Chinatown (film)
Encyclopedia
Chinatown is a 1974 American neo-noir
film, directed by Roman Polanski
from a screenplay by Robert Towne
and starring Jack Nicholson
, Faye Dunaway
and John Huston
. The film features many elements of the film noir
genre, particularly a multi-layered story that is part mystery
and part psychological
drama
. It was released by Paramount Pictures
.
The story, set in Los Angeles
in 1937, was inspired by the California Water Wars
, the historical disputes over land and water rights that had raged in southern California during the 1910s and 1920s, in which William Mulholland
acted on behalf of Los Angeles interests to secure water rights in the Owens Valley
.
Chinatown has been called one of the greatest films ever made. It 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
. The film, however, failed to generate as much acclaim as its predecessor.
J.J. "Jake" Gittes (Jack Nicholson
) to perform matrimonial surveillance on her husband Hollis Mulwray, the chief engineer for the Los Angeles
Department of Water and Power. Mr. Mulwray is in public eye due to his opposition to a proposed new dam construction on grounds of safety. Gittes tails him and photographs Mulwray with his young mistress, Katherine Cross (Belinda Palmer). The photos hit the front page of the paper the next day, and Gittes is confronted by the real Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway
). Gittes realizes he had been duped by a phony Mrs. Mulwray, and to repair his reputation, he must figure out who was behind the hiring, and why.
Gittes goes looking for Mr. Mulwray. Eventually, he finds former colleague Lt. Lou Escobar (Perry Lopez
), recovering Mulwray's drowned body. He suspects he was murdered and investigates further. He learns that huge quantities of water are being released from the reservoir every night. Breaking into the reservoir, he is confronted by water department security chief Claude Mulvihill (Roy Jenson
) with a henchman (a cameo by director Roman Polanski
) who slashes Gittes's nose. Back at his office, Gittes receives a call from one Ida Sessions, the bogus Mrs. Mulwray. She does not identify her employer, but provides a clue: the name of one of "those people" is in that day's obituaries
.
Gittes learns that Mrs. Mulwray's maiden name was Cross and that her husband was once her father's business partner. Visiting the Department of Water and Power, Gittes learns his name: Noah Cross (John Huston
). Gittes joins Noah Cross at his estate for lunch and Cross offers to hire Gittes to find Katherine, who has been missing since Mulwray's death. Gittes visits the hall of records, where he learns that one of the deceased persons in the obituary column had just bought a huge land tract in the orange grove in the northwest San Fernando Valley
. He goes there but is caught and beaten by angry landowners. They explain that the water department has been demolishing their water tanks and poisoning their wells.
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. He deduces that it is a ploy designed not to conserve water for city taxpayers, but to irrigate the rural valley. Because Mulwray had figured it out, he was murdered. Evelyn and Gittes bluff their way into the inn and confirm that the real estate deals are done in the name of its residents without their knowledge.
Gittes gets a mysterious call from Escobar using Ida Sessions's phone and arriving there, finds Sessions has been murdered. Escobar explains that the coroner
found salt water in Mulwray's lungs, indicating that the body was moved to the freshwater reservoir
where it was found. 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 had been his, Gittes confronts Evelyn about her relationship with Katherine . Gittes slaps her repeatedly until she cries out "She's my sister and my daughter!" and falteringly tells of a sexual liaison with her father at age 15. She adds that the eyeglasses belong to her father. Gittes decides to help Evelyn and Katherine escape from Escobar, who now suspects Evelyn of Mulwray's murder, with Gittes as accessory.
Gittes plans for the two women to flee to Mexico
through a fisherman client of his, Curly (Burt Young
), and instructs Evelyn to meet him at her butler's home in Chinatown. Gittes arranges for Cross to meet him at Mulwray's home. Cross admits he intends to incorporate the Northwest Valley into the City of Los Angeles, then irrigate and develop it. When Gittes produces Cross's bifocals, physical evidence linking him to Mulwray's murder, Mulvihill appears and forces him to surrender the glasses, and to take them to Katherine. When the three reach the hiding place in Chinatown, the police are already there and arrest Gittes for withholding evidence and extortion.
