This film is possibly the biggest punch in the gut I've experienced watching a film before. What was your experience watching it? Be sure to subscribe for upcoming reactions like: Hoosiers, Charade, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Good Will Hunting, Sunset Boulevard, and Beetlejuice!
Oh and my favorite line is by John Huston. “Of course I’m respectable, I’m OLD. Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.” One of the few light moments haha
This is one of my favorite movies. To this day, I cannot think to a movie villain more evil than Noah Cross. John Huston played that role to perfection, especially when delivering the line "...most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and the right place, they're capable of ANYTHING."
Chinatown is one of the top 10 films of all time. If you haven't had the experience, try seeing it whenever it is shown on a big screen in a movie theater. From the moment the music starts, you get sucked back into time and it's 1930s Los Angeles.
this was based on a real incident. it was provided by William Mulholland (Mulholland Drive),who was a water and power engineer in L.A.you might have noticed the sly references in the character names( Mulwray, Mulvehill). if you liked Faye Dunaway you might try Network.
In a time when one person reacts to a movie and then 30 others react to the same movie, I sure do appreciate your choices for movies to react to. Classic flicks, too. Chinatown is an amazing film.
Thanks! Definitely try to strike a balance of classic and newer. Not interested necessarily in what everyone else is doing. I think a lot of movies get picked to based on what hits different streaming services.
She’s my daughter, she’s my sister. This was meant to be the first film in a trilogy about California public departments - this was about water, with the other two being about oil and highways,
"Chinatown" is one of the greatest films of all time. Each time I watch I'm amazed by how good Robert Towne's script is. Characters lie throughout the story, but sometimes when they seem to be lying, there is actually more truth than we realize at the moment. When meeting with Noah Cross, Jake asks him what he and Mulwray were arguing about outside the restaurant. Cross says, "My daughter." We assume he means Evelyn. But of course we realize on a second viewing that he's really talking about Katherine.
Great reaction video. There has been a lot written and discussed about the ending to Chinatown with Polanski and Towne disagreeing about it, but I believe the decision to go the route of tragedy made the story more meaningful and the film as a whole is far more powerful for it.
Roger Ebert referred to the 1970s as "the golden age of the Hollywood art film," where directors had the leeway to make major motion pictures with complex characters and dark endings. Even within that era, though, the sister/daughter reveal is a shock (that's the clip they showed at the Oscars when Faye Dunaway won for Best Actress). It's as if we wandered out of 1940s LA and into Westeros for a while.
@@laustcawz2089 Yes, you are absolutely correct. Thanks for the correction. (The clips are shown as the nominees are listed, before the winner is announced, so every nominee gets a clip. Duh!)
The image of Noah Cross covering his granddaughter's eyes, the symbolism and association involved there, is one of the most horrifying images in cinema.
The most compelling movie about water rights ever, lol. Seriously, back when I was in film classes during the Mesozoic Era, the general consensus was that "Chinatown" was the perfect screenplay. Writer Robert Towne wastes no moment, even when it seems nothing is happening. Everything is there for a reason, and the complicated plot builds to a devastating climax.
@@CasualNerdReactions To go into the symbolism more... the HORSES that appear in the movie represent incest and inbreeding (as horses are often inbred). Noah Cross wanted to live forever, by creating a 'clone' of himself. By having a child with his child, and then a child with that child, he could 'live forever'. Possibly one of the most disturbing plots in any movie...
There were quite a few scripts written for a sequel to this film before one of them actually got made. One of them had Gittes uncovering a conspiracy by a corrupt judge to buy up the LA public transit system, then bulldoze a poor neighborhood to build a freeway, then shut down the public transit so everyone would be forced to use it. If this sounds familiar, it's because that script was turned into Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Among its 11 Academy Award nominations was the brilliant and iconic music by veteran composer Jerry Goldsmith, who replaced the original composer Philip Lambro, whose music didn't meet the producer's expectations. As his background was in scoring for live TV broadcasts, Goldsmith was used to unreasonable deadlines, composing this gem in only two weeks, adding to his lifetime 18 nominations and 1 win for "The Omen" (1976). He would go on to score what many consider the companion piece to Chinatown in 1998 for "LA Confidential", nominated for 9 Academy Awards. Sadly, the maestro passed away in 2004.
What a career he had as a director. He began with a masterpiece (The Maltese Falcon in 1941) and ended with another masterpiece (The Dead in 1987), and many many great ones in between.
This is great movie. You will find it has a lot in common with Sunset Boulevard. It’s an adult movie dealing with adult themes. In the era of Watergate and Vietnam it was a look at what power does to people . It’s also a reflection of why Scorsese complains about superhero movies. I collect comics and like superhero movies just fine . But I don’t want all my movies to be superhero movies. They are children’s movies. What’s wrong today is the lack of adult movies and the 70s with Chinatown, the French Connection The Godfather was the pinnacle of American movie making . Jaws and Star Wars changed the industry for the worse. Directors didn’t want to make the great American movie any more they wanted to make the merchandising hit.
Forget it Jake, It's Chinatown. The Asian actor that let Jack Nicholson in the door of the Mulwray home is James Hong. He is the same actor that was the supervillain in Big Trouble In Little China. Roman Polanski plays the mobster that cuts Nicholson's nose. Polanski has acted in many of his films. You should check out The Fearless Vampire Killers, one of his earlier films.
Early 1970's films did NOT guarantee a happy ending. Many of that era's films are still very thought-provoking and shocking. Movies such as "Midnight Cowboy", Taxi Driver", "Catch 22", and "M*A*S*H" (Yes! There was a movie before the TV show!) were gritty and raw in the manner of "Chinatown". Tough to deal with realism and lowered expectations of human behavior were the order of the day. There's tons of other examples, but those are the ones which spring to mind first. Those films may not be everyone's cup of tea, but they are memorable and usually very well made.
Interesting that George Lucas's first film "THX-1138" also falls into this category of pessimistic realism. It's a shame he went back and ruined it with CGI, just as he did with the Star Wars movies.
@@ThreadBomb I agree, "THX-1138" was a much more typically pessimistic movie of the early '70's. And I really hate the CGI changes Lucas made, although it keeps the films "current" for young fans who always say "Look at how great the effects were! LOL, not knowing that's not how they looked originally. I also know "Star Wars" started a movement toward films aimed at the young at heart, not the mature of mind. However, having grown up in that era, I have to say there's room for both, the big studios just won't let it happen now. In the 1980's and 1990's, complex films with thought-provoking storylines were still being made. What really killed them was interest in selling Western films to China. The Chinese government doesn't want deep, complex, challenging movies, they want easy to digest stories for the masses. It's Hollywood's fault they want to cater almost exclusively to that now.
