On C List of Movie Reviews
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Chinatown (1974)
Rate:
10
Viewed:
9/04, 5/06, 1/09, 10/10, 5/21
5/06:
Chinatown is the quintessential neo-noir picture.
Everything about it is meticulously crafted which starts with Robert Towne's screenplay that's followed up with
the exquisite cinematography. Do you want to know what blows my mind away? It's the fact that
The Towering Inferno won the Oscar for Best Cinematography
over this one. What a joke.
Under the guidance of Roman Polanski, the neo-noir
aspect is buoyed by the cast which includes Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, and John Huston, among others.
The final line "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown" is unforgettable.
All in all, Chinatown is the best neo-noir picture ever made.
1/09:
From the brilliant opening scene when Jake Gittes tells Curly not to eat his Venetian blinds to the ominous ending
with an unforgettable final line, Chinatown is bar none the greatest neo-noir picture ever made.
I love how John Huston bridges the connection from film noir to neo-noir by having been the director of
The Maltese Falcon and making a powerful appearance as the nefarious old man who raises the stakes even higher in
Chinatown. Larger than life, he still hasn't lost the touch.
All in all, Chinatown is a sublime neo-noir masterpiece that has no equal.
10/10:
"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."
This line says everything what Chinatown is all about. It's a beautiful film with an unbeatable cast.
All in all, Chinatown is a top twenty masterpiece.
5/21:
Chinatown is the number one film of the neo-noir genre, and there's no contest.
It starts with the brilliant script by Robert Towne. Then, Roman Polanski picks up the rest by having his go-to guy in
Jack Nicholson to pair up with Faye Dunaway who makes her mark as the selfless but damaged femme fatale. The final
stroke of the masterful cast is getting John Huston to play the feared Noah Cross. To cap it all off is the stunning
cinematography by John A. Alonzo.
There hasn't been anything like Chinatown before or since then. What I love is the pace that runs at a normal speed.
Jack Nicholson's character has his own language which is a lot of evasive talk with the intention of saying as little as
possible, yet it's been class all the way through. The clues are there for the taking, and I'm never cheated at any minute.
I have a lot of favorite Jake Gittes moments: the intro when he tells Curly not to eat his Venetian blinds, Roman Polanski
coming up to him and then cutting his nose for being a nosy snoop, Evelyn Mulwray standing behind him as he tells his Chinaman
joke, calling the guy at the Hall of Records a "weasel," getting into a fight out in the orange groves, and, of
course, being there for one of the greatest endings ever when he's advised, "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."
Interestingly, part of the plot is true for Jack Nicholson. Not knowing it for many years until just after
Chinatown was theatrically released, he was raised by his mother's parents who acted as his parents instead of
grandparents. Jack's real mother pretended to be his sister. He also had an aunt for a sister.
All in all, there are a handful of movies that I've seen over ten times, and Chinatown is among them because it's
so good.