Have you ever heard the expression “Let sleeping dogs lie”? Sometimes you’re better off not knowing.
Today on Classic Movie Rev, we are taking on Neo-Noir Chinatown (1974).
Before we get going, I want to shout out to Robert H. for recommending this and some other movies. Thanks for the email, Robert. Send me an email if you want to talk about movies.
Don’t forget to follow the link in the show notes or from the site to visit our store. We have some interesting designs for tees, stickers, masks, mugs, and pins.
Chinatown (1974) is probably the greatest film of the Neo-Noir era. I have this film ranked number one on my list of Essential Neo-Noir Films. This movie won the Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -Robert Towne. It was nominated for ten more, including Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Director, and Best Cinematography.[1]
This movie has a pretty good 8.1 on iMDB.com.[2] It does just as well on Rottentomatoes.com with 99 percent on the Tomatometer and 93 percent audience approval[3].
The great film critic Roger Ebert listed Chinatown (1974) on his list of great movies. He also said in a four-star review dated February 6, 2000:
Like most noir stories, “Chinatown” ends in a flurry of revelation. All is explained, relationships are redefined, and justice is done — or not. Towne writes of “my eventual conflict with Roman and enduring disappointment over the literal and ghoulishly bleak climax” of the movie. Certainly the wrong people are alive (and dead) at the end of the film, but I am not sure Polanski was wrong. He made the movie just five years after his wife, Sharon Tate, was one of the victims of the Manson gang, and can be excused for tilting toward despair. If the film had been made 10 years later, the studio might have insisted on an upbeat ending, but it was produced during that brief window when Robert Evans oversaw a series of Paramount’s best films, including “The Godfather.”[4]
New York Times film critic Vincent Canby said on June 21, 1974:
When Robert Altman set out to make Chandler’s “The Long Goodbye,” he had the good sense to turn it into a contemporary film that was as much a comment on the form as an evocation of it.
Mr. Polanski and Mr. Towne have attempted nothing so witty and entertaining, being content instead to make a competently stylish, more or less thirtyish movie that continually made me wish I were back seeing “The Maltese Falcon” or “The Big Sleep.” Others may not be as finicky.
Among the good things in “Chinatown” are the performances by Mr. Nicholson, who wears an air of comic, lazy, very vulnerable sophistication that is this film’s major contribution to the genre; Faye Dunaway, as the widow of the film’s first murder victim, a woman too beautiful to be either good or true, and John Huston, who plays a wealthy old tycoon whose down‐home, sod‐kicking manner can’t quite disguise the sort of fanaticism displayed by Sidney Greenstreet in Mr. Huston’s “Maltese Falcon.”[5]
So let’s get going with the actors.
Actors – Chinatown (1974)
Returning
John Huston played the pervy Noah Cross. This great director was first covered in Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973).
Prolific and incredible actor James Hong played the butler to the Mulwray’s. This great actor was first covered in Go Tell the Spartans (1978).
Bruce Glover played Duffy, one of Jake’s associates. Glover, the father of Crispin Glover, was first covered in Hard Times (1975).
New
Jack Nicholson plays hard-boiled private investigator J.J. Gittes. Nicholson was born in New Jersey in 1937. Nicholson graduated from Manasquan High School in Manasquan, New Jersey
After graduation, Nicholson moved to Los Angeles, where his mother was living. He planned on being a screenwriter. He ended up working in the mailroom at the Hanna-Barbera cartoon division. His first movie was The Cry Baby Killer (1958).
Nicholson was in The Little Shop of Horrors (1960); he also tried directing and writing. One of his co-writing projects was for the movie Head (1968) for the Monkees’ television band. The movie was supposed to be like A Hard Day’s Night (1964), but it was tripped out madhouse that did more harm to the band than good as no one understood the film.
Nicholson showed his acting talent in the 1970s with films such as Easy Rider (1969), Five Easy Pieces (1970), The Last Detail (1973), Chinatown (1974), and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975). For this last film, he won a Best Actor Oscar.
He broke into the 1980s with Kubrick’s The Shinning (1980). Although nowhere near as good as the book, Nicholson was pretty scary. He continued with fairly good films in the 80s, but they were 80s films with the big hear and parachute pants. These include Terms of Endearment (1983), for which he won a Best Actor Oscar. Other 80s films include Reds (1981), Prizzi’s Honor (1985), Broadcast News (1987), The Witches of Eastwick (1987), and Batman (1989).
He produced some excellent roles in the 1990s, such as playing a psycho in A Few Good Men (1992), biopic Hoffa (1992), dual roles in the sci-fi comedy Mars Attacks! (1996), and As Good as It Gets (1997). Nicholson won the best actor Oscar for this role.
