Review of Chinatown (1974) by Joelgreenberg — 23 May 2021

Chinatown, the 1974 classic, grows in power and refuses to fade from mind. I recall seeing it in its first release, walking out of the theatre feeling clubbed into fascination and endless admiration. How does a movie like this get made at all, let alone with such care and intellectual complexity? In an era of thrilling film after thrilling film, would Chinatown soon be overtaken by the next New Wave filmmaker? Coppola, Scorsese, DePalma, Bogdanovich and on and on? Who/what could challenge the Towne/Polanski/Evans trifecta? All these years later, coming on to 50, the answer is none of the above.

Which isn't to say that each of the New Hollywood boys isn't assured a front row seat in the period's filmography - but Chinatown lasts and gnaws more deeply as time passes. This is a film that drew the best of the very best, together, collaborating in an profession that rarely allowed passion to subvert the bottom line.

And it sold tickets, too, the postscript to an era already struggling against the corporate greed and banality that would extinguish the fire of imagination.