Chinatown: Difference between revisions

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* [[Affably Evil]]: {{spoiler|Noah Cross}}

* [[And Then What]]: Subverted - Jake attempts this with the villain. [[It Got Worse|It doesn't work.]]

* [[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 />

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* [[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]].

* [[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]].

* [[Evil Sounds Deep]]: Just ''listen'' to [[John Huston]]'s voice.

* [[Eye Scream]]

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* [[Friend On the Force]]: Escobar is kind of a subversion of this.

* [[Friendly Local Chinatown]]: Well, it's local at least.

* [[Genre Deconstruction]]: Critics such as John G. Cawelti have argued that the film is all about deconstructing the "myth" of [[Film Noir]] and the [[Hardboiled Detective]]. Gittes isn't a tough, emotionally detached private eye, but rather a vulnerable, flawed [[Anti Hero]]. Evelyn ''isn't'' a [[Femme Fatale]], but everyone assumes she is (in part because of the misogynistic value system underpinning 1930s California). And the villain is so rich, powerful and influential that Gittes is ultimately powerless to stop him or his conspiracy. And so on.

* [[Genre Deconstruction]]: Critics such as John G. Cawelti have argued that the film is all about deconstructing the "myth" of [[Film Noir]] and the [[Hardboiled Detective]]. Gittes isn't a tough, emotionally detached private eye, but rather a vulnerable, flawed [[Anti-Hero]]. Evelyn ''isn't'' a [[Femme Fatale]], but everyone assumes she is (in part because of the misogynistic value system underpinning 1930s California). And the villain is so rich, powerful and influential that Gittes is ultimately powerless to stop him or his conspiracy. And so on.

* [[Guile Hero]]: While "hero" might be something of a stretch, the fact is that Jake is VERY good at making people slip up so he can wring info out of them, and has so many tricks up his sleeve he'd do [[Batman]] proud.

* [[Hardboiled Detective]]

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* [[Just Between You and Me]]: "The future, Mr. Gittes. The future!"

* [[Karma Houdini]]: By a [[Complete Monster]], no less.

* [[Meaningful Name]]: "'''Holl'''is '''Mul'''wray" is derived from William '''Mulholl'''and, the name of one of the men involved in the real events which the film fictionalizes (see [[Very Loosely Based On a True Story]]) and who also gave his name to [[Mulholland Drive|a famous road in California]]. Also, ''Noah'' Cross, who is trying to gain control of all the water in Los Angeles (figure it out for yourself).

* [[Meaningful Name]]: "'''Holl'''is '''Mul'''wray" is derived from William '''Mulholl'''and, the name of one of the men involved in the real events which the film fictionalizes (see [[Very Loosely Based on a True Story]]) and who also gave his name to [[Mulholland Drive|a famous road in California]]. Also, ''Noah'' Cross, who is trying to gain control of all the water in Los Angeles (figure it out for yourself).

** Also, the coroner's name is Morty.

* [[Meta Casting]]: John Huston, the director of many of the [[Film Noir]] classics, in the role of the villain.

* [[Missing White Woman Syndrome]]: At the beginning of the film, farmers are campaigning for the construction of a new dam which will allow for better irrigation. Hollis explains that the proposed site for the new dam has a shale base, as did the previous dam in the area, which collapsed and killed five hundred people. In a line of dialogue [[All There in The Script|present in the screenplay but not the film itself]], Escobar explains that the reason this collapse and all the deaths it caused didn't get sufficient publicity was because most of the people killed were Mexican immigrants.

* [[Nice Job Breaking It Hero]]: {{spoiler|Gittes gives Cross the only piece of evidence capable of proving him guilty of murdering Hollis Mulwray.}} Whoops.

* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: {{spoiler|Gittes gives Cross the only piece of evidence capable of proving him guilty of murdering Hollis Mulwray.}} Whoops.

** Not to mention {{spoiler|calling the cops on Evelyn under the erroneous belief that she's the culprit}}.

* [[Noodle Incident]]: We never do find out exactly what happened in Chinatown.

* [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]]: The irritating clerk at the Hall of Records seems to be doing everything he can to be as unhelpful as humanly possible.

* [[One Scene Wonder]]: An interesting use of this trope. {{spoiler|Noah Cross}} has all of two (three at a push), very brief, scenes in this very long film. He's often remembered as one of the most despicable villains in cinematic history.

* [[One-Scene Wonder]]: An interesting use of this trope. {{spoiler|Noah Cross}} has all of two (three at a push), very brief, scenes in this very long film. He's often remembered as one of the most despicable villains in cinematic history.

** And [[Creator Cameo|Polanski himself]], as the Man with the Knife. "You're a very nosy fella, kittycat. You know what happens to nosy fellas? No? Wanna guess?"

* [[Parental Incest]]

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* [[The Sociopath]]: Noah Cross.

* [[Stopped Clock]]: Jack places a watch under the car of the person he's tailing. That way he can know at what time he left by the time the watch was run over.

* [[The Un Reveal]]: What exactly happened during Jake's time in Chinatown.

* [[The Un-Reveal]]: What exactly happened during Jake's time in Chinatown.

* [[Very Loosely Based On a True Story]]: The city of Los Angeles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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.

* [[Very Loosely Based on a True Story]]: The city of Los Angeles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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.