Nicholson worked into the 2000s with films like About Schmidt (2002), Something’s Gotta Give (2003), The Departed (2006), where he did a great job as a bad guy, and The Bucket List (2007). His last credit was in 2010.
Faye Dunaway was in the role of Evelyn Mulwray. She was born in 1941 in Florida. Dunaway graduated from Leon High School in Tallahassee in 1959. She started at Florida State University and that alligator school before earning a degree from Boston University in 1962. Dunaway chose a stage role over attending the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts on a Fulbright Scholarship.
After two years on the stage, having done some television work, Dunaway was cast in The Happening (1967). Nineteen sixty-seven was the year she became a major star with her portrayal of gangster Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde (1967). The following year she was in the heist movie, The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) with Steve McQueen.
Dunaway was excellent as seductress Mrs. Pendrake in Little Big Man (1970). She carried this type of role onward as Lady De Winter in The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers: Milady’s Revenge (1974). She was great in Chinatown (1974). Dunaway was again super in the spy thriller Three Days of the Condor (1975). She did well in The Disappearance of Aimee (1976) before another excellent performance in Network (1976). For this role, she won a Best Actress Oscar on her third nomination.
Dunaway did a couple of stinkers, such as Eyes of Laura Mars (1978), The Champ (1979), and The First Deadly Sin (1980). What apparently knocked her career back was Mommie Dearest (1981). She played Joan Crawford entirely over the top, and the “no more coat hangers” line and the pancake make-up were harshly parodied.
Dunaway left the U.S. for England. She would pop up in a film now and again, such as The Wicked Lady (1983) or Supergirl (1984). Upon her return to the U.S. in 1987, she was in Barfly (1987), The Handmaid’s Tale (1990), she did voice work for Chinatown’s inferior sequel, The Two Jakes (1990), and Gia (1998).
She became embroiled in a lawsuit with Andrew Lloyd Webber after he closed a stage production of “Sunset Blvd,” claiming that Dunaway could not handle the singing. In 2017, while on stage to present the Best Picture Oscar, her co-presenter, Warren Beatty, was given the wrong envelope and they announced the wrong movie as the winner. It was totally not her fault, but she shared the blame anyway. She continues to act, now into her 70s, and plans on more stage work.
Story – Chinatown (1974)
The year is 1937 in the city of Los Angeles. Private investigator Jake J.J. Gittes (Jack Nicholson) shows client Curly (Burt Young) pictures of Curly’s wife having an affair. Curly doesn’t take it well. After Curly leaves, Jake’s secretary, Sophie (Nandu Hinds), says that Mrs. Mulwray/ Ida Sessions (Diane Ladd), Walsh (Joe Mantell), and Duffy (Bruce Glover) are waiting to see him.
Mrs. Mulwray explains that her husband is having an affair. Walsh and Duffy are Jake’s associates. Jake tries to talk Mrs. Mulwray out of going forward with the investigation. Her husband Hollis (Darrell Zwerling) is the Chief Engineer of the city water and power.
Jake goes to a city water planning meeting. The issue is that Los Angeles is located between the ocean and a desert. There is not enough freshwater for the growing community. Mayor Bagby (Roy Roberts) is lobbying for an eight-million-dollar dam project called Alto Vallejo. Hollis Mulwray explains that the soil beneath Alto Vallejo is too unstable for the dam project. An angry farmer (played by Rance Howard, father of director Ron Howard) runs a herd of sheep into the meeting to complain about the water being taken from the valley to support the city.
Later, Jake watches Hollis drives out to the dry riverbed and look at the ground. He consults some maps. Jake follows Hollis to an outlet that drains into the ocean. Hollis again checks the ground. Shortly after sunset, the pipe opens and sprays water. Hollis is still below.
Jake returns to his car, where he finds a save our city flyer urging him to vote yes on the ballot initiative. Jake opens his glove box, and there are dozens of old pocket watches. He sets one of the watches and places it under the tire of Hollis’ car.
Back in the office, Jake examines the now smashed pocket watch and finds out that Hollis stayed at the drain all night. Walsh brings in some photos of Hollis arguing with Noah Cross (John Huston). Walsh only heard the words apple core. Duffy calls in and says he has located Hollis at Echo Park. Hollis is rowing a blonde woman in one of the boats. Jake photographs the pair. Jake follows them and gets a picture of them embracing at an apartment.
The next day, the picture Jake took at the apartment is on the front page. He is getting a shave and is accosted by another customer about the ethics of his work. Jake returns to the office and is excited to tell a joke he heard. Jake won’t listen to his associates until the door opens and the real Mrs. Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) and her lawyer open the door. Jake finishes the dirty joke, not knowing he has visitors. Evelyn says she is going to sue Jake. Her lawyer serves Jake with some papers.
