Chinatown is a 1974 American neo-noir film, directed by Roman Polanski. The film features many elements of the film noir genre, particularly a multi-layered story that is part mystery and part psychological drama. It stars Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, and John Huston, and was released by Paramount Pictures.
The story, set in Los Angeles in 1937, was inspired by the historical disputes over land and water rights that had raged in southern California during the 1910s and 20s, in which William Mulholland acted on behalf of Los Angeles interests to secure water rights in the Owens Valley.
The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, winning in the category of Best Original Screenplay for Robert Towne. In 1991, Chinatown was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
A sequel, called The Two Jakes, was released in 1990, starring Jack Nicholson, who also directed it, with a screenplay by Robert Towne.
Plot
A woman hires private investigator J.J. "Jake" Gittes (Jack Nicholson) to perform surveillance on Hollis Mulwray, the chief engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The woman (Diane Ladd) claims to be Mulwray's wife Evelyn, who suspects him of adultery.
Gittes tails Mulwray. In a public meeting about a proposed bond issue for new dam construction, Mr. Mulwray argues that the proposed dam is physically unsound and opposes the bond issue, which eventually passes. Following Mulwray to several Water and Power-related sites, they discover the dumping of fresh water into the ocean in spite of the late summer drought. Gittes's associate photographs Mulwray arguing with an elderly man outside the Pig and Whistle eatery in Hollywood, and only overhears the words "apple core" over traffic noise (a corruption of the word "albacore").
Gittes finally photographs Mulwray with his young mistress. The photos are immediately published on the newspaper front page because of Mulwray's prominence. The real Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) serves a lawsuit on Gittes, for publishing false information, that is, that she had ever hired him. Gittes grasps that he was "hired" by a phony Mrs. Mulwray to spy on Hollis Mulwray; to protect his reputation, he must figure out who originally "hired" him and why.
Gittes convinces Evelyn Mulwray that he was only unwittingly involved in her personal business and she agrees to dismiss her lawsuit. She nervously reveals that her maiden name was "Cross" and that Mulwray used to be her father's business partner. Visiting the Department of Water and Power, Gittes recognizes photographs of the same elderly man Mulwray was photographed quarreling with, and learns his name: Noah Cross (John Huston). Mulwray and Cross once privately owned the water department.
Gittes looks for Mulwray at the Oak Pass reservoir but finds police detectives there instead, including Lt. Lou Escobar (Perry Lopez), with whom Gittes used to work as an officer in Chinatown. Escobar and his men are investigating Mulwray's death by drowning and are recovering the body. At headquarters, Evelyn falsely tells Escobar that she did hire Gittes at the outset to investigate Mulwray's adultery but expected nothing to come of it. Gittes tells Evelyn that he suspects that Mulwray was murdered. Evelyn hires Gittes to investigate Mulwray's death.
Breaking into the reservoir's secured area that night, Gittes nearly drowns in water suddenly being dumped. Soaking wet, he is confronted by water department security chief Claude Mulvihill (a corrupt former county sheriff) with a short henchman (a cameo by director Roman Polanski) who sticks a knife blade up Gittes's nose and slashes through his nostril for being a "very nosy kitty cat." Back at his office, sporting a considerable bandage, Gittes receives a call from Ida Sessions, identifying herself as the "working girl" who pretended to "hire" him as Mrs. Mulwray. She did not realize the seriousness of what she was involved in, she explains, but she is too afraid to identify her employer. Miss Sessions does provide a clue, though: that Gittes can find the name of one of "those people" in that day's obituary column.
Gittes joins Noah Cross, a member of the Albacore Club, at his estate for lunch. Cross also offers to hire Gittes to find Katherine, Mulwray's young mistress, who has been missing since Mulwray died. Cross refuses to discuss his argument with Mulwray outside the Pig 'n Whistle in any detail, and deflects Gittes's questions by explaining that the mistress might know how Mulwray was killed. "Just find the girl," he admonishes.