Roman Polanski was the one who cut his nose. NOTICE: when the shot is on the knife, he twists it at the last moment, and the sharp part is away from the part pf the nose that gets cut. Just something I noticed in 75 when I saw this 1974 movie at the theatre, small towns always got the films a year late. Even as a 11 year old I knew this was a special film, of course I always watched the older films with my parents whilst the others like cartoons. Top 10 film all-time imho, and I don't usually like Neo Noirs that much. This has everything, intrigue, chaos, romance )too much for a 11 year old, but hell they let us smoke in the theatre at 10 in the 70s 🤣, different time, I quit at 23 👍). Nice review, welcome back to the Big Time kid......... Just kidding. P.S. Film Noir of course means, Black/Dark foreboding endings, its what makes them great brother. Remember there is evil like this in our evil world, and film/art is meant to imitate life, it is a window into the life of us homosapiens, both good and evil, it moves our emotions. Back in the 30s rich men could get away with murder, they could be racist, they could be robber barons etc. etc. so in essence, for this time period, of course this is very, very realistic. We don't love it, but we don't love slavery either. Of course Gone With the Wind is still a great movie. In the 30s and 40s this movie could not have been made, the censors demanded the bad guys ALWAYS get their just due. But, is that realistic? People in reality get away with murder, and mayhem etc. etc. all the time, mandating the bad guy always gets his due is thus naivety right? That is why I so love the ending. It is utter brilliance.
Great Reaction and observation, another film with an age old theme where the evil powerful wealthy man gets away (It's a Wonderful Life). John Huston played a minor role in a film he directed, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) starring Humphrey Bogart and Huston's father, Walter.
@@athos1974 I second that Emotion, John Huston has a small part in that film also, as the guy staking Bogart to a meal, BUT, the small Mexican boy who sold Bogart the lottery ticked was none other than Robert Blake, not a lot of people realize that when I tell them, a few do.
Prior to this movie I'd seen a lot of Faye Dunaway movies and never got her and what the big deal was. But then I saw THIS movie and finally got it. She's amazing in this movie to such a point I actually felt sorry for her. And as always we have Jack Nicholson on hand to put the cherry on the cake. Excellent film and John Huston gave me the creeps 😀👍
Faye Dunaway is probably best remembered as the ruthless TV exec from 1976's "Network", before she started to decline into campy roles in the early 80's.
I met her briefly in the 1990s when I was a store manager of a retail outlet. My impression was, she was superficially friendly, but very emotionally guarded in public. She had an old school Hollywood vibe about her, and definitely was very good at handling the public. I recognized her when she came in the store, but as a manager I had to keep the interaction professional, no seeking autographs. Younger employees did not know her, but commented that she seemed like "someone special" with a star quality about her.
I mean, why would you _not_ feel sorry for her character in this film? She's just trying to protect her daughter from her monster of a father, and in the end gets killed by a corrupt cop.
Robert Towne, the writer of Chinatown, conceived of it as the first of a trilogy of films about the destructive effect of corporate corruption on Los Angeles. The first part was about water, the second about oil, and the third about transportation. After a very messy development process, the second part was made as the film "The Two Jakes", directed by Jack Nicholson. The third part was never produced, but you can actually see traces of it in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".
Chinatown is a masterpiece. Thank you for reacting to it. There is a very interesting interview of Polanski done by Clive James on YT. In it, Polanski explains his reasoning for the sad or downbeat ending. He felt an ending with that kind of injustice would anger and inspire people. Whether that is true or not, the ending is logical and feels particularly real in this time. An evil man like Noah Cross would get away with it today. One tiny detail CNR may have gotten wrong: in the scene with Jake and the coroner, they are talking about how the drunk in the morgue died, not Mulray. At least that is my recollection of it. I haven't watched Chinatown in full in a year or so.
Great reaction, right from the beginning (I'm with you, I almost get chills during the opening credits, when the music comes in). It's so great because you've seen "The Maltese Falcon" which this is in part homage to, right down to casting it's director, John Huston, as the villain Noah Cross! (If you notice, when Nicholson is slapping Dunaway, he starts doing a bit of a Bogart voice/line delivery) Love that you noticed the unusual touch of Nicholson having his face covered for a big chunk of the movie. For me this movie is about this: we THINK Jake is ahead of the story...because we're conditioned by the movies, by the convention of the genre! In truth....he's always ten steps behind! They tell him over and over again: "you don't know what you're up against"...and he never does! Every step of the way, he's stymied, beaten up and beaten down....and "Chinatown" is the metaphor for the whole stinkin' "system", it's existed forever and there's nothing we can do about it, it's more than any of us can fight......it's the world, it's the way it is......it's Chinatown! Ah, the injustice of it all! (But....great score!! lol). Faye Dunaway plays "Bonnie" in "Bonnie & Clyde", that's a great movie, that really is the dividing line for me between the "older" style of movies and the more realistic style we moved in to (although it's not as cut and dry as that!). THANKS, CHRIS!!!
@randywhite3947 The line "Are you sleeping with her?" wouldn't have had the same resonance since Jack had just started going out with Angelica Huston (John's daughter)!😆
Take my upvote now, but I'll have to come back to watch the video. This gives me a good reason to finally watch "Chinatown" and I don't want spoilers. A coincidence as just last night I watched one of my favorite (very, very) 70s thrillers, "The Eyes of Laura Mars" also starring Faye Dunaway.
The world is not all ponies and unicorns. Evil and corruption oftentimes triumphs. The artist has to portray all aspects of life. Chinatown is a metaphor for a place where evil and corruption rule the roost.
Hollis Mulwray is rather rudely intended to harken back to William Mulholland, a self-taught engineer who was head of the Los Angeles water system and who conceived the Los Angeles Aquaduct that allowed the massive city growth. He later engineered the St. Francis Dam which ended his career when it failed, killing 431 people in the greatest man-made disaster of the 20th century in the U.S. He lived in an earlier era, but the association of names cannot be escaped.
You say you can't process how a father could do that to his little girl, but just remember what Noah Cross said:"Most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and the right place, they're capable of ANYTHING." When the Washington Post reviewed "Chinatown" they said it was about the futility of good intentions in an evil world. I think that's as good a summation as any.
The father is played by John Huston, who directed two great classic films, The Maltese Falcon and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, amongst many films.
This is truly a masterpiece of film and makes you feel anger, frustration along with a ton of other emotions which is what film should do. That’s what’s amazing about it. A difficult film to digest but it’s great nonetheless
That's Roman Polanski himself as the guy who cuts up Gittes' nose. He started out as an actor to support himself after his parents were killed in the Holocaust, and still occasionally goes back to it in addition to his writing and directing.
You should know there's a John Huston based bio pic Clint Eastwood starred and directed called White Hunter Black Heart (1990). Hard-living, macho movie director John Wilson (Clint Eastwood), and they don't use the real names, arrives in 1950s Zimbabwe to prepare for his next film. Accompanied by screenwriter Pete Verrill (Jeff Fahey), Wilson becomes far more interested in shooting an elephant than getting ready for the shoot. Determined, Wilson moves production to a village where a native hunter helps him in his quest. Obsessed with this goal even as filming grows ever more chaotic, the director begins to question the ethics and origins of his fixation. The time period was about The African Queen time period. This movie might not be for a reaction video where people might give you many video hits. It's an excellent character study and it's a Siskel n Ebert thumbs up, if you like them. Fun to watch as Eastwood does a fair John Huston impression, very different.
I just love your reactions throughout the movie, Chris! Makes watching this reaction video so enjoyable. A well written script and wonderfully acted thriller!
Roman Polanski's great American picture. He's in the movie, the slimy guy who slits Jack's nose. Director John Huston plays Noah Cross. One of the greatest movies ever.