Jake goes to see Mr. Mulwray and blows by the secretary. She calls for help as Jake goes through Hollis’ desk. Jake looks at some plans on the table. Yelburton (John Hillerman) comes to take Jake out of the office. Jake takes a stack of Yelburton’s cards as he leaves. At the elevator, Jake finds out that the Water and Power Department has hired a tough guy, Mulvihill (Roy Jenson). Yelburton confirms that water is being taken from the farmers for the city.
Jake goes to Hollis’ mansion, and the door is answered by Evelyn’s butler (James Hong). Jake watches a Japanese gardener fish some weeds out of an artificial pond. The man comments, “bad for glass.” Jake sees something shiny in the pond, but he stops when Evelyn comes out. Jake apologizes, and Evelyn says she will drop the lawsuit. Jake wants to talk to Hollis first so he can smoke out who set him up. Evelyn says Hollis usually walks at one of the reservoirs in the afternoon.
Jake drives to a reservoir, but the police are guarding it. He uses one of Yelburton’s cards to gain access. When Jake drives in, he is met by other police and two detectives: Escobar (Perry Lopez) and Loach (Richard Bakalyan). Escobar says he doesn’t work in Chinatown anymore. Jakes says that he is looking for Hollis and is shown the dead man being dragged out of the reservoir. He has apparently drowned.
Evelyn identifies the body, and Escobar asks if it may have been a suicide. That ask about her hiring Jake. She plays along. Neither knows the name or location of Hollis’ girlfriend. Jake takes Evelyn out to her car. She says she will send him a check so he will be officially hired.
Jake meets with the Mortician (Charles Knapp). They have the body of a man that has been living in one of the storm drains. The mortician says this man drowned just like Hollis. Jake goes to the second drowning site and sees the young boy on a horse that was in the dry riverbed when Hollis visited earlier. The boy says that he told Hollis that the water comes every night in a different part of the river.
That night Jake returns to the reservoir and climbs the fence. As soon as he is over the fence, someone starts shooting at him. He jumps into a watercourse. Almost immediately, the race begins flowing with water, and Jake is almost drowned. Jake climbs over a fence but is soon grabbed by Mulvihill and a man with a knife, played by the director. Mulvihill punches Jake first, and the other man says Jake is a nosey fellow before slitting his nose open with a switchblade. The man says next time, he will take the whole nose.
Jake looks like Tycho Brahe with his nose patched. Against his associate’s advice, Jake wants to find out who is behind all of the shenanigans. Jake gets a call from Ida Session. She says she is the one who pretended to be Mrs. Mulwray. She won’t tell who hired her, but she tells Jake to look in the obituary column, and he will find one of those people.
Jake reads the paper at a nice restaurant. The headlines say the city council has passed the water bond issues. Evelyn comes in to join him. He thinks she has more to tell him about what happened. Evelyn admits that she has been having affairs too. Jake finds that her maiden name was Cross. He tells her that somehow her husband Hollis found out that the city has been draining millions of gallons of freshwater from the reservoir every night even though they are in the middle of a drought. Jake says her husband was killed because Hollis found out this information. He also says the man in the storm drain was killed in a water release.
Jake goes back to Yelburton’s office. In the outer office, he sees a picture from 1929 showing Noah Cross (John Huston). Jake recognizes Noah as the main arguing in the street with Hollis. He also connects the name with Evelyn.
Yelburton makes Jake wait in the outer office with his secretary. There are other pictures of Noah and Hollis. The secretary says that Hollis Mulwray and Noah Cross owned the water department. Hollis forced Noah to sell it to the city.
Jake tells Yelburton that he thinks Hollis was murdered. Jake accuses Yelburton of hiring Ira Sessions to help get Hollis out of the way so that the dam could be built. He tells about the water dumping and Hollis’ murder. Jake threatens to release the story to the press. Yelburton says there is runoff because they are providing free water to help orange growers north of town. Jake says he doesn’t want to get Yelburton in trouble, but he wants to find the big guys behind the scam.
When Jake gets back to his office, Evelyn is waiting for him. Evelyn offers a lot of money if he finds out who killed her husband and why. Evelyn married Hollis after he and her father, Noah, split up their business. She says Hollis and Noah were at odds because of the first dam failure.