Noah Cross approaches Katherine, explaining that he is her "grandfather." Evelyn backs him off with a small pistol, and when he is undeterred, she shoots him in the arm. As Evelyn speeds away with Katherine, the police open fire, killing Evelyn. Cross clutches Katherine and takes her away, while Gittes's associates hold him back from attacking Escobar. One of them urges, "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown." Jake and his associates reluctantly walk away as Escobar loudly directs the crowd away from the crime scene.
(1974), but Towne felt he could not better the F. Scott Fitzgerald
novel
. Instead, Towne asked for $25,000 from Evans to write his own story, Chinatown, to which Evans agreed.
Chinatown is set in 1937 and portrays the manipulation of a critical municipal resource—water—by a cadre of shadowy oligarchs. It was the first part of Towne's planned trilogy
about the character J.J. Gittes, the foibles of the Los Angeles power structure, and the subjugation of public good by private greed. The second part, The Two Jakes
, was about another grab for a natural resource—oil—with a thicker-torsoed Gittes in the 1940s. It was directed by Jack Nicholson and released in 1990, but the second film's commercial and critical failure scuttled plans to make Gittes vs. Gittes, about the third finite resource—land—in Los Angeles, circa 1968.
(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. For reasons of engineering and safety, Mulwray opposes the dam that Cross and the city want to build. 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 before it catastrophically failed the next morning on March 12, 1928. More than 450 people, 42 of them schoolchildren, died that day and the town of Santa Paula was inundated with flood water. 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.
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 the police to know whether their interventions in Chinatown were helping victims or furthering their exploitation
. As a consequence, the police decided the best course of action was to do as little as possible.
Polanski found out about the script through Nicholson, with whom he had been planning to make a film once they found the right property. Producer Robert Evans wanted Polanski to direct as well, because he wanted a European vision of the United States, 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.
Towne wrote the screenplay with Nicholson in mind. 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.
The original script was over 180 pages. Polanski eliminated Gittes' voiceover narration, which was written in the script, and structured 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 created a team with too much power on one side, and would thus complicate the production.
, 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.
only ten 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 were performed by Hollywood studio musician and MGM first trumpet Uan Rasey
. The soundtrack was released through Varèse Sarabande
on 7 November 1995 and features twelve tracks of score at a running time just over thirty minutes.
Goldsmith received an Academy Award nomination for his efforts though he lost to Nino Rota
and Carmine Coppola
for The Godfather Part II
. Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal published an article 7/11/09 praising Jerry Goldsmith's music for the movie, crediting the success of the movie to the revised score. The soundtrack to Chinatown is often regarded as one of the greatest scores of all time and ranks in ninth place on the American Film Institute
's top 25 American film scores
. Filmmaker David Lynch
cites Chinatown as his favorite film score of all time.
Robert Towne's screenplay for the film has become legendary among critics and filmmakers, often celebrated as one of the best ever written.
Chinatown brought more public awareness to the land dealings and disputes over water rights which arose while drawing Los Angeles' water supply from the Owens Valley
in the 1930s.
The film holds a 100% certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes
with 47 reviews.
Wins:
Nominations:
Nominations
American Film Institute
recognition
Neo-noir
Neo-noir is a style often seen in modern motion pictures and other forms that prominently utilize elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in films noir of the 1940s and 1950s.-History:The term Film Noir was coined by...
film, directed by Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
from a screenplay by Robert Towne
Robert Towne
Robert Towne is an American screenwriter and director. His most notable work may be his Academy Award-winning original screenplay for Roman Polanski's Chinatown .-Film:...
and starring Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
, Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...
and John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
. The film features many elements of the film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
genre, particularly a multi-layered story that is part mystery
Mystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
and part psychological
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
. It was released by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
.