I guess this too late but 1974 was in the middle of Hollywood's Golden Age, 1966-1976, when filmmakers could and did make any kind of movie they wanted. And since this was smack in the middle of Watergate and the end of the war in Vietnam, where we learned the govt and the Pentagon had lied to us for years, people like Polanski - who'd gone through his own personal Hell with the Manson Family - and Coppola and Friedkin and Fosse et al wanted, no, felt obligated to make the most paranoid, the bleakest pictures they could. You could add THE PARALLAX VIEW, a successful Warren Beatty movie from 1973 to CHINATOWN as the ultimate bleak and twisted movies. But CHINATOWN was probably the most downbeat AND well made. There were other, more old-fashioned movies, of course, like THE STING, which were fun, but nobody took them seriously. Except for when Old Hollywood up and made The Sting the Best Picture of 73 or 74.
I was utterly gobsmacked by this movie. Thanks for the great reaction to another great movie Chris! Noah Cross is played by John Huston. Huston is one of the best American directors of the 20th century Some of his best movies are: The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Red Badge of Courage, African Queen, Moby Dick, and Night of the Iguana. He also was a great friend to Humphrey Bogart and delivered his eulogy. Although this movie is fictitious, much of the story that deals with dumping water, control of water zones etc. in Southern California is based on reality. There is a book and a documentary called Cadillac Desert that goes into great detail if you are interested. Very worthwhile.
InThe Offer TV series about the making of The Godfather, there's a couple funny scenes where the idea for Chinatown is pitched. "It's about water," is the pitch.
Ever since I 1st saw this movie, I use the "forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown" whenever confronted with something unexplainable yet the norm and we just have to accept it
Great reaction to a great film! It's funny how water scarcity in SoCal has been a major theme for so long, seeing how this movie from the 1970's depicts corruption in the 1930's. Now the situation is so bad, what with a 20+ year mega drought, the the entire SW United States is facing an environmental crisis. And really, so much of the USA's food comes from this part of the country (something like 90% of veggies we consume), so it affects all of our grocery bills big time. Agricultural use of the Colorado River is incredibly inefficient, especially for livestock, so I'd imagine that might be the first to go after the general public is forbidden from washing their cars/watering green lawns. Politicians ignored environmental signals for a really long time, and now Gen X and younger gets to the pay the price. Population is STILL booming in Arizona, Utah, and Nevada.
So.....tell us when you're going to watch Mommie Dearest. I think you've nailed down every other movie: All About Eve, Rope, Sunset Boulevard, Charade. I can't think of anything else, unless it's the Garland/Mason A Star Is Born. Maybe Funny Girl & Funny Lady.
In case you didn't know this is sort of a roman a clef. Mulwray in patterned on William Mulholland (of Mulhollnad Drive) and the dam failure at the beginning is the St. Francis dam disaster.
This movie is amazing but the ending is so heartbreaking! The fact that anybody can do that to an innocent child is disgusting it makes me just as angry as you got any normal sane person with a heart would react the same way. Love your reaction as always keep up the good work sir.🥰
I've heard numerous times that people who know about these things think this is the greatest screenplay ever written. It's used as a prime example of plotting, etc., for professors who teach screenwriting to students.
Outside the south side jazz club. As a soft sax played back memories of a lifetime of broken hearts, she leaned into the open car window and whispered ... Humphrey Bogart..the Big sleep. 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown." The Two Jakes (1990) is the sequel and actually finishes what this movie started. Highly recommend. Fun Fact: Rance Howard, who plays the role of an angry farmer at the council meeting, is the father of famed actor and director Ron Howard and the grandfather of Bryce Dallas Howard. Strong Woman Fact: After several takes that never looked quite right, Faye Dunaway got annoyed and told Jack Nicholson to actually slap her. He did and felt very guilty for it, despite it being Dunaway's decision. The shot made it into the movie. Writing Tool Fact: The screenplay is now regarded as being one of the most perfect screenplays ever written and is now a main teaching point in screenwriting seminars and classes everywhere.
I enjoyed your reactions and your piecing things together (as far as the film allows a viewer to do so before the reveals). While Evelyn's back story is horrifying, this does allow her to seem at first suspicious, or at least to be doing questionable things. The truth transitions her from being the likely femme fatal to the most sympathetic and noble character in the film. So, while definitely a very tough issue to be included, it is justified in how it completely changes our response to Evelyn.
This is one of my favorite movies, definitely in my top 5. The actor and the acting us so good and Noah Cross is soooo evil. But the idea that the rich and powerful control things and are above the law is as true today as it ever was. Whenever something happens that looks suspicious with a lot of money and corruption involved, I think, "Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown." Its so deeply corrupt you'll never get to the bottom of it and you'll only end up hurting the one you are trying to protect.
This was a fun movie. It kept you guessing right up to the big reveal which, for 1974 and for the time period in the 30s this film took place, was highly controversial. Everything about it was perfect from start to finish. It was the first film to bring back the classic genre known as film noir after a long absence. After the rejection of a previous film composer's score, Jerry Goldsmith was called into the project at the last minute. He had only ten days to compose the score. Jerry Goldsmith ( won won the Oscar for Best Original Score for "The Omen," ), was one of great old school composers who wasn't afraid to experiment with natural sounds from orchestral instruments created an avante-garde feeling when necessary for the more mysterious sections of the film. The score calls for a modest string section of violins, violas, cellos, and bases, 4 harps, 4 grand pianos, and a handful of auxillary percussion instruments ( the scraping sound is from the guiro, the muted chime sound is an orchestral chime that is struck with a hand already muffling the sound so it didn't reverberate, a snare drum stick bouncing in a notated rhythm pattern on selected strings inside the piano) and the solo trumpet. Prodcucer Robert Evans said that Goldsmith's score saved the film, And what a combination of acting performances from Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. Robert Towne wrote the script. The film was nominated for 11 Oscars and won only one for the screenplay. Your reaction was perfect but watch it a second, maybe a third time, and you'll learn to appreciate it. I've seen it 40 times and love every minute of it.
Robert Evans may not be the most reliable source! The production of the sequel to Chinatown was a mess thanks to him. He insisted on starring in the movie, and then refused to get a period-appropriate haircut because it would show his facelift scars. The production collapsed, and in the end the sequel that was supposed to come out three years after the original came out 14 years late, in 1990.
@@ThreadBomb The "source" material I got this from was the now defunct Varase Sarabande CD Soundtrack I have in my collection. A firend of mine confirmed it was also on the pages from the CD from Intrada which, he believes , is still in print. But, I spoke to Jerry Goldsmith when he came to Syracuse to conduct the Syracuse Symphony in a concert of his own music back in the early 90s when I was working in Customer Relations and he said "Bob thanked me profusely because he was unsure how well this film would be received by the audience. He told me that I saved his film."
@@jackmaritt5094 WTF are you talking about? Are you on drugs? I said the movie was fun and a Hell of a lot more after that. It's people like you who twist words around and make people like me look bad. Get with the program, Jack. I'm a retired film critic having freelance for many newspapers in this country and I achieved respectability. Your comment is of a harrassing nature. I should report you. Besides, I got ten likes and a hearted comment from our guest.
I heard about this film for many years, not very much about the plot, just that it was terrific, classic, etc. Never did aee it until a few years ago (checked it out from the library) &, have to say, it absolutely lived up to every bit of the hype! Way exceeded my expectations--a true classic. I now understand moviegoers' enthusiasm about this gem!! Also...1974--what an amazing year for movies. In addition to "Chinatown", we got "The Conversation", "Young Frankenstein", "The Taking Of Pelham 123", "Death Wish", "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Black Christmas" & "Foxy Brown".