Jake meets a man at the oceanfront Albacore Club and is driven to meet Noah Cross for lunch at Cross’ mansion. Jake drops that Hollis was murdered. Escobar still thinks Hollis’ death was an accident. Cross asks Jake if he is sleeping with Evelyn. Cross offers double what Evelyn is paying if Jake can locate Hollis’ girlfriend. Jake tells Cross that he knows about the argument. Cross says it was about Evelyn. Cross said he didn’t want his daughter to find out about Hollis’ affair. Jake says he is heading to check out some orange groves.
Jake goes to the hall of records, where he finds out that most of the land in Los Angeles County with orange groves has recently been sold. Jake steals the page containing the names of the buyers.
Jake drives north to orange country and finds that most of the land is for sale or has already been sold. The land is without water and very dry. He drives past a no trespassing sign and is shot at by a man on horseback. Jake desperately drives away but is shot at by more men with guns until he crashes his car into a tree.
The men pull Jake out of the car and give him a good beating. The leader of the men wants to know if he is from the water department or real estate people. The leader says the water department has been harassing them and poisoning water wells. Under questioning, Jake mentions the name Mulwray and another fight starts. Jake is beaten unconscious.
When Jake comes too, Evelyn is there, having been called by the farmers. On the drive back, Jake explains to Evelyn that the dam project is a con job. The folks behind it are trying to get Los Angeles to build, but the water will irrigate the newly purchased orange groves. They have starved the farmers of water and have been buying the land at a bargain price. When the land gets a steady supply of water, the value will skyrocket. Jake realizes that people that have died are still buying land.
Jake goes to the retirement home where one of the land buyer/dead person was living. He and Evelyn pretend to be a married couple trying to find a place for Jake’s father-in-law. During the tour, they find the other land buyers’ names among the residents of the home. Jake talks to a woman and tells her that she owns some valuable land. She says she does not. Then he notices that she is sewing the emblem of the Albacore Club into a quilt. Noah Cross, Evelyn’s father, owns the club. The host arrives and says the retirement home is an unofficial charity of the Albacore Club. Then he ushers the couple out of the hall and takes him to Mulvihill.
Jake asks Evelyn to go to the car, and suddenly, Jake jumps Mulvihill and beats the crap out of him. It looks like Jake is going to get away when he sees the man that cut his nose and another coming towards him. Evelyn speeds past the thugs in her car, and Jake jumps inside. The thugs’ fire as the car flees.
Evelyn is cool as a cucumber as she drives away. They go back to her mansion. As they drink, Evelyn asks Jake about his work. Jake says he hasn’t had a day like this one since he worked for the District Attorney in Chinatown.
They go inside to treat his nose. Suddenly, they get all kissy-face and make love. Afterward, in the bed, Jake, under pressure, finishes his story. He says he liked his work until he did something that resulted in a woman being hurt.
The phone rings, and Evelyn has an odd conversation and says she has to go away for a bit. She asks that he trust her until she returns. Before Evelyn leaves, she tells Jake that the Albacore Club belongs to her father. Jake already knows, and Evelyn gets squirrely when she learns that Jake and her father have met. Jake tells that Noah is looking for Hollis’ girlfriend. Evelyn says it’s possible that her father may be behind the murders and the land conspiracy.
While Evelyn is in the shower, Jake breaks one of her taillights so he can easily trail her using Hollis’ car. Evelyn arrives at a moderate bungalow and is let inside by her butler from the mansion. Jake peeks in the window and sees the two talking. In another room, Hollis’ former girlfriend is hysterically crying. Evelyn gives her some pills.
Jake is waiting in Evelyn’s car when she comes outside. Jake believes that Evelyn is holding her dead husbands’ former girlfriend as a prisoner. Evelyn says the woman is upset because she just found out about Hollis’ death. Evelyn says the woman is her younger sister. Evelyn won’t tell why the former girlfriend is crying hysterically. She has allowed her husband to have an affair with her sister to make him happy. Evelyn still wants Jake to come back with her.
At his place, Jake gets a call from detective Loach. Loach tells him that Ida Sessions wants to see him. After Jake hangs up, Loach calls him with an address. The sun has risen by the time Jake arrives at the location.
When Jake arrives, the door is open, and he goes inside. He finds Ida dead on the kitchen floor. Loach and Escobar are hiding in the bathroom. They come out and question Jake about knowing Ida. They show Jake the pictures he took of Hollis and his girlfriend.
Escobar figures that Ira hired Jake to set up Hollis, and Evelyn has been paying him to cover up that she murdered her husband. Then Escobar tells Jake that Hollis’ lungs were filled with saltwater, so he could not have drowned at the reservoir. Escobar wants any other pictures Jake has. Jake tells Escobar about the water being dumped.
Jake takes them to the drainpipe, but there is no fresh water. They contact Yelburton, and he uses the story of giving water to the orange growers. Escobar tells Jake to be in his office in two hours with Evelyn.
