Chinatown (1974)

Private investigator Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) receives a mysterious visit from a new client one morning. A woman who introduces herself as Evelyn Mulwray (Diane Ladd) wants Gittes to follow her husband Hollis, who is the head of the Water and Power Department in Los Angeles, whom she believes is having an affair.

Gittes begins to investigate, and discovers that Hollis (Darrell Zwerling), who is currently campaigning to stop a new dam from being built, is indeed having an affair. But no sooner does Gittes make this discovery than it appears on the front page of the newspaper the following morning.

Gittes protests in the strongest possible terms; he didn't tell the papers anything, but no one will believe him. And to make matters worse, a woman who claims she is the real Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) shows up at his office, threatening to sue him for defaming her husband's good name.

But the next day, Hollis's body is dragged from the river, badly cut and bruised. Police lieutenant Escobar (Perry Lopez) opens an investigation, certain this is a homicide.

As Gittes continues his own investigation, the plot grows thicker and thicker. Who was the woman who first hired him? What exactly was Hollis doing by fighting plans for the new dam? And just how deep does the whole sinister plot go?

I have got to say, the best part of this film is undoubtedly the screenplay, written by Robert Towne. And I am not the only person who thinks so. Towne in fact won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay for this film.

Also, screenwriting teacher and guru who has written many books on the subject, and is widely regarded as the best screenwriting professor of the twentieth century, Syd Field - who literally wrote the book on screenwriting - has been using the screenplay for Chinatown as the optimal example of what makes a great screenplay since the film's release. Having read his books for years now - but having not seen this film until recently - I never fully understood what he was talking about. Now that I have seen the film, I must say, I agree wholeheartedly with Professor Field on this one.

The film's score, too, is a prime example of what makes a great film score. In the film's 130-minute running time, probably less than twenty percent of that is scored. Composer Jerry Goldsmith provides would-be film composers with one of the most valuable lessons they could ever learn: not to overscore their projects. Goldsmith has only written music for the moments of the film that absolutely require it, and not felt in any way obligated to fill every scene with unnecessary music.

Cinematographer John A. Alonzo has such a great understanding of light and dark, and uses shadows so well, the movie feels like it belongs to the great film noir tradition, with the only caveat being that it is in colour.

Director Roman Polanski has made an absolutely brilliant thriller, a film that I suggest you see as soon as you can, if you haven't done so already. I can't believe it's taken me this long to get around to watching it, and I certainly won't be waiting as long before watching it again.

9 out of 10.