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Chinatown (1974)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writer:
Release Date:
20 June 1974 (USA)
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Plot:
A private detective investigating an adultery case stumbles on to a scheme of murder that has something to do with water. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Water
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Detective
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Murder
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Private Detective
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Corruption
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Awards:
Won Oscar.
Another 18 wins
&
22 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(122 articles)
MovieWeb's 2009 DVD Holiday Gift Guide
(From MovieWeb. 20 November 2009, 12:55 PM, PST)
Dunaway Facing Eviction Over Unpaid Rent - Report
(From WENN. 19 November 2009, 4:11 AM, PST)
(From MovieWeb. 20 November 2009, 12:55 PM, PST)
Dunaway Facing Eviction Over Unpaid Rent - Report
(From WENN. 19 November 2009, 4:11 AM, PST)
User Comments:
The apex of the 1970s American film renaissance.
more (326 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | Jack Nicholson | ... | J.J. Gittes |
 | Faye Dunaway | ... | Evelyn Mulwray |
 | John Huston | ... | Noah Cross |
 | Perry Lopez | ... | Escobar |
| John Hillerman | ... | Yelburton |
| Darrell Zwerling | ... | Hollis Mulwray |
 | Diane Ladd | ... | Ida Sessions |
| Roy Jenson | ... | Mulvihill |
 | Roman Polanski | ... | Man with Knife |
| Richard Bakalyan | ... | Loach (as Dick Bakalyan) |
| Joe Mantell | ... | Walsh |
 | Bruce Glover | ... | Duffy |
| Nandu Hinds | ... | Sophie |
| James O'Rear | ... | Lawyer |
 | James Hong | ... | Evelyn's Butler |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
131 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Iceland:16 |
Singapore:NC-16 |
Argentina:16 |
UK:15 (video rating) |
Canada:A (Nova Scotia) |
Brazil:12 |
West Germany:16 (f) |
Australia:M |
Canada:13+ (Quebec) |
Canada:PG (Manitoba) |
Canada:R (Ontario) |
Finland:K-16 |
Netherlands:16 |
New Zealand:R16 |
Norway:15 |
Spain:18 |
Sweden:15 |
USA:R |
UK:X (original rating)
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #21 Greatest Movie of All Time.
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Goofs:
Continuity: When Gittes get drenched by the water, he's completely immersed in it. Then moments later his suit is fairly dry looking as though he had only been splashed.
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Quotes:
[first lines]
Jake Gittes: All right, Curly. Enough's enough. You can't eat the Venetian blinds. I just had them installed on Wednesday.
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Jake Gittes: All right, Curly. Enough's enough. You can't eat the Venetian blinds. I just had them installed on Wednesday.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in "NewsRadio: Sleeping (#3.21)" (1997)
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Soundtrack:
I Can't Get Started
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FAQ
What is the meaning of "Chinatown" and the last line of the movie?How much sex, violence, and profanity are in this movie?
A Note Regarding Spoilers
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Some might go with the operatic grandeur of The Godfather, or the gritty psychic trauma of Taxi Driver, as the finest achievement of the Seventies in American film. For my money, though, nothing tops Roman Polanski's masterpiece. A noir thriller that somehow transcends noir, Chinatown becomes a meditation on the bottomless well of human mystery. Robert Towne's legendary script can stand with the best work of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, and Polanski, in insisting on the darkest possible ending for his L.A. story(understandable, given the nightmare Polanski experienced in Los Angeles six years before this film was made), directs with supreme story-telling integrity. Flawlessly performed by its superb cast, with an especially terrifying piece of underplaying from the great John Huston as Noah Cross, a man who could never say what he really wants, even to himself. Easily one of the six or seven best films ever made.