The story, set in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
in 1937, was inspired by the California Water Wars
California Water Wars
The California Water Wars were a series of conflicts between the city of Los Angeles, farmers and ranchers in the Owens Valley of Eastern California, and environmentalists. As Los Angeles grew in the late 1800s, it started to outgrow its water supply. Fred Eaton, mayor of Los Angeles, realized that...
, the historical disputes over land and water rights that had raged in southern California during the 1910s and 1920s, in which William Mulholland
William Mulholland
William Mulholland was the head of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, in Los Angeles. He was responsible for building the water aqueducts and dams that allowed the city to grow into one of the largest in the world. His methods of obtaining water for the city led to disputes collectively...
acted on behalf of Los Angeles interests to secure water rights in the Owens Valley
Owens Valley
Owens Valley is the arid valley of the Owens River in eastern California in the United States, to the east of the Sierra Nevada and west of the White Mountains and Inyo Mountains on the west edge of the Great Basin section...
.
Chinatown has been called one of the greatest films ever made. It was nominated for eleven Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
, winning in the category of Best Original Screenplay for Robert Towne
Robert Towne
Robert Towne is an American screenwriter and director. His most notable work may be his Academy Award-winning original screenplay for Roman Polanski's Chinatown .-Film:...
. In 1991, Chinatown was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
by the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
A sequel, called The Two Jakes
The Two Jakes
The Two Jakes is a 1990 American mystery film, and a sequel to the 1974 film Chinatown.Directed by and starring Jack Nicholson, it also features Harvey Keitel, Meg Tilly, Madeleine Stowe, Richard Farnsworth, Frederic Forrest, Pia Gronning, David Keith, Rubén Blades, Tracey Walter and Eli Wallach...
, was released in 1990, starring Jack Nicholson, who also directed it, with a screenplay by Robert Towne
Robert Towne
Robert Towne is an American screenwriter and director. His most notable work may be his Academy Award-winning original screenplay for Roman Polanski's Chinatown .-Film:...
. The film, however, failed to generate as much acclaim as its predecessor.
Plot
A woman claiming to be Evelyn Mulwray hires private investigatorPrivate investigator
A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...
J.J. "Jake" Gittes (Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
) to perform matrimonial surveillance on her husband Hollis Mulwray, the chief engineer for the Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
Department of Water and Power. Mr. Mulwray is in public eye due to his opposition to a proposed new dam construction on grounds of safety. Gittes tails him and photographs Mulwray with his young mistress, Katherine Cross (Belinda Palmer). The photos hit the front page of the paper the next day, and Gittes is confronted by the real Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...
). Gittes realizes he had been duped by a phony Mrs. Mulwray, and to repair his reputation, he must figure out who was behind the hiring, and why.
Gittes goes looking for Mr. Mulwray. Eventually, he finds former colleague Lt. Lou Escobar (Perry Lopez
Perry Lopez
Perry Lopez was an American film and television actor. His acting career lasted over 40 years before his death in 2008....
), recovering Mulwray's drowned body. He suspects he was murdered and investigates further. He learns that huge quantities of water are being released from the reservoir every night. Breaking into the reservoir, he is confronted by water department security chief Claude Mulvihill (Roy Jenson
Roy Jenson
Roy Jenson was a Canadian-born actor.Born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he moved to Los Angeles with his family as a child. He joined the U.S. Navy and then graduated from UCLA...
) with a henchman (a cameo by director Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
) who slashes Gittes's nose. Back at his office, Gittes receives a call from one Ida Sessions, the bogus Mrs. Mulwray. She does not identify her employer, but provides a clue: the name of one of "those people" is in that day's obituaries
Obituary
An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...
.
Gittes learns that Mrs. Mulwray's maiden name was Cross and that her husband was once her father's business partner. Visiting the Department of Water and Power, Gittes learns his name: Noah Cross (John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
). Gittes joins Noah Cross at his estate for lunch and Cross offers to hire Gittes to find Katherine, who has been missing since Mulwray's death. Gittes visits the hall of records, where he learns that one of the deceased persons in the obituary column had just bought a huge land tract in the orange grove in the northwest San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
. He goes there but is caught and beaten by angry landowners. They explain that the water department has been demolishing their water tanks and poisoning their wells.
