Chinatown new york

Chinatown (1974 awards)
Chinatown directions
Chinatown series

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Chinatown

When Mrs. Evelyn Mulwray, wife to Water & Power head Hollis Mulwray, tells Private Detective Jake Gittes that she wants to hire him to follow her husband because she believes he’s having an affair, Jake stops her: “Mrs. Mulwray, can I give you some advice. Do you know the expression ‘let sleeping dogs lie’? You’re better off not knowing.” Then again, operating in 1930s Los Angeles, then just a burgeoning city in the desert, Mr. Mulwray is a prominent figure. For Jake, a case like this is irresistible. And so, rather than take his own advice, Jake follows and eventually photographs his client’s husband “involved” with a young woman. Except, unbeknownst to Jake, Mrs. Mulwray is not Mrs. Mulwray. Jake has been set up as part of a conspiracy larger and more complex than he can imagine: a deal to secure water to irrigate and develop land for the expansion of L.A. into the Valley. Jake’s photos of Mr. Mulwray somehow make the newspaper the next morning when, in all his obliviousness, he enjoys a shave at a barbershop. Out of the shop’s window, we notice a genius detail in

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Chinatown (1974 film)

Film directed by Roman Polański

Chinatown is a 1974 American neo-noirmystery film directed by Roman Polanski from a screenplay by Robert Towne. The film stars Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. It was inspired by the California water wars: a series of disputes over southern California water at the beginning of the 20th century that resulted in Los Angeles securing water rights in the Owens Valley.^[4] The Robert Evans production, released by Paramount Pictures, was Polanski's last film in the United States and features many elements of film noir, particularly a multi-layered story that is part mystery and part psychological drama.^[5]

Chinatown was released in the United States on June 20, 1974, to acclaim from critics, with praise for the narrative and screenwriting, Nicholson and Dunaway's performances, cinematography, and Polanski's direction. At the 47th Academy Awards, it was nominated for 11 Oscars, with Towne winning Best Original Screenplay. The Golden Globe Awards honored it for Best Drama, Best Director, Best Actor, and Be

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1Probably the most famous phrase in Chinatown, Roman Polanski’s 1974 homage to detective noir, is virtually the last line spoken in the movie. The ensemble of characters is standing by the car that Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) has attempted to escape in with her daughter, Katherine (Belinda Palmer). Detectives have fired shots from up the street in their attempt to prevent Evelyn from fleeing the scene and the result is that the long slow single horn sounding some yards away signals Evelyn’s death. Her head rests on the steering wheel and blood pours from a bullet wound that has entered her skull and gone through the defected eye that private detective J.J. Gittes (Jack Nicholson) had noticed in a scene earlier in the movie. Lieutenant Escobar (Perry Lopez) urges Gittes to go home and his associates pull him away from the vehicle with Walsh (Joe Mantell) famously pleading: “Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.”

2Of course, “Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown” is also one of the many lines in the film that pays due reverence to the screenplay’s inspiration, the work of Raymond C