Review of Chinatown (1974) by Brian R — 13 Oct 2012

"Chinatown" is one of the best private eye pictures I have ever seen. Jack Nicholson plays as the the PI Jake Gittes who is seen as street wise, the opposite of a loner, the opposite of Philip Marlow, a strong hatred for being pushed around or taking advantage of and one tough cookie. He meets a woman by the name of Evelyn Mulwray played by Faye Dunaway (I've been seeing a lot of films by her lately) who is seen as someone who you couldn't quite put your finger on...

Gittes' involvement begins with an adultery case. He's visited by a woman who claims to be the wife of a man named Mulwray. She says her husband is cheating on her. Gittes' investigation leads him to Mulwray (Darrell Zwerling), to city hearings, to dried river beds and eventually to Mulwray's drowned body and to the real Mrs. Mulwray (Faye Dunaway). Stumbling across murders, lies and adulteries, he senses some larger reality beneath everything, some conspiracy involving people and motives unknown.

Sounds complex? Kinda. Polanski who directed this masterpiece handles the material very well. I don't think the plot is all that important. What's important is the characters and what kind of motives they're trying to conceal or unravel. "Chinatown" is pure 40's film noir and the screenwriter Robert Towne knows this world inside out. I found it interesting for Towne to involve a water dam and drout scandal to the story. Most of all the heart of the picture goes to Jack Nicholson who reminded me of a young, brash Leonardo DiCaprio. Cunning, charismatic, intelligent Nicholson brings in the necessary talent to the Jake Gittes character and he makes it works. 100 percent.