Review of Chinatown (1974) by Gary T — 02 Jan 2015

WOW......WOW......WOW.....WOW....THRILLING....AMAZING.....FANTASTIC.....GENIUS.....MAN I HAVE JUST SEEN THIS MOVIE 4 THE 1ST TIME N THINK THAT THIS IS SUCH A GREAT MOVIE 2 WATCH......its got a good cast of actors/actresses throughout this movie.....I think that jack Nicholson, faye dunaway, john Huston, perry lopez, play good roles/parts throughout this movie......I think that the director of this mystery/suspense/classics movie had done a great job of directing this movie because you never know what 2 expect throughout this movie......I think that jack Nicholson was absolutely brilliant throughout this movie.....WARNING THIS MOVIE CONTAINS STROBE LIGHTING EFFECTS THROUGHOUT THIS MOVIE.......

In 1991, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for films that are "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" and it is frequently listed as among the best in world cinema. The 1975 Academy Awards saw it nominated eleven times, with an Oscar going to Robert Towne for Best Original Screenplay. The Golden Globe Awards honored it for Best Drama, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Screenplay. The American Film Institute placed it second among mystery films in 2008.

A sequel, The Two Jakes, was released in 1990, again starring Nicholson, who also directed, with Robert Towne returning to write the screenplay. The film failed to generate the acclaim of its predecessor.

Background.

In 1971 producer Robert Evans offered Towne $175,000 to write a screenplay for The Great Gatsby (1974), but Towne felt he could not better the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. Instead, Towne asked for $25,000 from Evans to write his own story, Chinatown, to which Evans agreed.

Chinatown is set in 1937 and portrays the manipulation of a critical municipal resource-water-by a cadre of shadowy oligarchs. It was the first part of Towne's planned trilogy about the character J.J. Gittes, the foibles of the Los Angeles power structure, and the subjugation of public good by private greed. The second part, The Two Jakes, was about another grab for a natural resource-oil-with a thicker-torsoed Gittes in the 1940s. It was directed by Jack Nicholson and released in 1990, but the second film's commercial and critical failure scuttled plans to make Gittes vs. Gittes, about the third finite resource-land-in Los Angeles, circa 1968.

The original script was more than 180 pages and included a narration by Gittes; Polanski cut that and reordered the story so the audience and Gittes unraveled the mysteries at the same time.

Characters and casting.

"J. J. Gittes" was named after Nicholson's friend, producer Harry Gittes.

"Evelyn Mulwray" is, according to Towne, intended to initially seem the classic "black widow" character typical of lead female characters in film noir, yet is eventually made the only selfless character in the film. Jane Fonda was strongly considered for the role; but Polanski insisted on Dunaway.

"Noah Cross": Towne said that Huston was, after Nicholson, the second-best-cast actor in the film and that he made the Cross character menacing, through his courtly performance.

Polanski appears in a cameo as the gangster who cuts Gittes' nose. The effect was accomplished with a special knife which indeed could have cut Nicholson's nose if Polanski had not held it correctly.

Man this is such a great classic thrilling movie 2 watch, its got such great car chases throughout this movie......man this is such a thrilling movie 2 watch, I think that this is such a really well written/acted/directed movie 2 watch its got a great cast throughout this movie.....

The film earned $17 million at the box office outside North America, which Evans said was a million dollars more than it earned in North America,.

Man this is such a great gripping movie 2 watch, its got a great cast throughout this movie.....its got good fight scenes throughout this movie.....man this is such a great movie 2 watch with a great cast throughout this movie......