Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1970s
    Movies - 1970s Movies - C 2 Mins Read

    Chinatown (1974)

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    Director Roman Polanski’s finest two hours take the Chandleresque mystery into bizarre byways and deep psychological territory, with Jack Nicholson’s jaded private eye Jake Gittes (named after Jack Nicholson’s friend, producer Harry Gittes) led by a neurotic femme fatale (Faye Dunaway), and even more dangerous self-delusion, into a maelstrom of greed, murder and incest in the mean streets and orange groves of 1930’s Los Angeles.

    chinatown_37

    Ironically, the title may be somewhat misleading as the only time an audience actually gets to Chinatown is during the explosive finale, yet all the time a foreboding nastiness about this specific zone in LA is made reference to as past experience Gittes would rather forget.

    Nicholson’s performance is, to say the least, flawless as a man about to uncover dirty politics and conspiracy underneath the guise of a simple infidelity case.

    So too the attention to detail and atmospherics care of the soon to be outcast Polanski (four years later he would flee the USA to avoid charges of raping a 13-year-old girl), lasting forever in the memory via a nasty cameo in which he slits our leading man’s nose.

    Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, yet only walking away with one (Original Screenplay), Chinatown is what all cinematic delivery is ever trying to achieve: interesting characters developing throughout an engrossing scenario.

    chinatown_08Polanski famously fell out with screenwriter Robert Towne when he scrapped the original ending – in which Faye Dunaway’s character is allowed to escape – and decided to think up a new one himself.

    Even though he wasn’t sure yet what it would be he told production designer Richard Sylbert to build a set of a street in Chinatown. He’d work the rest out later . . .

    And sure enough, it’s on this street in the finished movie that Dunaway’s character is shot through the eye as she tries to escape, allowing violence and corruption to triumph.

    J.J. “Jake” Gittes
    Jack Nicholson
    Evelyn Mulwray

    Faye Dunaway
    Noah Cross
    John Huston
    Escobar
    Perry Lopez
    Yelburton
    John Hillerman
    Hollis Mulwray
    Darrell Zwerling
    Ida Sessions
    Diane Ladd
    Mulvihill
    Roy Jenson
    Loach 
    Richard Bakalyan
    Walsh
    Joe Mantell
    Duffy
    Bruce Glover
    Sophie
    Nandu Hinds
    Lawyer 
    James O’Rear
    Evelyn’s Butler
    James Hong
    Man with Knife
    Roman Polanski

    Director
    Roman Polanski

    Related Posts

    • Long Goodbye, The (1973)
      Long Goodbye, The (1973)
      Unshaven, unheroic Los Angeles detective Philip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) smells a rat when his friend Terry Lennox (former pro baseball…
    • Carnal Knowledge (1971)
      Carnal Knowledge (1971)
      This movie broke sexual taboos in the frankness with which it tackled its study of two college roommates and their…
    • Black Eye (1974)
      Black Eye (1974)
      Shep Stone (Fred Williamson) is a cheap, affable, and forever in debt Los Angeles-area private eye and former Los Angeles cop.…
    • Conversation, The (1974)
      Conversation, The (1974)
      Francis Ford Coppola directed this 1974 film starring Gene Hackman as lonely, paranoid surveillance expert Harry Caul - a wire-tapper…
    • Go for a Take (1972)
      Go for a Take (1972)
      An above-average British comedy of its time, Go For A Take runs along the lines of a Norman Wisdom romp, giving the…
    • Last Detail, The (1973)
      Last Detail, The (1973)
      Jack Nicholson, in one of his best roles, plays "Bad-ass" Buddusky (pictured), a veteran naval petty officer detailed, along with…
    • Safe Place, A (1971)
      Safe Place, A (1971)
      Tuesday Weld plays a vulnerable woman - sometimes called Susan and occasionally Noah - who appears to be in a…
    • Big Sleep, The (1978)
      Big Sleep, The (1978)
      An ITC/ATV movie directed by Michael Winner and based on the Raymond Chandler novel - but with the action transferred…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleChitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
    Next Article China Syndrome, The (1979)

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • Doctor In Clover (1966)
      The sixth movie in the long-running ‘Doctor’ comedy […]
    • Three’s A Crowd
      1 9 8 4 – 1 9 8 5 (USA) 22 x 30 minute episodes A spin-off […]
    • Numbers, The
      The rise of Australian band The Numbers seemed meteoric to the […]
    • Paranoiac (1962)
      The return of Tony Ashby (Alexander Davion), believed drowned in […]
    • Chris Farlowe
      Remembered as a one-hit-wonder (the chart-topping Out Of Time), […]
    • Sex Pistols, The
      God bless The Sex Pistols. During their chaotic two-year […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disco Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.