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. He deduces that it is a ploy designed not to conserve water for city taxpayers, but to irrigate the rural valley. Because Mulwray had figured it out, he was murdered. Evelyn and Gittes bluff their way into the inn and confirm that the real estate deals are done in the name of its residents without their knowledge.
Gittes gets a mysterious call from Escobar using Ida Sessions's phone and arriving there, finds Sessions has been murdered. Escobar explains that the coroner
Coroner
A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
found salt water in Mulwray's lungs, indicating that the body was moved to the freshwater reservoir
Reservoir
A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...
where it was found. 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 had been his, Gittes confronts Evelyn about her relationship with Katherine . Gittes slaps her repeatedly until she cries out "She's my sister and my daughter!" and falteringly tells of a sexual liaison with her father at age 15. She adds that the eyeglasses belong to her father. Gittes decides to help Evelyn and Katherine escape from Escobar, who now suspects Evelyn of Mulwray's murder, with Gittes as accessory.
Gittes plans for the two women to flee to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
through a fisherman client of his, Curly (Burt Young
Burt Young
Burt Young is an American actor, painter and author. He is best known for his Academy Award-nominated role as Sylvester Stallone's brother-in-law and friend Paulie in the Rocky film series.-Personal life:...
), and instructs Evelyn to meet him at her butler's home in Chinatown. Gittes arranges for Cross to meet him at Mulwray's home. Cross admits he intends to incorporate the Northwest Valley into the City of Los Angeles, then irrigate and develop it. When Gittes produces Cross's bifocals, physical evidence linking him to Mulwray's murder, Mulvihill appears and forces him to surrender the glasses, and to take them to Katherine. When the three reach the hiding place in Chinatown, the police are already there and arrest Gittes for withholding evidence and extortion.
Noah Cross approaches Katherine, explaining that he is her "grandfather." Evelyn backs him off with a small pistol, and when he is undeterred, she shoots him in the arm. As Evelyn speeds away with Katherine, the police open fire, killing Evelyn. Cross clutches Katherine and takes her away, while Gittes's associates hold him back from attacking Escobar. One of them urges, "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown." Jake and his associates reluctantly walk away as Escobar loudly directs the crowd away from the crime scene.
Cast
- Jack NicholsonJack NicholsonJohn Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
as J.J. "Jake" Gittes - Faye DunawayFaye DunawayFaye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...
as Evelyn Cross Mulwray - John HustonJohn HustonJohn Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
as Noah Cross - Perry LopezPerry LopezPerry Lopez was an American film and television actor. His acting career lasted over 40 years before his death in 2008....
as Lieutenant Lou Escobar - John HillermanJohn HillermanJohn Benedict Hillerman is an American actor, known for his starring role on the television show Magnum, P.I.-Early life:...
as Russ Yelburton - Darrell ZwerlingDarrell Zwerling-Filmography:-External links:...
as Hollis I. Mulwray - Diane LaddDiane LaddDiane Ladd is an American actress, film director, producer and published author. She has appeared in over 120 roles, on television, and in miniseries and feature films, including Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore , Wild at Heart , Rambling Rose , Ghosts of Mississippi, Primary Colors, 28 Days , and...
as Ida Sessions - Roy JensonRoy JensonRoy Jenson was a Canadian-born actor.Born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he moved to Los Angeles with his family as a child. He joined the U.S. Navy and then graduated from UCLA...
as Claude Mulvihill - Roman PolanskiRoman PolanskiRoman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
as Man with Knife - Richard BakalyanRichard BakalyanRichard Bakalyan is an Born in Iran character actor who started his career playing juvenile delinquents he served them treats and candys in his ice cream van in his first several films. He had some fun experience having served a year's probation at age 15...