Jake goes to Evelyn’s mansion, and the maid answers the door. The maid is preparing the house for an extended period of non-occupancy. Jake goes out to the backyard, and the Gardner is working with sod. Smart-aleck Jake says bad for glass. The gardener repeats back and then says salt water is bad for glass. Jake realizes the man is saying grass. The pond is filled with saltwater. Jake asks about the object he tried to retrieve earlier. The gardener pulls it out, and it is Hollis’ glasses.
Jake speeds to the house where Evelyn’s sister lives. The butler tries to stop him, but Evelyn comes down and is happy to see Jake. Jake wants to see the sister. Jake calls Escobar and gives him the address as he now thinks Evelyn is guilty of murdering Hollis. Under examination from Jake, Evelyn admits that Hollis’s former girlfriend is her daughter and her sister. Jake slaps and beats her. Evelyn became pregnant as a result of an incestuous relationship with her father, Noah Cross.
At the time, Evelyn fled to Mexico. Hollis was the one that came down and helped Evelyn. She says she now wants to spend time with her daughter/sister. Evelyn tells Jake that the glasses are not Hollis’ because they are bifocals. Evelyn introduces her daughter Katherine (Belinda Palmer) to Jake.
The butler, Katherine, and Evelyn leave to hid at the butler’s house. Jake calls his associates and says to meet at the butler’s address in Chinatown. When the two detectives arrive, Jake leads them on a wild goose chase to Evelyn’s maid’s house. Jake asks to go in alone. The battered wife of Curly answers the door. Jake gets Curly to drive him away. Jake will give Curly $100 and cover his bill if he takes Evelyn and Katherine out of town.
Jake calls Noah Cross and says he has Katherine/Hollis’ former girlfriend/Evelyn’s sister/daughter. Cross arrives wanting to see Katherine, and Jake says she is with her mother. Jake gives Cross the obituary, then accuses him of killing Hollis by drowning him in the saltwater pond. Cross says the dam will be built, and the valley will be incorporated into the city. Cross tries to justify his actions.
Mulvihill comes with a gun and takes the glasses from Jake. The three men head to Chinatown. When they get out, Walsh and Duffy are there, as are Loach and Escobar. The cops arrest Jake and won’t listen to his explanation. Loach takes Jake to be handcuffed to the police car wheel.
Evelyn, Katherine, the butler, and the maid come outside. Cross begins talking to Katherine. Evelyn sends her helpers, including Curly, away. Cross begs Evelyn to be reasonable. Evelyn pulls a gun on Cross to keep him away from Katherine. Jake yells for her to put the gun down. She fires a shot and hits Cross in the shoulder. Escobar fires a couple of warning shots and then shoots at Evelyn’s tires. Jake jumps on his arm, and Loach fires at the car.
The horn sounds and the car stops as Evelyn falls dead. Cross is distraught that Evelyn is dead, but he creepily takes Katherine away. Escobar lets Jake go so he won’t be involved in the murder. Walter says, “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.”
I’ll be back with conclusions and World-Famous Short Summary following a word from our sponsors.
Summary – Chinatown (1974)
Wow, what a tale. This movie is fiction but is based very loosely on factual events. William Mullholland, superintendent of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, was responsible for the 223-mile Los Angeles Aqueduct. This diverted water from the Owens River in 1913. In 1924, the conflict over water erupted into fighting and sabotage. These events all took place 13-years before the time period of this movie[6].
In the movie, they referenced the Van Der Lip Dam failure. This failure is likely based on the collapse of the Saint Francis Dam in 1928, which happened nine years before the period of this movie.[7]
This was the last film made in America by Roman Polanski. He was arrested and plead guilty to sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl. Just before sentencing, he fled to France and has avoided countries with U.S. extradition treaties.
There was a vastly inferior sequel to this film, The Two Jakes (1990), directed by Jack Nicholson. Rumors have persisted that there was to be a third movie about a company buying the trolleys and other public transportation so they could make money replacing them with freeways. This plot is similar to the underlying story featured in the hilarious film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).[8]
World-Famous Short Summary – The man who knows the farm controls the crops. But the man that knows or owns the law controls the river and land.
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[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071315/awards
[2] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071315/
[3] https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chinatown
[4] https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-chinatown-1974
[5] https://www.nytimes.com/1974/06/21/archives/screen-polanskis-chinatown-views-crime-of-30s.html
[6] https://www.nytimes.com/1974/06/21/archives/screen-polanskis-chinatown-views-crime-of-30s.html
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinatown_(1974_film)
[8] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071315/trivia
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