Chinatown 5 Star Movie
		Made: 1974 Cast: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez Director: Roman Polanski Screenwriter: Robert Towne Cinemintographer: John A. Alonzo Producer: Robert Evans "Sometimes it's best to let sleeping dogs lie".
	Chinatown, if anything, started what is referred to as the neo-noir movement. It was one of the first movies to hark back to the 1940's style of dark, stylish detective films. The movie itself simply tells a great mystery in a way that is watchable over and over. The direction by Polanski is full of subtle touches (such as Jake's habit of putting watches under car tires) that help this movie retain its reputation of one of the best movies of all time. It's hailed as a classic and actually lives up to its reputation.    This is Nicholson's best role, much more broad than the loose cannon of his other greatest 70' films One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest and Five Easy Pieces, and one of his defining characters. He plays a detective, Jake Gittes, that has Jack's usual reputation of being a badass, but here he is also a caring person. The movie marks him as an actor much like It's a Wonderful Life defined Jimmy Stewart. He gets involved in a case involving the Water Department of Los Angeles, back before it was so large of a city. When the chief of the department is killed he gets false leads as to who did it and, being a stubborn detective, he keeps digging and digging until it is a very bad situation. The defining quote (above) is what Gittes tells a person at the first of the movie and honestly, he should have taken his own advice.    Faye Dunaway also stars and it's part of her string of three masterworks, the others being Network and Bonnie and Clyde. She brings a hidden vulnerability to her character that is always hiding some kind of secret. John Huston, the great noir director of Maltese Falcon, plays Noah Cross, and his performance creates one of cinema's great menacing villains. "What can you buy with more money?" "The future, Mr. Gitties". Ha, great stuff. Last in a small focused cast is Perry Lopez as Lou, Jake's old detective friend when they worked together in Chinatown. Something happened there that makes them enemies, but the movie never says (and doesn't need to). Polanski has a small role as a thug that cuts Gittes' nose when he gets too close to a lead; another subtle touch that makes this film great, Jake walking around with a bandaged nose for a long time.    The turning point in the movie comes when Gittes talks with Cross about "the girl" in question. Who is this girl? Why does everyone want to know who she is and why do some already know? Well, even when the film is over, it is not the end of the fun. The fun is actually in re-watching it because it is not a movie you can only watch once. The ending of the film is one of the most true to life ever commited to film and probably the main reason for the film's success. Yes, the movie is slow paced (get through the first 40 minutes, I promise it's worth it) AND very depressing at times but I can't stress enough what a marvelous piece of work this is. Brutal, but touching and unforgettable.