Robert Towne had Evelyn shooting Cross. Polanski changed the ending at the last . Moment It was released during Watergate. Towne denied any sort of connection, however, you couldn't help but tie the corruption to the seventies
Great film but an extremely uncomfortable ending. Noah Cross was actually played by John Houston. A very famous film director. Jack Nicholson actually had a long term relationship with Angelica Houston. John's daughter.👍 You should give, One flew over the Cuckoo's nest, with Jack Nicholson, a watch. That film won all the main Oscar's. Including best actor for Jack. Michael Douglas was a producer on it as well. Brilliant film.👍
Wow, I just noticed that one of Jack's assistants is played by Bruce Glover (Crispin Glover's Dad) he was best known as Mr. Wink from the James Bond film Diamonds are Forever.
........"I tried to keep a woman from being hurt. And, I ended up making sure that she was hurt." Gittes tragically sees his own history repeat itself in Chinatown. In the film Chinatown, is not a place, it's a state of mind, and the wasteland of Jake's nightmares. The seminal book on screenwriting technique by Syd Field uses this screenplay, which is considered by many to be the best in film history, as the prototype. The original ending had Mrs. Mulwray chasing her father into an orange grove like area and gunning him down. Polanski, fought with screenwriter Robert Towne to change it, so that Cross wins in the end. 'Thats what happens, with powerful people, they get away with everything' is to paraphrase what Polanski said to Towne to convince him to go to the alternate ending. This is easily one of the greatest films ever made, and the signature role of the great Jack Nicholson's career.
I realize that I'm quite late to the party, but have been trying to catch up since I found your channel. Anyway, the devastating truth about the family situation hit close to home for Jack Nicholson many years later. He found out that his "mother" was really his grandmother and his "sister" was really his mother. Devastating to say the least, made much worse because he was very famous when the news broke.
You are one of just a few Reactors I watch. This is such a great movie; the music, good Lord......by the way, I highly recommend Fried Green Tomatoes, another of my faves
I ALMOST watched fried green tomatoes as a patreon exclusive, ending up switching to Driving Miss Daisy based on the timing and which streaming service I was subscribed too haha, but one day I will definitely do that one!
The original script actually had an ending at least halfway cathartic, with the bad guys getting their just desserts. Then Roman Polanski came on board, and of course the guy whose work was incredibly dark and cynical even before his wife was murdered by the Manson family rewrote it into this. Though of course, given his later conviction for raping a minor, some have understandably wondered if he also wasn't sympathizing a bit too much with Cross.
@@CasualNerdReactions I don't think the film itself provides us with much room for that reading, though. By the end of the film, the full monstrosity of Noah Cross is depicted to us, and his monstrosity is uniquely unsettling to us because (if I may put it this way) it is all-too-human. I believe it's possible he genuinely feels that Katherine (Evelyn's sister-daughter) is "mine too" in a way that involves paternal obligation, and yet he seems to take no responsibility for the despicable act that brought her into the world. I don't doubt that Noah experiences shock and even real grief at Evelyn's death, and yet surely one can find no comfort whatsoever in the idea that he will be the one looking after Katherine now. I think the film ultimately fully coalesces our sympathy around Evelyn and the knowledge of what objectively happened to her, even if the subjective vantage point of the film resides in Jake's perspective throughout. A similar-but-different situation to Polanski's Rosemary's Baby, where the unfolding of events is fully identified with Rosemary's perspective in such a way that we sympathize with and participate in her plight and her attempts to gain agency over it. And yet, all that being said... there's no way around the fact that Polanski himself behaved despicably towards the person he victimized.
@@RickTBL No, I indeed do NOT know what you mean when you say she was "no virgin," if you think that means Polanski was justified in taking advantage of a situation that, to whatever extent it might have been orchestrated for him (if that's true), allowed him to choose to have sex with an underage girl or to not have sex with an underage girl. (Hint: the correct choice would always have been the first of those two options.)
@@RickTBL If a middle-aged man drugs a 13 year-old girl and then rapes her vaginally and anally, no way is that entrapment. There is no justification for his actions. Only a pedophile would say that she was in any way "asking for it".
Yeah, the no happy ending aspect is totally Euro. This film in some ways is a good prep for when you eventually get into 1950s/60s French Avant-garde. Or Polanski's old stuff.
In the late 60s and early 70s it was expected to have sad endings, re: Love Story, The Way We Were, Brian's Song. Just off the top of my head. I remember trying to predict how badly they would end. I think ET started things going in the other direction.
When I first watched this film, I was also outraged about the ending. Then I remembered the title from an "Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." story: *"Sometimes the Good Guys Lose!"*
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the "Noir" genre as there is large disagreement even over what the "Noir" genre is. I define Noir as a film without "good guys" and even the protagonist is a baddie. Double Indemnity would be my textbook example. So this film does not count as a Noir to me, but it does to a lot of people. Jack's character ultimately is trying to do the right thing even if he is comfortable with underhanded tactics. This movie is very bleak, which is how a lot of people define the genre.
I’ve never really thought about its definition. I’ve only seen a small handful. In my mind I always just associated it with hard boiled detective. Someday I’ll form a more rounded opinion.
@@CasualNerdReactions You called it a "neo-noir" in the video, which I think is correct. The original "film noir" was a style and a moment in history - not a genre as such. You can't step into the same river twice, and you can't make a modern film noir, because the cultural conditions to make it don't exist. Film noir means much more than private eyes and Venetian blinds, of course. One of my favorites is "Kiss of Death" (1947), about an ex-con trying to go straight who gets tangled up with a psychopath.
Roman Polanski is a degenerate but he's a genuis filmmaker. I love Chinatown but my favorite of his is "ghostwriter" with Ewan Macgregor, Pierce Brosnan & a small but pivotal role by the late great & under rated Tom Wilkinson. He's scary but subtle. It's one of the best suspense movies i've ever watched.
This film is possibly the biggest punch in the gut I've experienced watching a film before. What was your experience watching it? Be sure to subscribe for upcoming reactions like: Hoosiers, Charade, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Good Will Hunting, Sunset Boulevard, and Beetlejuice!
Oh and my favorite line is by John Huston. “Of course I’m respectable, I’m OLD. Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.” One of the few light moments haha
Charade! The Greatest Hitchcock film that Hitchcock never made!
Sunset Boulevard es muy fabuloso!!
Forget it Chris, it’s Chinatown.
As far as I'm concerned; I saw "Chinatown" a long time ago but I don't remember the movie.
This is one of my favorite movies. To this day, I cannot think to a movie villain more evil than Noah Cross. John Huston played that role to perfection, especially when delivering the line "...most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and the right place, they're capable of ANYTHING."
That line is definitely a great line.
Faye Dunaway was great in Bonnie and Clyde but this is Polanskis masterpiece. No film ever put you there like this one.
Agreed, but I would cite several more
titles in Polanski's filmography
as strong contenders--
"Bitter Moon" (1992)
"Carnage" (2011)
"Repulsion" (1965)
I have strong respect for Rosemary's Baby. Certainly one of his best
Try The Tenant.
So many great American movies in the 1970s when the studios were still interested in telling stories with real scripts and directors.
Chinatown is one of the top 10 films of all time. If you haven't had the experience, try seeing it whenever it is shown on a big screen in a movie theater. From the moment the music starts, you get sucked back into time and it's 1930s Los Angeles.
