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{{work|wppage=Chinatown (1974 film)}}
[[File:ChinatownPoster_1887.jpg|frame]]
 
{{quote| '''Walsh:''' ''Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown.''}}
 
One of the seminal Neo-Noir films, and considered by many to be among the best of [[Film Noir]] films in general, '''''Chinatown''''' was written by Robert Towne and directed by [[Roman Polanski]]. The film stars [[Jack Nicholson]], Faye Dunaway, and [[John Huston]]. It is ''[[World Half Empty|DARK.]]''
 
''Chinatown'' tells the story of Jake Gittes, a former cop turned [[Private Detective]] living and working in 1930s Los Angeles. Gittes is hired by a woman claiming to be Evelyn Mulwray, the wife of the city's water commissioner to prove that her husband is having an affair. It seems like a simple enough job. But it isn't. The woman who hired him isn't the real Mrs. Mulwray. Then the water commissioner ends up dead and the real Mrs. Mulwray hires Gittes to find out what really happened. He may think he knows what he's dealing with. [[It Got Worse|But he doesn't.]]
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[[I Thought It Meant|For the kind of place]], see [[Friendly Local Chinatown]]. Don't confuse this with ''[[Big Trouble in Little China]]'', however tempting it may be.
----
=== This movie contains examples of: ===
 
{{tropelist}}
* [[Affably Evil]]: {{spoiler|Noah Cross}}
* [[And Then What?]]: Subverted - Jake attempts this with the villain. [[It Got Worse|It doesn't work.]]
{{quote| '''Jake Gittes:''' I just wanna know what you're worth. More than 10 million? <br />
'''Noah Cross:''' Oh my, yes! <br />
'''Jake Gittes:''' Why are you doing it? How much better can you eat? What could you buy that you can't already afford? <br />
'''Noah Cross:''' [[Visionary Villain|The future, Mr. Gittes! The future]]. }}
* [[Arc Words]]: "As little as possible."
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* [[Corrupt Bureaucrat]]: Yelburton.
* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]: {{spoiler|Noah Cross}}
* [[Creator Breakdown]]: Roman Polanski's pregnant wife was murdered by the Manson Family. He was also a Holocaust survivor. His bleak, bleak worldview led him to change Robert Towne's [[Bittersweet Ending]] into a big ole [[Downer Ending]]. Robert Towne ultimately conceded that it made the movie better.
* [[Creator Cameo]]: Roman Polanski himself appears in the film as the short hoodlum with the knife who slices Jake's nose.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Jake Gittes
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* [[Detective Patsy]]: Jake's getting hired by "Mrs. Mulwray" is what sets the whole plot in motion.
* [[Downer Ending]]: One of the nastiest. Perhaps the most famous aspect of this film outside of [[The Reveal]].
* [[Enforced Method Acting]]: Jack Nicholson was genuinely nervous during the nose-cutting scene because the knife being used could actually have hurt him badly if not held correctly. In the end, Roman Polanski did the scene himself to get it right.
* [[Eureka Moment]]: {{spoiler|The salt water pond}} is what is 'bad for glass.'
* [[Everybody Smokes]]: Appropriate for the period. Lampshaded when Jake asks the coroner, Morty, how he's doing, to which Morty complains of a cough - puffing away all the while, [[Historical In-Joke|blissfully unaware of things like emphysema or lung cancer]].
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* [[The Un-Reveal]]: What exactly happened during Jake's time in Chinatown.
* [[Very Loosely Based on a True Story]]: The city of Los Angeles [[wikipedia:California Water Wars#Los Angeles Aqueduct: the beginning of the water wars|really did]] steal water from valley farmers. Interestingly, this was neither the first nor the last time the events in question were fictionalized, merely the most well-known.
* [[What Could Have Been]]: Anjelica Huston, John's real life ''daughter'', as Evelyn Mulwray. [[Squick]].
** [[Harsher in Hindsight|It was pretty awkward as it was]], given that Jack Nicholson had just started dating Anjelica in real life, making the scenes where John's character asks "Mr. Gittes, do you sleep with my daughter?" just...uncomfortable.
** Chinatown was meant to be one of three Jake Gittes movies. Nicholson never played another detective character, so that Gittes would remain his iconic PI. When the first sequel (''[[The Two Jakes]]'') finally got made, the results were underwhelming, torpedoing the chances of a third movie.
*** Many elements of what would have been the third sequel turned up in ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'', notably the freeway arc.
* [[Wretched Hive]]: From the way Jake reminisces about his days there and the events by the film's end, you can tell Chinatown was one of these.
* [[World Half Empty]]: And completely dry.
* [[Would Hit a Girl]]: Jake slaps Evelyn repeatedly to get the truth out of her. When he comes to call in a favourfavor from a man that hired him to find out if his wife was cheating on him, the wife opens the door sporting a huge black eye. In keeping with the [[Deliberate Values Dissonance]], neither of these instances spark much outrage in-universe.
* [[Your Mom]]: Gittes uses the wife variation to insult a cop:
{{quote| '''Loach''': What happened to your nose, Gittes? Somebody slammed a bedroom window on it?<br />
'''Jake''': Nope. Your wife got excited. She crossed her legs a little too quick, [[LampshadedIf DoubleYou EntendreKnow What I Mean|you understand what I mean]] pal?. }}
 
{{reflist}}
{{Golden Globe Award Best Motion Picture Drama}}
{{AFI's 100 Years 100 Heroes and Villains}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Roger Ebert Great Movies List]]
[[Category:National Film Registry]]
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[[Category:Films of the 1970s]]
[[Category:The Great Depression]]
[[Category:ChinatownRoman Polanski]]
[[Category:Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]]
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