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.
Rating: 
Summary: An overrated Polanski's film
Review: While most critics laud CHINATOWN as the best film in Polanski's career, I find it probably his worst. Polanski once claimed that this film was inspired by Howard Hawks' 1945 classic, THE BIG SLEEP, but he obviously has made a serious mistake in his job of imitation. In THE BIG SLEEP, the detective Humphrey Bogart is a friend of Lauren Bacall's father, and this is how he gets himself involved. Bacall's father trusts Bogart! But in CHINATOWN, Polanski seems to have completely forgotten the importance of such human relationship. In the first place, the setting is all wrong. Jack Nicholson is a nobody; Faye Dunaway is a woman with a very complicated background; John Huston is her monstrous father. Such relationship makes Dunaway's approach to Nicholson totally unconvincing. ... Huston is a beast who has designed the most complicated and clever plot. Witty it may seem, but is it really? .... The ending simply contradicts everything previously told in the film. In other words, this film is a mistake from the beginning to the end, and to award this film an Oscar for the best screenplay was the greatest mistake on earth! Was the Academy blind or something!
Rating:
Summary: What can I say
Review: What can I say about this movie. I love the way it slowly takes shape, actually taking time to develop characters and use the supporting actors. They just don't make movies like this anymore. Layers of stories interwoven. Also, the chemistry between Mr. Gittes and Noah Cross is awesome (especially given Jack's real life interest in John Huston's daughter). To those who didn't like the ending, what did you want to see? The whole point was that J.J. was way over his head and evil would eventually triumph with Mr. Gittes rendered powerless. The story moved slowly and then picked up steam, necessitating a quick ending. The movie was over and then you had to start to figure out what just actually happened. 5 stars must see.
Rating:
Summary: I Didn't Get It
Review: After hearing about how great this movie was, I finally purchased it for my wife. This has got to be the most over-rated movie of all times. A totally perdictable story-line, and a complete waste of the talents of Faye Dunaway. And to add insult to injury, the ending was horribly depressing. What can I say about Jack! Well, he was just the same old Jack as always. I'm not that hard to please, but I hated this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent film.
Review: They don't make them like this anymore. Jack Nicholson plays private eye Jack Gittes who is hired by a mysterious woman to spy on her cheating husband. This is only the beginning of a dark tale of murder, incest, greed and... water. Nicholson gives the second best performance of his career (first being One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), Faye Dunaway is bookishly seductive, and John Huston solidified himself as one of the screen's evilest and sickest movie villains ever. People complain about the end alot, but could this movie have been just as powerful and affecting without it? I think not. In the end, evil wins, and Roman Polanski (director) doesn't play a movie as if it were some sort of fantasy trip from our everyday reality. Instead, he mocks our hopes for a happy ending and slaps us in the face with it's tragic twist. Great film, beautiful VHS transfer (I've never seen the DVD version). Indeed a classic and one of the best movies of all time.
Rating:
Summary: Great Film, however I have found a little something wrong
Review: The lord from chi-ca-go states in so many words that Chinatown is a flawless film. It is my duty to set the record straight: The asian gardener says "very bad for glass" referring to the grass he is tending. This suggests that asians pronounce R's as L's, when in actuality it is the other way around. i.e. lucky would be pronounced "rucky"
Rating:
Summary: on a movie called "chinatown"
Review: If you do not like this movie I have to wonder if there is something wrong with you, for this is as good as things get. I love this movie. Jack has never been better. Roman is in top form. Everything little last thing works, and it all works so well. Watch this, 'cause if you haven't you have made a mistake.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Detective Movie Of All Time!
Review: This is one of the greatest movies ever. It is the best Noir of the 70's and the best detective movie ever. Robert Towne's Screenplay is a Landmark in Movie History, and so are the score and cinematography. Jack Nicholson gives one of his best performances (if not his best) as the 'nosy' private eye Jake Gittes, Faye Dunaway has never been better and John Huston is the embodiment of evil as the father who commits incest. But this is Roman Polanski's achievement all the way, his best movie and he'll never top it. He took the 'noir' genre so far that he reinvented moviemaking while doing it. One of the greats, a Must-See. From a scale of 1-10 I give this movie a 10!
Rating:
Summary: First-rate
Review: This is a really solid, and intelligent movie. Having said that, it's not the brilliant movie from the first frame to the last that is its reputation. It IS brilliant a lot of the time. But there are a lot of B-movie elements, plot-wise, in it, and Nicholson's acting is actually a little awkward in the first part of the film. Then he gets a handle on his part, and his acting is flawless the rest of the way. And Polanski said in his autobiography ROMAN, that he wished he had dedicated his life to acting, rather than directing. But to see his small acting party (where he cuts Nicholson's nose) in it, is to see a very awkward actor. We can all be grateful he became a movie director instead. Having said those criticisms: if this movie were released today, it would be the best movie to come along in years. Believe it or not, this movie was released the same year as "Godfather II." Imagine having two movies that good in the same year.
Rating:
Summary: 'Noir' at its BEST!
Review: My favorite movie is LA CONFIDENTIAL. After seeing this it is a tie. I loved it it was a great storyline and in the Chandler era of thinking. You can't beat Jack Nicholson. One of the greatest actors of our time. He did a great job. PICK it up.
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