Roman Polanski, Chinatown: Old School Reviews

Chinatown (1974)

Director: Roman Polanski

Stars: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez, Roman Polanski, Burt Young

Release Company: Paramount Home Video

MPAA Rating: R

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Chinatown, Los Angeles, California Art Print
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You're a very nosy fellow, kitty cat. Huh? You know what happens to nosy fellows? Huh? No? Wanna guess? Huh? No? Okay. They lose their noses.

So states director Roman Polanski during his cameo appearance in Chinatown's most memorable scene. In a sense, it's the audience that is voyeuristically losing its nose. We see everything from private investigator J.J. Gittes' point of view, in a classic 1974 film noir about water and power set in Los Angeles, and set during the late 1930s. The multilayered Chinatown often unfolds slowly, as Gittes (Jack Nicholson) peels away at an apparent adultery case that leads us into greater depths than we may anticipate.

Eventually we do end up in Chinatown, a complex and confusing place. It serves as a sociological metaphor for a place that is best left alone (as Gittes explains about case he once took on in Chinatown in which his attempts to help out a young woman ended up hurting her). So, the proper response to what law officers do in Chinatown becomes "as little as possible." Any attempts to rectify situations prove futile. As Noah Cross (John Huston) tells Gittes, "You may think you know what you're dealing with, but, believe me, you don't."

Mystery fans will love the intriguing, complex plot. The audience must work along with Gittes—nearly every scene contains pieces to the puzzle. One trip to the restroom will leave irreparable holes that will confuse you. Stay with Gittes as he weaves his way through Los Angeles' water department, its records libraries, San Fernando valley orchards, rest homes, and its cast of characters.

What begins as a simple case of adultery will take you through a wild goose chase that involves deception, betrayal, greed, conspiracy, and corruption. In the end it will make sense, and you will be rewarded by having seen one of the better films in American cinema.Chinatown was just meant to be. It's hard to imagine perfecting Roman Polanski's direction, Robert Towne's script, and the acting performances by the major players any more than has been recorded.

Polanski had to be convinced to return to the scene of his greatest personal tragedy. He had no desire to return to Los Angeles to direct another film: His wife, actress Sharon Tate, had been brutally murdered there by Charles Manson and his cult followers.

Producer Robert Evans had worked with Polanski on Rosemary's Baby and wanted Polanski's European sensitivity for the project. He convinced Polanski to take on Chinatown. Towne's magnificent script was the biggest selling point. Based partially on a true Los Angeles land-grab scandal of the early 1900s (involving L.A. water engineer William Mulholland, who manipulated water rights for profit), Chinatown is a far superior script compared to a more factual take on the same story—the tedious Mulholland Falls.

Towne develops the J.J. Gittes character into a classic film icon that will stand for years—never mind an unfortunate experiment to bring him back with The Two Jakes, under Jack Nicholson's direction. (The Two Jakes was a project that may well have finished Nicholson's chances for any future experiments in film direction.)

Jake proves to be multifaceted. Towne's script fashions him to be tough enough to beat up a thug, hard-nosed enough to focus on finding the truth, down-to-earth enough to tell off-color jokes, sensitive to people in marital difficulties, and caring and romantic on occasion.

The script is well-structured, something you can see better on subsequent viewings, after taking the twists and turns of your first roller-coaster ride through Chinatown. Each scene builds upon previous ones, and even the wrong turns provide valuable information. Towne incorporates the well-known Hitchcockian MacGuffin as we take our tour through the corrupted Los Angeles waterworks system.

The ideas are supported by some great dialogue, highlighted by many cynical Nicholson quips. It's also nice to see the legendary John Huston spout lines like 'Course I'm respectable. I'm old. Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough." Towne's Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay is well-deserved; it's surprising that this is the only Oscar that Chinatown did win.

Though Huston and Faye Dunaway as Evelyn Cross Mulwray are brilliant casting coups, Nicholson carries Chinatown with one of his strongest performances. Much more controlled than his outbursts in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, he subtly goes through a plethora of emotions. I'm hard-pressed to think of any scenes in which Nicholson isn't present. We can almost feel as exhausted as he does on the day he gets whacked at the orchard and nearly gunned down at the rest home before following Evelyn late at night (only to be phoned back into action by his old police associate).

Of course, Nicholson gets most of the credit for Chinatown's success; I really can't think of another actor who could perform this role quite as well. Roman Polanski deserves a great deal of credit, though. Without his sensibilities, Chinatown's film noir could have been little more than a lightweight Hollywood thriller with a happy ending.

The producer actually attempted to convince Polanski to have a more upbeat movie, but Polanski rightfully stood firm and insisted on the ending—which lends much more meaning to the now-classic film. Additionally, few other directors would have taken the time, or had the patience, to allow us to unravel the mystery along with our hero. Just note the amount of time and the detail that goes into the scene in which Nicholson gathers the names of the new landowners in the San Fernando Valley.

Undoubtedly, this is Polanski's greatest film, and must rank among the best films ever made. What a year 1974 was, with Chinatown and two classic dark Coppola films (The Godfather II and The Conversation) coming out! All three of these continue to stand the test of time, and are well worth repeated showings. I hope a revival will one day bring Chinatown back to the big screen.