Chinatown ranks among the latest and most effective examples of the American motion-picture style known as film noir. Chinatown was released in 1974, about 20 years after the peak years of film noir in Hollywood. However, like earlier film noir movies, Chinatown deals with corrupt characters in a large American city and emphasizes a pessimistic view of human behavior.
Chinatown takes place in Los Angeles in 1937. The film’s title refers to the Chinatown district of the city. The central character is Jake Gittes, a former Los Angeles policeman turned private investigator. Gittes becomes involved in a web of personal and political intrigues centering on a powerful and corrupt city political figure. The movie’s bleak, violent ending follows the film noir tradition.
Chinatown won praise for its strong sense of atmosphere, which evoked comparisons with the 1930’s crime fiction of American authors Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. Robert Towne won an Academy Award for his intricate screenplay. The film featured memorable performances by Jack Nicholson as Jake Gittes and Faye Dunaway as a mysterious rich woman he comes to love. John Huston, best known as a director, played the wealthy and politically powerful villain. Polish filmmaker Roman Polanski earned acclaim for his intense directing and his skill at capturing the strong American flavor of the movie’s time and place.