Props are w-a-a-ay past due for Jerry Goldsmith, who wrote the PERFECT score for this film- so wonderfully mood-setting & on point!!
this was based on a real incident. it was provided by William Mulholland (Mulholland Drive),who was a water and power engineer in L.A.you might have noticed the sly references in the character names( Mulwray, Mulvehill). if you liked Faye Dunaway you might try Network.
In a time when one person reacts to a movie and then 30 others react to the same movie, I sure do appreciate your choices for movies to react to. Classic flicks, too. Chinatown is an amazing film.
Thanks! Definitely try to strike a balance of classic and newer. Not interested necessarily in what everyone else is doing. I think a lot of movies get picked to based on what hits different streaming services.
She’s my daughter, she’s my sister. This was meant to be the first film in a trilogy about California public departments - this was about water, with the other two being about oil and highways,
"Chinatown" is one of the greatest films of all time. Each time I watch I'm amazed by how good Robert Towne's script is. Characters lie throughout the story, but sometimes when they seem to be lying, there is actually more truth than we realize at the moment. When meeting with Noah Cross, Jake asks him what he and Mulwray were arguing about outside the restaurant. Cross says, "My daughter." We assume he means Evelyn. But of course we realize on a second viewing that he's really talking about Katherine.
Great reaction video.
There has been a lot written and discussed about the ending to Chinatown with Polanski and Towne disagreeing about it, but I believe the decision to go the route of tragedy made the story more meaningful and the film as a whole is far more powerful for it.
Roger Ebert referred to the 1970s as "the golden age of the Hollywood art film," where directors had the leeway to make major motion pictures with complex characters and dark endings.
Even within that era, though, the sister/daughter reveal is a shock (that's the clip they showed at the Oscars when Faye Dunaway won for Best Actress). It's as if we wandered out of 1940s LA and into Westeros for a while.
Egert was a hack
Faye Dunaway was Oscar-nominated,
but she lost to Ellen Burstyn for
"Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore"
@@laustcawz2089 Yes, you are absolutely correct. Thanks for the correction. (The clips are shown as the nominees are listed, before the winner is announced, so every nominee gets a clip. Duh!)
I was working as an usher at a movie theater showing this, Multiple viewings only enhanced my appreciation for the artistry of this film.
The image of Noah Cross covering his granddaughter's eyes, the symbolism and association involved there, is one of the most horrifying images in cinema.
The most compelling movie about water rights ever, lol. Seriously, back when I was in film classes during the Mesozoic Era, the general consensus was that "Chinatown" was the perfect screenplay. Writer Robert Towne wastes no moment, even when it seems nothing is happening. Everything is there for a reason, and the complicated plot builds to a devastating climax.
There was a moment early on where I briefly wondered how much of the film would revolve around water rights 😅
@@CasualNerdReactions
To go into the symbolism more... the HORSES that appear in the movie represent incest and inbreeding (as horses are often inbred). Noah Cross wanted to live forever, by creating a 'clone' of himself. By having a child with his child, and then a child with that child, he could 'live forever'. Possibly one of the most disturbing plots in any movie...
There were quite a few scripts written for a sequel to this film before one of them actually got made. One of them had Gittes uncovering a conspiracy by a corrupt judge to buy up the LA public transit system, then bulldoze a poor neighborhood to build a freeway, then shut down the public transit so everyone would be forced to use it. If this sounds familiar, it's because that script was turned into Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Mrs. Mulwray's butler was of course the same actor who 48 years later would play grandpa Gong Gong in 'Everything Everywhere All At Once'.
Oh cool!! I didn’t realize. 👏
Nominated for 11 Oscars including Best Picture but won for Best Original Screenplay.
The film to take home Best Picture was The Godfather, Part 2.
Among its 11 Academy Award nominations was the brilliant and iconic music by veteran composer Jerry Goldsmith, who replaced the original composer Philip Lambro, whose music didn't meet the producer's expectations. As his background was in scoring for live TV broadcasts, Goldsmith was used to unreasonable deadlines, composing this gem in only two weeks, adding to his lifetime 18 nominations and 1 win for "The Omen" (1976). He would go on to score what many consider the companion piece to Chinatown in 1998 for "LA Confidential", nominated for 9 Academy Awards. Sadly, the maestro passed away in 2004.
Noah Cross is played by the legendary director John Huston. Look him up for all his achievments.
What a career he had as a director. He began with a masterpiece (The Maltese Falcon in 1941) and ended with another masterpiece (The Dead in 1987), and many many great ones in between.
@@anthonyleecollins9319 Plus, directing both his father and daughter to Oscar wins.
This is great movie. You will find it has a lot in common with Sunset Boulevard. It’s an adult movie dealing with adult themes. In the era of Watergate and Vietnam it was a look at what power does to people . It’s also a reflection of why Scorsese complains about superhero movies. I collect comics and like superhero movies just fine . But I don’t want all my movies to be superhero movies. They are children’s movies. What’s wrong today is the lack of adult movies and the 70s with Chinatown, the French Connection The Godfather was the pinnacle of American movie making . Jaws and Star Wars changed the industry for the worse. Directors didn’t want to make the great American movie any more they wanted to make the merchandising hit.
Forget it Jake, It's Chinatown. The Asian actor that let Jack Nicholson in the door of the Mulwray home is James Hong. He is the same actor that was the supervillain in Big Trouble In Little China. Roman Polanski plays the mobster that cuts Nicholson's nose. Polanski has acted in many of his films. You should check out The Fearless Vampire Killers, one of his earlier films.
Early 1970's films did NOT guarantee a happy ending. Many of that era's films are still very thought-provoking and shocking.
Movies such as "Midnight Cowboy", Taxi Driver", "Catch 22", and "M*A*S*H" (Yes! There was a movie before the TV show!) were gritty and raw in the manner of "Chinatown". Tough to deal with realism and lowered expectations of human behavior were the order of the day. There's tons of other examples, but those are the ones which spring to mind first.
Those films may not be everyone's cup of tea, but they are memorable and usually very well made.
Interesting that George Lucas's first film "THX-1138" also falls into this category of pessimistic realism. It's a shame he went back and ruined it with CGI, just as he did with the Star Wars movies.
@@ThreadBomb I agree, "THX-1138" was a much more typically pessimistic movie of the early '70's. And I really hate the CGI changes Lucas made, although it keeps the films "current" for young fans who always say "Look at how great the effects were! LOL, not knowing that's not how they looked originally.
I also know "Star Wars" started a movement toward films aimed at the young at heart, not the mature of mind. However, having grown up in that era, I have to say there's room for both, the big studios just won't let it happen now. In the 1980's and 1990's, complex films with thought-provoking storylines were still being made.
What really killed them was interest in selling Western films to China. The Chinese government doesn't want deep, complex, challenging movies, they want easy to digest stories for the masses. It's Hollywood's fault they want to cater almost exclusively to that now.
One trivial tidbit - the sheep farmer at the city council meeting was played by character actor Rance Howard, father of actor/director Ron Howard.
I'm just pissed that the Faye Dunaway character missed when she shot that bastard.
In agreement there!