Gittes visits the hall of records, cross-checking recent land purchases with the obituary column. Then he drives to an orange grove in the northwest San Fernando Valley, and is shot at, caught, and beaten by the angry landowners. They explain that the water department has been demolishing their water tanks and poisoning wells, before they knock him out. When Gittes wakes up, Evelyn is there to pick him up. They leave and Gittes reviews the obituary column, noticing that a resident of the Mar Vista Inn, a retirement home, died two weeks ago, but "bought" acreage in the Valley only one week ago. "That's unusual," Gittes quips. Growers have been forced off their acreage by drought conditions and harassment by the water department, Gittes explains, depressing value. Unidentified persons are buying tens of thousands of acres "for peanuts" using the names of straw buyers. The public dam bond issue that Mulwray unsuccessfully opposed, Gittes explains, is a "con job" designed to irrigate the rural valley, not conserve water for city taxpayers. Because he knew about this and other things, Gittes theorizes, Hollis Mulwray was murdered. Evelyn and Jake arrive at the Mar Vista Inn and confirm that its residents have no clue of their wealth; further, the Mar Vista Inn is affiliated with the Albacore Club as "sort of an unofficial charity." Mulvihill soon arrives to "escort" Jake out and they scuffle.
With Mulvihill's henchman firing at them, Gittes and Evelyn escape the Mar Vista in her car. Returning to her house, they passionately kiss and wind up in her bed. In intimate conversation, Jake tells Evelyn about his time as a beat cop in L.A.'s Chinatown, where he was instructed to do "as little as possible." Nothing was ever as it seemed, he explains. Gittes's attempt to protect a woman only ensured that she was hurt. Evelyn's phone rings and she quickly hangs up and says that she has to leave. Evelyn asks Jake to wait for her there and to trust her. She adds that Noah Cross owns the Albacore Club.
Gittes tails Evelyn to her butler's house; peering through a bedroom window he sees Evelyn comforting Katherine, Mulwray's distraught mistress. Evelyn, when Gittes presses, admits that Mulwray's mistress is her sister. Then Ida Sessions is found murdered in her house. Gittes receives a mysterious call from a homicide detective using Ms. Sessions's phone and arrives there. Escobar explains that the coroner found salt water in Mulwray's lungs, indicating that the body was moved, as it was recovered from a freshwater reservoir.
Gittes returns to Evelyn's mansion, where he discovers a pair of men's eyeglasses in her salt water garden pond. Presuming that Evelyn killed Mulwray and that the glasses were his, Gittes confronts Evelyn. She denies guilt and, under questioning, wavers about whether Katherine is her sister, or her daughter. In a climactic scene, Gittes repeatedly smacks Evelyn on one side of the face, and the other, until Evelyn cries out "She's my sister and my daughter!" whom she bore to Noah Cross when she was 15. Evelyn says that the found eyeglasses could not have been Mulwray's because they are bifocals. Gittes decides to help Evelyn and Katherine escape from Cross and Escobar, who now suspects Evelyn of Mulwray's murder, and accuses Gittes of extortion and of acting as an accessory. Gittes arranges for the two women to flee to Mexico, through a fisherman client, and instructs Evelyn to meet him at her butler's home in Chinatown.
Evelyn leaves, and Lt. Escobar arrives. Escobar brings Jake along for his arrest of Evelyn. Jake gives the San Pedro address of the fisherman, which Jake pretends belongs to Evelyn's maid. Jake enters the house alone, slips out the back door, and asks his client to take Evelyn and Katherine to Mexico by boat.
At Mulwray's home, Gittes arranges for Mr. Cross to meet him, claiming that he's found Mulwray's mistress. After Gittes confronts him, Cross admits he intends to incorporate the Valley into the City of Los Angeles, which will be irrigated and developed. Gittes then broaches the topic of Cross's incest with Evelyn, and accuses him of Mulwray's drowning. Cross says most people never have to acknowledge that, given the right circumstances, they are "capable of anything." Gittes produces Cross's bifocals, the only physical evidence linking him to Mulwray's murder. Mulvihill appears, holding a gun on Gittes, forcing him to surrender Cross's glasses and to take them to Katherine. When Gittes arrives at the hiding place in Chinatown, the police are already there and arrest Gittes for withholding evidence and extortion. Gittes protests that Cross murdered Mulwray, but Escobar orders one of his men to handcuff Gittes to a car.