as Detective Loach - Joe MantellJoe MantellJoe Mantell was an American actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as "Angie" in the 1955 film Marty, which earned the Best Picture Award....
as Lawrence Walsh - Bruce GloverBruce GloverBruce Herbert Glover is an American character actor, perhaps best known for his portrayal of homosexual assassin Mr. Wint in the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever. He is also the father of actor Crispin Glover.-Life and career:...
as Duffy
- Nandu Hinds as Sophie
- James O'Rear as Lawyer
- James HongJames HongJames Hong is an American actor and former president of the Association of Asian/Pacific American Artists . A prolific acting veteran, Hong's career spans over 50 years and includes more than 350 roles in film, television, and video games.-Early life:Hong was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His...
as Kahn - Beulah Quo as Mulwray's Maid
- Jerry Fujikawa as Mulwray's Gardener
- Belinda Palmer as Katherine Cross
- Roy RobertsRoy RobertsRoy Roberts was an American character actor. Over his more than 40-year career, he appeared in more than nine hundred productions on stage and screen.-Biography:...
as Mayor Bagby - Noble WillinghamNoble WillinghamNoble Henry Willingham, Jr. was an American television and film actor.-Career:Willingham had appeared in more than thirty feature films, including Harry's War , Up Close and Personal , City Slickers , The Last Boy Scout , City Slickers II , Ace Ventura: Pet Detective , Chinatown...
as Councilman - Elliott Montgomery as Councilman
- Burt YoungBurt YoungBurt Young is an American actor, painter and author. He is best known for his Academy Award-nominated role as Sylvester Stallone's brother-in-law and friend Paulie in the Rocky film series.-Personal life:...
as Curly - Elizabeth Harding as Curly's Wife
Background
In 1971, producer Robert Evans originally offered Towne $175,000 to write a screenplay for The Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby (1974 film)
The Great Gatsby is a 1974 romantic drama film distributed by Newdon Productions and Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Jack Clayton and produced by David Merrick, from a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola based on F...
(1974), but Towne felt he could not better the F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
novel
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922....
. Instead, Towne asked for $25,000 from Evans to write his own story, Chinatown, to which Evans agreed.
Chinatown is set in 1937 and portrays the manipulation of a critical municipal resource—water—by a cadre of shadowy oligarchs. It was the first part of Towne's planned trilogy
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
about the character J.J. Gittes, the foibles of the Los Angeles power structure, and the subjugation of public good by private greed. The second part, The Two Jakes
The Two Jakes
The Two Jakes is a 1990 American mystery film, and a sequel to the 1974 film Chinatown.Directed by and starring Jack Nicholson, it also features Harvey Keitel, Meg Tilly, Madeleine Stowe, Richard Farnsworth, Frederic Forrest, Pia Gronning, David Keith, Rubén Blades, Tracey Walter and Eli Wallach...
, was about another grab for a natural resource—oil—with a thicker-torsoed Gittes in the 1940s. It was directed by Jack Nicholson and released in 1990, but the second film's commercial and critical failure scuttled plans to make Gittes vs. Gittes, about the third finite resource—land—in Los Angeles, circa 1968.
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 MulhollandWilliam Mulholland
William Mulholland was the head of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, in Los Angeles. He was responsible for building the water aqueducts and dams that allowed the city to grow into one of the largest in the world. His methods of obtaining water for the city led to disputes collectively...
(1855–1935)—the name Hollis Mulwray is partially an anagram
Anagram
An anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; e.g., orchestra = carthorse, A decimal point = I'm a dot in place, Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort. Someone who...
for Mulholland. The name Noah
Noah
Noah was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs. The biblical story of Noah is contained in chapters 6–9 of the book of Genesis, where he saves his family and representatives of all animals from the flood by constructing an ark...
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
Los Angeles Aqueduct
The Los Angeles Aqueduct system comprising the Los Angeles Aqueduct and the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct, is a water conveyance system operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power...