Roman Polanski was the one who cut his nose. NOTICE: when the shot is on the knife, he twists it at the last moment, and the sharp part is away from the part pf the nose that gets cut. Just something I noticed in 75 when I saw this 1974 movie at the theatre, small towns always got the films a year late. Even as a 11 year old I knew this was a special film, of course I always watched the older films with my parents whilst the others like cartoons. Top 10 film all-time imho, and I don't usually like Neo Noirs that much. This has everything, intrigue, chaos, romance )too much for a 11 year old, but hell they let us smoke in the theatre at 10 in the 70s 🤣, different time, I quit at 23 👍). Nice review, welcome back to the Big Time kid......... Just kidding.
P.S. Film Noir of course means, Black/Dark foreboding endings, its what makes them great brother. Remember there is evil like this in our evil world, and film/art is meant to imitate life, it is a window into the life of us homosapiens, both good and evil, it moves our emotions. Back in the 30s rich men could get away with murder, they could be racist, they could be robber barons etc. etc. so in essence, for this time period, of course this is very, very realistic. We don't love it, but we don't love slavery either. Of course Gone With the Wind is still a great movie. In the 30s and 40s this movie could not have been made, the censors demanded the bad guys ALWAYS get their just due. But, is that realistic? People in reality get away with murder, and mayhem etc. etc. all the time, mandating the bad guy always gets his due is thus naivety right? That is why I so love the ending. It is utter brilliance.
Great Reaction and observation, another film with an age old theme where the evil powerful wealthy man gets away (It's a Wonderful Life). John Huston played a minor role in a film he directed, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) starring Humphrey Bogart and Huston's father, Walter.
❤️ "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"
@@athos1974 I second that Emotion, John Huston has a small part in that film also, as the guy staking Bogart to a meal, BUT, the small Mexican boy who sold Bogart the lottery ticked was none other than Robert Blake, not a lot of people realize that when I tell them, a few do.
Prior to this movie I'd seen a lot of Faye Dunaway movies and never got her and what the big deal was. But then I saw THIS movie and finally got it. She's amazing in this movie to such a point I actually felt sorry for her. And as always we have Jack Nicholson on hand to put the cherry on the cake. Excellent film and John Huston gave me the creeps 😀👍
Faye Dunaway is probably best remembered as the ruthless TV exec from 1976's "Network", before she started to decline into campy roles in the early 80's.
I met her briefly in the 1990s when I was a store manager of a retail outlet.
My impression was, she was superficially friendly, but very emotionally guarded in public.
She had an old school Hollywood vibe about her, and definitely was very good at handling the public.
I recognized her when she came in the store, but as a manager I had to keep the interaction professional, no seeking autographs.
Younger employees did not know her, but commented that she seemed like "someone special" with a star quality about her.
I mean, why would you _not_ feel sorry for her character in this film? She's just trying to protect her daughter from her monster of a father, and in the end gets killed by a corrupt cop.
Robert Towne, the writer of Chinatown, conceived of it as the first of a trilogy of films about the destructive effect of corporate corruption on Los Angeles. The first part was about water, the second about oil, and the third about transportation. After a very messy development process, the second part was made as the film "The Two Jakes", directed by Jack Nicholson. The third part was never produced, but you can actually see traces of it in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".
Lol I need to watch who framed roger rabbit now. 😅
Devil in a Blue Dress with Denzel Washington, is OUTSTANDING.
Chinatown is a masterpiece. Thank you for reacting to it.
There is a very interesting interview of Polanski done by Clive James on YT. In it, Polanski explains his reasoning for the sad or downbeat ending. He felt an ending with that kind of injustice would anger and inspire people. Whether that is true or not, the ending is logical and feels particularly real in this time. An evil man like Noah Cross would get away with it today.
One tiny detail CNR may have gotten wrong: in the scene with Jake and the coroner, they are talking about how the drunk in the morgue died, not Mulray. At least that is my recollection of it. I haven't watched Chinatown in full in a year or so.
You've watched The Maltese Falcon. The actor who played Noah Cross in this film, John Huston, directed The Maltese Falcon.
Great reaction, right from the beginning (I'm with you, I almost get chills during the opening credits, when the music comes in). It's so great because you've seen "The Maltese Falcon" which this is in part homage to, right down to casting it's director, John Huston, as the villain Noah Cross! (If you notice, when Nicholson is slapping Dunaway, he starts doing a bit of a Bogart voice/line delivery) Love that you noticed the unusual touch of Nicholson having his face covered for a big chunk of the movie. For me this movie is about this: we THINK Jake is ahead of the story...because we're conditioned by the movies, by the convention of the genre! In truth....he's always ten steps behind! They tell him over and over again: "you don't know what you're up against"...and he never does! Every step of the way, he's stymied, beaten up and beaten down....and "Chinatown" is the metaphor for the whole stinkin' "system", it's existed forever and there's nothing we can do about it, it's more than any of us can fight......it's the world, it's the way it is......it's Chinatown! Ah, the injustice of it all! (But....great score!! lol). Faye Dunaway plays "Bonnie" in "Bonnie & Clyde", that's a great movie, that really is the dividing line for me between the "older" style of movies and the more realistic style we moved in to (although it's not as cut and dry as that!). THANKS, CHRIS!!!
You’re right, I never for an instance though Jake wouldn’t come out on top. What a film! Thanks for your comment.
@randywhite3947 The line "Are you sleeping with her?" wouldn't have had the same resonance since Jack had just started going out with Angelica Huston (John's daughter)!😆
Take my upvote now, but I'll have to come back to watch the video. This gives me a good reason to finally watch "Chinatown" and I don't want spoilers.
A coincidence as just last night I watched one of my favorite (very, very) 70s thrillers, "The Eyes of Laura Mars" also starring Faye Dunaway.
The world is not all ponies and unicorns. Evil and corruption oftentimes triumphs. The artist has to portray all aspects of life. Chinatown is a metaphor for a place where evil and corruption rule the roost.
"No remorse on my part... I'll work on that later". That was pretty funny.
Hollis Mulwray is rather rudely intended to harken back to William Mulholland, a self-taught engineer who was head of the Los Angeles water system and who conceived the Los Angeles Aquaduct that allowed the massive city growth. He later engineered the St. Francis Dam which ended his career when it failed, killing 431 people in the greatest man-made disaster of the 20th century in the U.S. He lived in an earlier era, but the association of names cannot be escaped.
You say you can't process how a father could do that to his little girl, but just remember what Noah Cross said:"Most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and the right place, they're capable of ANYTHING."
When the Washington Post reviewed "Chinatown" they said it was about the futility of good intentions in an evil world. I think that's as good a summation as any.
The father is played by John Huston, who directed two great classic films, The Maltese Falcon and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, amongst many films.
This is truly a masterpiece of film and makes you feel anger, frustration along with a ton of other emotions which is what film should do. That’s what’s amazing about it. A difficult film to digest but it’s great nonetheless
That's Roman Polanski himself as the guy who cuts up Gittes' nose. He started out as an actor to support himself after his parents were killed in the Holocaust, and still occasionally goes back to it in addition to his writing and directing.
You should know there's a John Huston based bio pic Clint Eastwood starred and directed called White Hunter Black Heart (1990).
Hard-living, macho movie director John Wilson (Clint Eastwood), and they don't use the real names, arrives in 1950s Zimbabwe to prepare for his next film. Accompanied by screenwriter Pete Verrill (Jeff Fahey), Wilson becomes far more interested in shooting an elephant than getting ready for the shoot. Determined, Wilson moves production to a village where a native hunter helps him in his quest. Obsessed with this goal even as filming grows ever more chaotic, the director begins to question the ethics and origins of his fixation.