Noah Cross approaches Katherine, explaining that he is her "grandfather." Evelyn backs him off with a small pistol, vowing to protect her daughter. Gittes scolds Evelyn to "Let the police handle this!" Evelyn fires back: "He owns the police!" Cross approaches Katherine again and Evelyn shoots him in the arm. As Evelyn speeds away with Katherine, the police open fire, killing Evelyn; her body falls onto the car horn, followed by Katherine's blood-curdling scream. Cross clutches Katherine and takes her away.
Gittes mutters to Escobar, "...as little as possible," reminding Escobar of their frustrating years policing corrupt Chinatown. Escobar angrily releases Gittes, confiding that he is doing Gittes "a favor," and ordering Gittes's associates to "Get him out of here!" Gittes is urged, "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."
Cast
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- Bruce Glover as Duffy
- Nandu Hinds as Sophie
- James O'Rear as Lawyer
- James Hong as Kahn
- Beulah Quo as Mulwray's Maid
- Jerry Fujikawa as Mulwray's Gardener
- Belinda Palmer as Katherine Cross
- Roy Roberts as Mayor Bagby
- Noble Willingham as Councilman
- Elliott Montgomery as Councilman
- Burt Young as Curly
- Elizabeth Harding as Curly's Wife
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Production
Background
In 1971, producer Robert Evans originally offered Towne $175,000 to write a screenplay for The Great Gatsby (1974), but Towne felt he couldn't better the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. Instead, Towne asked for $25,000 from Evans to write his own story, Chinatown, to which Evans agreed.[1][2]
Chinatown was set in 1937 and portrays water department corruption. It was the first part of a planned trilogy written by Robert Towne about the character J.J. Gittes and Los Angeles government. The second part, The Two Jakes, was about the natural gas department in Los Angeles in the 1940s. It was directed by Jack Nicholson and released in 1990, however, the second film's commercial and critical failure scuttled plans to make Gittes vs. Gittes[3], a film about the development of the Los Angeles freeway system in the late 1940s.
Origins
The characters Hollis Mulwray and Noah Cross are both references to the chief engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, William Mulholland (1855-1935) — the name Hollis Mulwray is partially an anagram for Mulholland. The name Noah is a reference to a flood — to suggest the conflict between good and evil in Mulholland. Mulholland was the designer and engineer for the Los Angeles Aqueduct, which brought water from the Owens Valley to Los Angeles. Mulwray opposes the dam that Cross and the city want to build for reasons of engineering and safety. Mulwray says he will not make the same mistake as when he built a previous dam, which broke, resulting in the deaths of hundreds. This is a direct reference to the St. Francis Dam disaster. The dam was personally inspected by Mulholland himself before it catastrophically failed the next morning on March 12, 1928. More than 450 people, many of them school children, died that day and the town of Santa Paula was buried.[4] The incident effectively ended Mulholland's career and he died in 1935. Margaret Leslie Davis, in her 1993 book "Rivers in the Desert: William Mulholland and the Inventing of Los Angeles," says the sexually charged film is a metaphor for the "rape" of the Owens Valley. She notes that it fictionalizes Mulholland into a corrupt and sinister character while underplaying the strong public support for Southern California's controversial water projects.
Development
Robert Towne says he took the title, and the famous exchange, "What did you do in Chinatown?" / "As little as possible", from a Hungarian vice cop who had worked in Chinatown. The cop explained to Towne that the complicated array of dialects and gangs in Los Angeles's Chinatown made it impossible for police to know whether their interventions in Chinatown were helping victims or being exploited by criminals, so police decided the best course of action was to do as little as possible.[2]
Polanski found out about the script through Nicholson, with whom he had been planning to make a film once they found the right story. Producer Robert Evans wanted Polanski to direct as well, because he desired a European vision of America, which he thought would be darker and more cynical. Polanski, just a few years removed from the murder of his wife in Los Angeles, was initially reluctant to return, but was persuaded to accept the project based on the strength of the script.[2]
Towne wrote the screenplay with Nicholson in mind.[2] Evans, the producer, intended the screenplay to have a happy ending with Cross dying and Evelyn Mulwray surviving. Evans and Polanski argued over it, with Polanski insisting on a tragic end. The two parted ways due to the dispute and Polanski wrote the final scene just a few days before it was shot.[2]
The original script was over 180 pages. Polanski eliminated Gittes' voiceover narration, which was written in the script, and filmed the movie so the audience discovered the clues at the same time Gittes did.
