The next film to be reviewed in this series is Roman Polanski’s 1974 Film Noir classic Chinatown, written superbly by Robert Towne. It is not only my view that it is “superbly” written, as it is widely considered to be one of, if not the greatest screenplay’s ever written.
The plot of Chinatown follows private detective Jake Gittes(played by Jack Nicholson) as he is hired to follow Hollis Mulwray by his wife, as she suspects him of infidelity. But it is only after Hollis is exposed, and the papers get hold of the information that the real Evelyn Mulwray comes forward and threatens legal action against Gittes. Eventually Evelyn drops the case, and hires Gittes to find the now vanished Hollis Mulwray, this forms the main part of the investigation and the films plot.
The structure as you may have guessed from the introduction is first class, the film moves at a perfect pace with all the turning points and major incidents coming at perfectly planned stages. Make no mistake this is screenwriting of the very highest quality, Towne shows complete and utter confidence and control of the writing and story. Although not strictly a part of a traditional “film structure” discussion, the lack of a truly snapping twist helps the integrity of the film, as the whole film doesn’t rely on this one potential moment for it all to come together.
The character who stands out the most within Chinatown is obviously the protagonist and central character Jake Gittes, who plays the classic detective figure in a similar way to which Harrison Ford did in Blade Runner, albeit 8 years before. However the more obvious comparisons to be made to Bogart’s Phillip Marlowe from The Big Sleep, as the smooth talking intelligent private eye, albeit with more of a weak spot for the ladies. Marlowe, I am sure was some form of influence for Chinatown’s hero.
Weaknesses for, or within Chinatown are indeed few and far between, and most of them are unworthy of mention. Two common criticisms of the film are that it can drag at times, or come across as boring, this however is purely matter of taste, which is more relevant to those viewers with a limited attention span. The second is the lack of big pay-off ending, and again this form of criticism could come about from those who want an obvious and definite ending, something which Chinatown only really hints at.
Score: *****(5/5)