The time period was about The African Queen time period. This movie might not be for a reaction video where people might give you many video hits. It's an excellent character study and it's a Siskel n Ebert thumbs up, if you like them. Fun to watch as Eastwood does a fair John Huston impression, very different.
I just love your reactions throughout the movie, Chris! Makes watching this reaction video so enjoyable. A well written script and wonderfully acted thriller!
Roman Polanski's great American picture. He's in the movie, the slimy guy who slits Jack's nose. Director John Huston plays Noah Cross. One of the greatest movies ever.
It's Chinatown. That's the point.
I guess this too late but 1974 was in the middle of Hollywood's Golden Age, 1966-1976, when filmmakers could and did make any kind of movie they wanted. And since this was smack in the middle of Watergate and the end of the war in Vietnam, where we learned the govt and the Pentagon had lied to us for years, people like Polanski - who'd gone through his own personal Hell with the Manson Family - and Coppola and Friedkin and Fosse et al wanted, no, felt obligated to make the most paranoid, the bleakest pictures they could. You could add THE PARALLAX VIEW, a successful Warren Beatty movie from 1973 to CHINATOWN as the ultimate bleak and twisted movies.
But CHINATOWN was probably the most downbeat AND well made. There were other, more old-fashioned movies, of course, like THE STING, which were fun, but nobody took them seriously. Except for when Old Hollywood up and made The Sting the Best Picture of 73 or 74.
I was utterly gobsmacked by this movie. Thanks for the great reaction to another great movie Chris!
Noah Cross is played by John Huston. Huston is one of the best American directors of the 20th century Some of his best movies are: The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Red Badge of Courage, African Queen, Moby Dick, and Night of the Iguana. He also was a great friend to Humphrey Bogart and delivered his eulogy.
Although this movie is fictitious, much of the story that deals with dumping water, control of water zones etc. in Southern California is based on reality. There is a book and a documentary called Cadillac Desert that goes into great detail if you are interested. Very worthwhile.
InThe Offer TV series about the making of The Godfather, there's a couple funny scenes where the idea for Chinatown is pitched. "It's about water," is the pitch.
Years ago I rented this movie on VHS for my wife and I. She'd never seen it......she got SO upset at the ending, my God the tears!
Ever since I 1st saw this movie, I use the "forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown" whenever confronted with something unexplainable yet the norm and we just have to accept it
Great reaction to a great film! It's funny how water scarcity in SoCal has been a major theme for so long, seeing how this movie from the 1970's depicts corruption in the 1930's. Now the situation is so bad, what with a 20+ year mega drought, the the entire SW United States is facing an environmental crisis. And really, so much of the USA's food comes from this part of the country (something like 90% of veggies we consume), so it affects all of our grocery bills big time. Agricultural use of the Colorado River is incredibly inefficient, especially for livestock, so I'd imagine that might be the first to go after the general public is forbidden from washing their cars/watering green lawns.
Politicians ignored environmental signals for a really long time, and now Gen X and younger gets to the pay the price. Population is STILL booming in Arizona, Utah, and Nevada.
So.....tell us when you're going to watch Mommie Dearest. I think you've nailed down every other movie: All About Eve, Rope, Sunset Boulevard, Charade. I can't think of anything else, unless it's the Garland/Mason A Star Is Born. Maybe Funny Girl & Funny Lady.
I haven’t actually heard of that one. I’ll have to look into it.
This is a masterclass on cinema and the illusion of the American way. Your response is perfect.
In case you didn't know this is sort of a roman a clef. Mulwray in patterned on William Mulholland (of Mulhollnad Drive) and the dam failure at the beginning is the St. Francis dam disaster.
Make no mistake, there is A LOT of Chinatown fan fiction where Mr Cross ends up in Zed's sex dungeon in Pulp Fiction.
Fair.
This movie is amazing but the ending is so heartbreaking! The fact that anybody can do that to an innocent child is disgusting it makes me just as angry as you got any normal sane person with a heart would react the same way. Love your reaction as always keep up the good work sir.🥰
I've heard numerous times that people who know about these things think this is the greatest screenplay ever written. It's used as a prime example of plotting, etc., for professors who teach screenwriting to students.
Outside the south side jazz club. As a soft sax played back memories of a lifetime of broken hearts, she leaned into the open car window and whispered ...
Humphrey Bogart..the Big sleep.
🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."
The Two Jakes (1990) is the sequel and actually finishes what this movie started. Highly recommend.
Fun Fact: Rance Howard, who plays the role of an angry farmer at the council meeting, is the father of famed actor and director Ron Howard and the grandfather of Bryce Dallas Howard.
Strong Woman Fact: After several takes that never looked quite right, Faye Dunaway got annoyed and told Jack Nicholson to actually slap her. He did and felt very guilty for it, despite it being Dunaway's decision. The shot made it into the movie.
Writing Tool Fact: The screenplay is now regarded as being one of the most perfect screenplays ever written and is now a main teaching point in screenwriting seminars and classes everywhere.
The Two Jakes was an unnecessary and poorly made sequel
Doc Savage ...It is not this movie, but I like the follow-up. Chinatown (1974) is clearly a 9.5/10, while I give The Two Jakes (1990) a solid 8/10.
@@docsavage8640 I agree.
I enjoyed your reactions and your piecing things together (as far as the film allows a viewer to do so before the reveals). While Evelyn's back story is horrifying, this does allow her to seem at first suspicious, or at least to be doing questionable things. The truth transitions her from being the likely femme fatal to the most sympathetic and noble character in the film. So, while definitely a very tough issue to be included, it is justified in how it completely changes our response to Evelyn.
I hear you bro, I had the same response back when I first saw it.
This is one of my favorite movies, definitely in my top 5. The actor and the acting us so good and Noah Cross is soooo evil. But the idea that the rich and powerful control things and are above the law is as true today as it ever was. Whenever something happens that looks suspicious with a lot of money and corruption involved, I think, "Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown." Its so deeply corrupt you'll never get to the bottom of it and you'll only end up hurting the one you are trying to protect.
This was a fun movie. It kept you guessing right up to the big reveal which, for 1974 and for the time period in the 30s this film took place, was highly controversial. Everything about it was perfect from start to finish. It was the first film to bring back the classic genre known as film noir after a long absence. After the rejection of a previous film composer's score, Jerry Goldsmith was called into the project at the last minute. He had only ten days to compose the score. Jerry Goldsmith ( won won the Oscar for Best Original Score for "The Omen," ), was one of great old school composers who wasn't afraid to experiment with natural sounds from orchestral instruments created an avante-garde feeling when necessary for the more mysterious sections of the film. The score calls for a modest string section of violins, violas, cellos, and bases, 4 harps, 4 grand pianos, and a handful of auxillary percussion instruments ( the scraping sound is from the guiro, the muted chime sound is an orchestral chime that is struck with a hand already muffling the sound so it didn't reverberate, a snare drum stick bouncing in a notated rhythm pattern on selected strings inside the piano) and the solo trumpet. Prodcucer Robert Evans said that Goldsmith's score saved the film, And what a combination of acting performances from Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. Robert Towne wrote the script. The film was nominated for 11 Oscars and won only one for the screenplay. Your reaction was perfect but watch it a second, maybe a third time, and you'll learn to appreciate it. I've seen it 40 times and love every minute of it.