, which brought water from the Owens Valley
Owens Valley
Owens Valley is the arid valley of the Owens River in eastern California in the United States, to the east of the Sierra Nevada and west of the White Mountains and Inyo Mountains on the west edge of the Great Basin section...
to Los Angeles. For reasons of engineering and safety, Mulwray opposes the dam that Cross and the city want to build. 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
St. Francis Dam
The St. Francis Dam was a concrete gravity-arch dam, designed to create a reservoir as a storage point of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. It was located 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles, California, near the present city of Santa Clarita....
disaster. The dam was personally inspected by Mulholland before it catastrophically failed the next morning on March 12, 1928. More than 450 people, 42 of them schoolchildren, died that day and the town of Santa Paula was inundated with flood water. 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 HungarianHungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
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 the police to know whether their interventions in Chinatown were helping victims or furthering their exploitation
Exploitation
This article discusses the term exploitation in the meaning of using something in an unjust or cruel manner.- As unjust benefit :In political economy, economics, and sociology, exploitation involves a persistent social relationship in which certain persons are being mistreated or unfairly used for...
. As a consequence, the police decided the best course of action was to do as little as possible.
Polanski found out about the script through Nicholson, with whom he had been planning to make a film once they found the right property. Producer Robert Evans wanted Polanski to direct as well, because he wanted a European vision of the United States, 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.
Towne wrote the screenplay with Nicholson in mind. 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.
The original script was over 180 pages. Polanski eliminated Gittes' voiceover narration, which was written in the script, and structured the movie so the audience discovered the clues at the same time Gittes did.
Polanski originally offered the cinematographer position to William A. Fraker
William A. Fraker
William Ashman Fraker, A.S.C., B.S.C. was a cinematographer, film director, and producer. He has been nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. In 2000, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Cinematographers honoring his career...
, Paramount agreed and Fraker accepted. Paramount had previously hired Fraker to shoot for Polanski on Rosemary's Baby
Rosemary's Baby (film)
Rosemary's Baby is a 1968 American horror film written and directed by Roman Polanski, based on the bestselling 1967 novel Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin...
. 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 created 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 widowSerial killerA serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
" character typical of lead female characters in film noir, yet is eventually revealed to be the only selfless character in the film. Jane FondaJane FondaJane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
was strongly considered for the role, but Polanski pushed for Dunaway. - "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.
Filming
Polanski appears in a cameo as the gangster who cuts Gittes' nose. The effect was accomplished with a special knife which indeed could have cut Nicholson's nose if Polanski had not held it correctly. In keeping with the tradition Polanski credits to Raymond ChandlerRaymond Chandler
Raymond Thornton Chandler was an American novelist and screenwriter.In 1932, at age forty-five, Raymond Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in...
, 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.
Soundtrack
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 GoldsmithJerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
only ten 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 were performed by Hollywood studio musician and MGM first trumpet Uan Rasey
Uan Rasey
Uan Rasey was an American musician, best known for his studio work as a trumpet player. He was first trumpet of the MGM film studios orchestra from 1949 until the early 1970s, and performed on the soundtracks of many motion pictures...
. The soundtrack was released through Varèse Sarabande
Varèse Sarabande
Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums as well as newer releases by artists no longer under a contract...
on 7 November 1995 and features twelve tracks of score at a running time just over thirty minutes.
- "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)"
Goldsmith received an Academy Award nomination for his efforts though he lost to Nino Rota
Nino Rota
Nino Rota was an Italian composer and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti...
and Carmine Coppola
Carmine Coppola
Carmine Coppola was an American composer, flautist, editor, musical director, and songwriter. Coppola was a composer and conductor who contributed to many of the musical scores in The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Godfather Part III, and Apocalypse Now directed by his son Francis Ford...
for The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American gangster film directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script co-written with Mario Puzo. The film is both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, chronicling the story of the Corleone family following the events of the first film while also depicting the...
. Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal published an article 7/11/09 praising Jerry Goldsmith's music for the movie, crediting the success of the movie to the revised score. The soundtrack to Chinatown is often regarded as one of the greatest scores of all time and ranks in ninth place on the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
's top 25 American film scores
AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores
Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores is a list of the top 25 film scores in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute in 2005.-The List:-External links:**...
. Filmmaker David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
cites Chinatown as his favorite film score of all time.
Legacy
Evans says that the film cemented Jack Nicholson, then a rising star, as one of Hollywood's top leading men.Robert Towne's screenplay for the film has become legendary among critics and filmmakers, often celebrated as one of the best ever written.
Chinatown brought more public awareness to the land dealings and disputes over water rights which arose while drawing Los Angeles' water supply from the Owens Valley
Owens Valley
Owens Valley is the arid valley of the Owens River in eastern California in the United States, to the east of the Sierra Nevada and west of the White Mountains and Inyo Mountains on the west edge of the Great Basin section...
in the 1930s.
The film holds a 100% certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
with 47 reviews.
Academy Awards – 1974
The film won one Academy Award and was nominated in a further ten categories:Wins:
- Best Original Screenplay – Robert TowneRobert TowneRobert Towne is an American screenwriter and director. His most notable work may be his Academy Award-winning original screenplay for Roman Polanski's Chinatown .-Film:...
Nominations:
- Best PictureAcademy Award for Best PictureThe Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
– Robert Evans - Best DirectorAcademy Award for DirectingThe Academy Award for Achievement in Directing , usually known as the Best Director Oscar, is one of the Awards of Merit presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to directors working in the motion picture industry...
– Roman PolanskiRoman PolanskiRoman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."... - Best ActorAcademy Award for Best ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
– Jack NicholsonJack NicholsonJohn Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the... - Best ActressAcademy Award for Best ActressPerformance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
– Faye DunawayFaye DunawayFaye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown... - Best Film EditingAcademy Award for Film EditingThe Academy Award for Film Editing is one of the annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nominations for this award are closely correlated with the Academy Award for Best Picture. Since 1981, every film selected as Best Picture has also been nominated for the Film Editing...
– Sam O'SteenSam O'SteenSamuel Alexander O'Steen was an American film editor and director. He had an extended, notable collaboration with the director Mike Nichols, with whom he edited twelve films between 1966 and 1994... - Best Art DirectionAcademy Award for Best Art DirectionThe Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
– Richard SylbertRichard SylbertRichard Sylbert was an Academy Award-winning production designer and art director, primarily for feature films....
, W. Stewart CampbellW. Stewart CampbellW. Stewart Campbell is an American production designer and art director. He was nominated for three Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction.-Selected filmography:Campbell was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Art Direction:...
, Ruby Levitt - Best Costume DesignAcademy Award for Costume DesignThe Academy Award for Best Costume Design is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for achievement in film costume design....
– Anthea Sylbert - Best CinematographyAcademy Award for Best CinematographyThe Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
– John A. AlonzoJohn A. AlonzoJohn Alonzo, A.S.C. was an American cinematographer who pioneered hand held work, lighting techniques and HD development during his career... - Best Sound MixingAcademy Award for SoundThe Academy Award for Sound Mixing is an Academy Award that recognizes the finest or most euphonic sound mixing or recording, and is generally awarded to the production sound mixers and re-recording mixers of the winning film. Compare this award to the Academy Award for Sound Editing...
– Bud GrenzbachCharles GrenzbachCharles Grenzbach was an American sound engineer. He won an Academy Award for Best Sound and was nominated for two more in the same category...
, Larry JostLarry JostLarry Jost was an American sound engineer. He was nominated for three Academy Awards in the category Best Sound. He worked on over 45 films between 1961 and 1984.-Selected filmography:* The Day of the Dolphin... - Best Music ScoreAcademy Award for Original Music ScoreThe Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
– Jerry GoldsmithJerry GoldsmithJerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
Golden Globes – 1974
Wins:- Best Motion Picture – DramaGolden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - DramaThis page lists the winners and nominees for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama, since its institution in 1951. The organizer, Hollywood Foreign Press Association , is an organization of journalists who cover the United States film industry, but are affiliated with publications...
