Chinatown

4.67
    Chinatown
    1974

    Synopsis

    Private eye Jake Gittes lives off of the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-World War II Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite 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.

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    Cast

    • Jack NicholsonJ.J. 'Jake' Gittes
    • Faye DunawayEvelyn Cross Mulwray
    • John HustonNoah Cross
    • Perry LopezLieutenant Lou Escobar
    • John HillermanRuss Yelburton
    • Diane LaddIda Sessions
    • Roman PolanskiMan with Knife
    • Roy JensonClaude Mulvihill
    • Richard BakalyanDetective Loach
    • James HongEvelyn's Butler

    Recommendations

    • 100

      ReelViews

      A nearly flawless example of movie composition, with close examination revealing how carefully it was put together. For those who take a less studious and more visceral approach to movie viewing, it's also worth noting that Chinatown is a superior thriller - one that will keep viewers involved and "in the moment" until the final, mournful scene has come to a conclusion.
    • 100

      Chicago Sun-Times

      [Nicholson's] performance is key in keeping Chinatown from becoming just a genre crime picture--that, and a Robert Towne screenplay that evokes an older Los Angeles, a small city in a large desert.
    • 100

      TV Guide Magazine

      A wonderfully brooding, suspenseful revisitation of the land of film noir, Chinatown is not only one of the greatest detective films, but one of the most perfectly constructed of all films.
    • 100

      Entertainment Weekly

      But it's Polanski who pries the genre open until it goes metaphysical.
    • 100

      Variety

      An outstanding picture.
    • 100

      Salon

      But the greatness of Chinatown, unappreciated by my adolescent self, lies not in its cynical view of the California dream (that's too easy) but in its fatalistic, even tragic conception of America and indeed of human nature.
    • 80

      Chicago Reader

      A bit abstract, though gorgeously shot (by John Alonzo) and cleverly plotted (by Robert Towne), Polanski's film suggests that the rules of the game are written in some strange, untranslatable language, and that everyone's an alien and, ultimately, a victim.
    • 80

      Village Voice

      In 1974 a director, a screenwriter, and a producer (Robert Evans, who for once deserves a few of the plaudits he's apportioned himself) could decide to beat a genre senseless and then dump it in the wilds of Greek tragedy. [Review of August 8, 2003 re-release]

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