurrence.

This is screenwriter Robert Towne at his inimitable best. A rare and expansive look into Towne's brilliant approach to this screenplay can be gained by viewing the PBS video "Cadillac Desert" (available from Amazon.com), from the book by Marc Reisner. Towne appears in interviews again and again, along with clips from Chinatown.

Chinatown is a classic use of the silver screen. Like at least one reviewer below, I recommended that you buy this video, for it should be viewed several times to get the full benefit of a masterful screenplay, Roman Polanski's outstanding direction, great performances by a distinguished cast, photography that is right on the mark in every scene, and all supported by superb music.

Chinatown is an all-time classic, no question about it.

Rating:
Summary: "Forget it Jake, its Chinatown"
Review: The water is the source of all evil, in the middle of a drought it is the Holy Grail for the greedy and the depraved, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Chinatown, Roman Polanski's brooding film noir is a film of many secrets. Like the best of films, the dialogue makes the audience feel that they're only getting part of the story, like there is this whole other world of decadence that surrounds these characters, its not just a story but a glimpse into another time and place. Take for example the title of the film "Chinatown", I'm not spoiling anything by telling you that the Chinatown is not a major theme in the film, its a place Jake Gettis used to work as a cop, its also where the climax of the film takes place. We don't actually see much of this place in the film but when Gettis meets his old nemisis/pal Lou Escobar who used to work with him there, we picture it, making the world of the film that much larger.

In order to fully appreciate Chinatown, you must really look at the character of J.J. Gittes played by Jack Nicholson in a career best performance. He is a Private Eye, but he is not your average movie hero, he in no desperate loner, he is no Martin Riggs. He runs his office like a modern firm complete with assistants and a secertary, he tells vulgar and inane jokes about sex just like rest of us do and most of all he is deeply cynical and intelligent. When his investigation does get personal, this is how he chooses to explain his determination to continue it: "Half of the city is trying to cover it all up which is fine by me, but I damn near lost my nose, and I like it, I like breathing through it".

The woman, and there is always a woman, is Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway). As the rich, vunreable and mysterious widow she is more sensual then pretty. With that psuedo British accent, the vast wealth and the deceased husband she obviously indicates trouble. It is a mark of Chinatown's greatness that she is not a caricature, but a nervous wounded human being.

The juciest performance in the film however belongs to John Huston as the all powerful Noah Cross. He is a man so blatantly depraved, that he prides himself in his depravity. "You have a nasty reputation Mr.Gettes, I like that" he says. But the main reason I bring him up is because he utters my favourite line in movie history, and I had to include that: "Politicians, ugly buildings and whores all get respectable if they last long enough."

It is fascinating to compare Chinatown to L.A. Confidential (also a masterpiece) but their approaches are as different as night and day. In Chinatown Polanski employs what is called mise-en-scene, which is a technique that treats every scene as if it were performed on a stage. As a result the pace of the film is deliberate and builds on detail. This pace makes the film less forceful, but more creepy, its takes its time to get under your skin. In L.A. Confidential on the other hand Curits Hanson employed a lot of montage, remember the sequence in that film with "Wheel of Fortune" on the soundtrack and a progression of events happening on screen. This makes the film's impact more immediate and satisfying. By comparison Chinatown needs at least 3 viewings for you to really get the feel for it. For the record I don't prefer one over the other, they just have different styles, each delicious in its own way. The difference between the two film is best represented by the difference in their music(both scores were written by Jerry Goldsmith). For Chinatown he does a lot of horn solos to achieve a creepy errie effect, for L.A. Confidential his score is thumping and forceful.

I must admit, I don't like the film's ending. I can't reveal it here because Amazon doesn't allow spoilers, but I've always felt it was a bit of a cop-out...

The first time I saw Chinatown was about a year ago, I've watched it about once a month since then. Each time I admire it a little more, get a firmer grip on the ingenious complicated plot and soak up more of that decadent atmosphere. Watch this film for the first time and you will like it, watch for the fourth and it'll blow you away.

Rating:
Summary: Sadder but wiser
Review: In case you haven't seen the film or read the 56 reviews of "Chinatown" preceding mine, I'll sum up briefly: Jack is a late-1930's ex-L.A. cop and private eye whose "metier" is "marital work." He is embarassed when the results of a marital stakeout are leaked and used to smear a wealthy and otherwise uncorrupt public official, ultimately to further the interests of one or more real estate developers and/or water moguls. Jack suspects that he is at the center of a setup, and is confronted by Faye, the public official's beautiful, long-suffering wife. Who is behind the setup? Why? Jack and Faye atttempt to solve this "mystery" together. Faye hires Jack. Except, to Faye, the answers to these questions were never really a "mystery"... Or were they? Even though we get a general idea of the answers to our questions, not all of the ends tie up neatly. (Exactly what was the "Albacore Club?" Didn't Hollis Mulwray make an unusual choice of mistress? Why her?)

This is a mystery in which apparent answers only lead to more questions.

The film is artfully and stylishly done. The beauty is in the detail. Color, costumes, cars, and set designs are exquisite. Although many reviewers seem to consider it a noir classic, most scenes are day, with many sunny exterior shots, which belie the darkness of the subject matter.

Beauty is also seen in unique directorial and script touches. We view the film knowing no more than Jack, the investigating private eye, and feel the same frustrations. He is not glamorous but he is certainly likeable enough, and is intended for audience identification. He is not suave and dashing. Although Jack is not usually a bungler, the ordinary "little people" upon whom private eyes rely for the most important information, are as unhelpful as can be. So he encounters rudeness and difficulty at every turn from everyday people: bureaucrats, secretaries, barbershop customers, the snooty clerk at the hall of records, his ex-colleagues in the police, and from a concierge at a rest home. Faye's patrician father purposely refuses to dignify Jack by pronouncing his last name correctly. After almost drowning and getting soaked by a unexpected gush from a storm sewer, he is unglamorously maimed by a pint-sized thug. As a result, he must wear a bandage on his face through most of the film. (I have never, before or since, seen a leading man in a movie with a prominent bandage or scar on his face through most of a film. Usually, the bandage only stays for one scene. Right?) Later, Jack trespasses into an orange grove in the course of his investigation. The poor landowners, who are also touched by the scandal, incorrectly assume that Jack is the root of their problem, rather than their solution, and they severely beat him. It seems that nothing goes right for him.

The film exposes a range human flaws and weaknesses, too, which also adds realism to the story. One of the otherwise healthy-looking young men in orange grove needs a crutch to walk. Adultery is exposed, from the humiliation of a cuckolded immigrant fisherman, and his wife's resulting black eye, to upper-class Faye's surprising nonchalance about her husband's relationship. Corruption. Greed and slander. Violence. An obvious come-on line.

For people who like Nicholson, it is a first-rate, and generally low-key performance, by his standards, although he resorts to his fists. Faye was and remains a ravishing beauty. Likewise, her acting is standout.

If you need happy endings, this isn't the film for you. Although it's a mystery, the movie holds up well after repeat viewings. There is a lot of plot to absorb on the first viewing. This may explain the difficulty some reviewers have with this film.