– Robert Evans - Best Actor in a Motion Picture – DramaGolden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture DramaThe Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture - Drama was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951...
– Jack NicholsonJack NicholsonJohn Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the... - Best DirectorGolden Globe Award for Best Director - Motion PictureThis page lists the winners of and nominees for the Golden Globe Award for Best Director. Since its inception in 1943, it has been presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, an organization composed of journalists who cover the United States film industry for publications based...
– Roman PolanskiRoman PolanskiRoman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."... - Best ScreenplayGolden Globe Award for Best ScreenplayThe Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture is one of the annual awards given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association."†" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "‡" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "§" indicates a Golden Globe Award...
– Robert TowneRobert TowneRobert Towne is an American screenwriter and director. His most notable work may be his Academy Award-winning original screenplay for Roman Polanski's Chinatown .-Film:...
Nominations
- Best Actor In A Supporting RoleGolden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion PictureThe Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 1944 for a performance in a motion picture released in the previous year....
– John HustonJohn HustonJohn Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge... - Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaGolden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture DramaThe Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture - Drama was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951...
– Faye DunawayFaye DunawayFaye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown... - Best Original ScoreGolden Globe Award for Best Original ScoreThe Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score is one of several categories presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association , an organization of journalists who cover the United States film industry, but are affiliated with publications outside North America, since its institution in 1947...
– Jerry GoldsmithJerry GoldsmithJerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
Other awards
- 1975 BAFTABritish Academy of Film and Television ArtsThe British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
, Best Actor (Nicholson), Best Direction, Best Screenplay (male) - 1975 Edgar AwardEdgar AwardThe Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
, Best Motion Picture Screenplay – Robert TowneRobert TowneRobert Towne is an American screenwriter and director. His most notable work may be his Academy Award-winning original screenplay for Roman Polanski's Chinatown .-Film:... - 1991 National Film RegistryNational Film RegistryThe National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
- 2010 Best film of all time, the GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
recognition
- 1998 – AFI's 100 Years... 100 MoviesAFI's 100 Years... 100 MoviesThe first of the AFI 100 Years… series of cinematic milestones, AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies is a list of the 100 best American movies, as determined by the American Film Institute from a poll of more than 1,500 artists and leaders in the film industry who chose from a list of 400 nominated movies...
– #19 - 2001 – AFI's 100 Years... 100 ThrillsAFI's 100 Years... 100 ThrillsPart of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years…100 Thrills is a list of the top 100 heart-pounding movies in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute on June 12, 2001, during a CBS special hosted by Harrison Ford....
– #16 - 2003 – AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and VillainsAFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and VillainsAFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains is a list of the 100 greatest screen characters chosen by American Film Institute in June 2003. It is part of the AFI 100 Years… series. The series was first presented in a CBS special hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger...
:- Noah Cross – #16 Villain
- J.J. "Jake" Gittes – Nominated Hero
- 2005 – AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie QuotesAFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie QuotesPart of the AFI 100 Years... series, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes is a list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema. The American Film Institute revealed the list on June 21, 2005, in a three-hour television program on CBS...
:- "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown." – #74
- "She's my sister! She's my daughter!" – Nominated
- 2005 – AFI's 100 Years of Film ScoresAFI's 100 Years of Film ScoresPart of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores is a list of the top 25 film scores in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute in 2005.-The List:-External links:**...
– #9 - 2007 – AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – #21
- 2008 – AFI's 10 Top 10AFI's 10 Top 10AFI's 10 Top 10 honors the ten greatest American films in ten classic film genres. Presented by the American Film Institute , the lists were unveiled on a television special broadcast by CBS on June 17, 2008....
– #2 mystery filmMystery filmMystery film is a sub-genre of the more general category of crime film and at times the thriller genre. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of a crime by means of clues, investigation, and clever deduction.The...