Polanski originally offered the cinematographer position to William A. Fraker, Paramount agreed and Fraker accepted. Paramount had previously hired Fraker to shoot for Polanski on Rosemary's Baby. When Robert Evans became aware of the hiring he insisted the offer be rescinded. Evans, who had also produced Rosemary's Baby, felt pairing Polanski and Fraker yielded a team with too much power on one side, and would thus complicate the production.
Characters and casting
- "J.J. Gittes" was named after Nicholson's friend, producer Harry Gittes.
- "Evelyn Mulwray" is, according to the screenwriter Towne, intended to initially seem to be the classic "black widow" character typical of lead female characters in film noir, yet is eventually revealed to be the only selfless character in the film. Jane Fonda was strongly considered for the role, but Polanski pushed for Dunaway.[2]
- "Noah Cross": Towne says that Huston was, after Nicholson, the second best-cast actor in the film, and that he made the Cross character evil through his charming and courtly performance.[2]
Filming
Polanski appears in a cameo as the gangster who cuts Gittes' nose. The effect was accomplished with a special knife, which could have actually cut Nicholson's nose if Polanski had not held it correctly. In keeping with the tradition Polanski credits to Raymond Chandler, all of the events of the film are seen subjectively through Gittes's eyes, for example, when Gittes is knocked unconscious, the film fades to black and then fades back in when he awakens. Gittes appears in every scene of the film.[2]
Post-production
Polanski was outraged when producer Robert Evans ordered the film lab to give Chinatown a reddish look.[citation needed] Polanski demanded that the film be corrected.
Soundtrack
- "Love Theme from Chinatown (Main Title)"
- "Noah Cross"
- "Easy Living"
- "Jake and Evelyn"
- "I Can't Get Started"
- "The Last of Ida"
- "The Captive"
- "The Boy on a Horse"
- "The Way You Look Tonight"
- "The Wrong Clue"
- "J.J. Gittes"
- "Love Theme From Chinatown (End Title)"
Phillip Lambro was originally hired to write the film's music score, but it was rejected at the last minute by producer Robert Evans, leaving Jerry Goldsmith only 10 days to write and record a new one. Parts of the original Lambro score can be heard in the original trailer for the movie. The haunting trumpet solos are by the Hollywood studio musician Uan Rasey. Goldsmith received an Academy Award nomination for his efforts. Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal [5] published an article 7/11/09 praising Jerry Goldsmith's music for the movie, crediting the success of the movie to the revised score.
Legacy
Evans says that the film cemented Jack Nicholson, then a rising star, as one of Hollywood's top leading men.[2]
This was the last movie Roman Polanski filmed in the U.S. He was arrested and convicted of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor in 1977.
Nicholson turned down every subsequent detective role offered to him so that Jake Gittes would be the only one associated with him.[6]
Robert Towne's screenplay for the film has become legendary among critics and filmmakers, often celebrated as one of - if not the - best ever written.[7][8][9]
Awards and honors
Academy Awards - 1974
The film won one Academy Award and was nominated in a further ten categories:[10]
- Wins
- Nominations
Golden Globes - 1974
Wins:
Nominations
Other awards
American Film Institute recognition
References
Bibliography
- Easton, Michael (1998) Chinatown (B.F.I. Film Classics series). Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 0-85170-532-4.
- Towne, Robert (1997). Chinatown and the Last Detail: 2 Screenplays. New York: Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-3401-7.
- Tuska, Jon (1978). The Detective in Hollywood. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company. ISBN 0-385-12093-1.
- Thomson, David (2004). The Whole Equation: A History of Hollywood. New York, New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-375-40016-8.
External links
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