Robert Evans may not be the most reliable source! The production of the sequel to Chinatown was a mess thanks to him. He insisted on starring in the movie, and then refused to get a period-appropriate haircut because it would show his facelift scars. The production collapsed, and in the end the sequel that was supposed to come out three years after the original came out 14 years late, in 1990.
Fun? Incest is fun to you,?
@@ThreadBomb The "source" material I got this from was the now defunct Varase Sarabande CD Soundtrack I have in my collection. A firend of mine confirmed it was also on the pages from the CD from Intrada which, he believes , is still in print. But, I spoke to Jerry Goldsmith when he came to Syracuse to conduct the Syracuse Symphony in a concert of his own music back in the early 90s when I was working in Customer Relations and he said "Bob thanked me profusely because he was unsure how well this film would be received by the audience. He told me that I saved his film."
@@jackmaritt5094 WTF are you talking about? Are you on drugs? I said the movie was fun and a Hell of a lot more after that. It's people like you who twist words around and make people like me look bad. Get with the program, Jack. I'm a retired film critic having freelance for many newspapers in this country and I achieved respectability. Your comment is of a harrassing nature. I should report you. Besides, I got ten likes and a hearted comment from our guest.
Your feelings was spot on- you should had explored your feelings on the movie more, because that was good stuff there.
I heard about this film for many years,
not very much about the plot, just that
it was terrific, classic, etc. Never did aee it
until a few years ago (checked it out
from the library) &, have to say,
it absolutely lived up to every bit of the hype!
Way exceeded my expectations--a true classic.
I now understand moviegoers'
enthusiasm about this gem!!
Also...1974--what an amazing year for movies.
In addition to "Chinatown", we got
"The Conversation", "Young Frankenstein",
"The Taking Of Pelham 123", "Death Wish",
"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre",
"Black Christmas" & "Foxy Brown".
Robert Towne had Evelyn shooting Cross. Polanski changed the ending at the last . Moment It was released during Watergate. Towne denied any sort of connection, however, you couldn't help but tie the corruption to the seventies
Great film but an extremely uncomfortable ending. Noah Cross was actually played by John Houston. A very famous film director. Jack Nicholson actually had a long term relationship with Angelica Houston. John's daughter.👍
You should give, One flew over the Cuckoo's nest, with Jack Nicholson, a watch. That film won all the main Oscar's. Including best actor for Jack. Michael Douglas was a producer on it as well. Brilliant film.👍
Excellent reaction to an unforgettable film!! Remember it, Chris. It's Chinatown.
Nice word play!
Wow, I just noticed that one of Jack's assistants is played by Bruce Glover (Crispin Glover's Dad) he was best known as Mr. Wink from the James Bond film Diamonds are Forever.
The guy who cut his nose, dir.Roman Polanski, Noah Cross dir. John Huston. Polanski is certainly on the top of my list of directors. John Huston too.
You will LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the movie HIDALGO !! (the horse.)
10:23 Directors cameo
Also recommend Winter Kills for black comedy similar to this set up 🤔
Forget it, Chris
It's Chinatown
Noah is played by John Huston, famous director.
I haven't watched this in so long I forgot it was in color. In my memory it was in black & white.
It definitely could have been black and white, but the faded color works pretty well. 😅
........"I tried to keep a woman from being hurt. And, I ended up making sure that she was hurt."
Gittes tragically sees his own history repeat itself in Chinatown.
In the film Chinatown, is not a place, it's a state of mind, and the wasteland of Jake's nightmares.
The seminal book on screenwriting technique by Syd Field uses this screenplay, which is considered by many to be the best in film history, as the prototype.
The original ending had Mrs. Mulwray chasing her father into an orange grove like area and gunning him down.
Polanski, fought with screenwriter Robert Towne to change it, so that Cross wins in the end.
'Thats what happens, with powerful people, they get away with everything' is to paraphrase what Polanski said to Towne to convince him to go to the alternate ending.
This is easily one of the greatest films ever made, and the signature role
of the great Jack Nicholson's career.
Best written movie script ever!
Many great Easter eggs upon multiple views
No watch Roger Rabbit and realize they are the same movie
Haha ok
Great neo-noir, there are so many great ones from the 30's to the 50's.
I realize that I'm quite late to the party, but have been trying to catch up since I found your channel. Anyway, the devastating truth about the family situation hit close to home for Jack Nicholson many years later. He found out that his "mother" was really his grandmother and his "sister" was really his mother. Devastating to say the least, made much worse because he was very famous when the news broke.
That’s really shocking! I cant help but wonderful just how often that situation happened.
You are one of just a few Reactors I watch. This is such a great movie; the music, good Lord......by the way, I highly recommend Fried Green Tomatoes, another of my faves
I ALMOST watched fried green tomatoes as a patreon exclusive, ending up switching to Driving Miss Daisy based on the timing and which streaming service I was subscribed too haha, but one day I will definitely do that one!
@@CasualNerdReactions Thnx
Loved the reaction!
Got to hand it to your choice of content. Quality stuff👍
The original script actually had an ending at least halfway cathartic, with the bad guys getting their just desserts. Then Roman Polanski came on board, and of course the guy whose work was incredibly dark and cynical even before his wife was murdered by the Manson family rewrote it into this. Though of course, given his later conviction for raping a minor, some have understandably wondered if he also wasn't sympathizing a bit too much with Cross.
I actually feel a bit conflicted with his conviction. Like maybe cross was supposed to be the hero in his mind. Crazy.
@@CasualNerdReactions I don't think the film itself provides us with much room for that reading, though. By the end of the film, the full monstrosity of Noah Cross is depicted to us, and his monstrosity is uniquely unsettling to us because (if I may put it this way) it is all-too-human. I believe it's possible he genuinely feels that Katherine (Evelyn's sister-daughter) is "mine too" in a way that involves paternal obligation, and yet he seems to take no responsibility for the despicable act that brought her into the world. I don't doubt that Noah experiences shock and even real grief at Evelyn's death, and yet surely one can find no comfort whatsoever in the idea that he will be the one looking after Katherine now.
I think the film ultimately fully coalesces our sympathy around Evelyn and the knowledge of what objectively happened to her, even if the subjective vantage point of the film resides in Jake's perspective throughout. A similar-but-different situation to Polanski's Rosemary's Baby, where the unfolding of events is fully identified with Rosemary's perspective in such a way that we sympathize with and participate in her plight and her attempts to gain agency over it.
And yet, all that being said... there's no way around the fact that Polanski himself behaved despicably towards the person he victimized.
@@RickTBL No, I indeed do NOT know what you mean when you say she was "no virgin," if you think that means Polanski was justified in taking advantage of a situation that, to whatever extent it might have been orchestrated for him (if that's true), allowed him to choose to have sex with an underage girl or to not have sex with an underage girl. (Hint: the correct choice would always have been the first of those two options.)
@@RickTBL If a middle-aged man drugs a 13 year-old girl and then rapes her vaginally and anally, no way is that entrapment. There is no justification for his actions. Only a pedophile would say that she was in any way "asking for it".
Forget it, Nerd...It's Chinatown.
Yeah, the no happy ending aspect is totally Euro. This film in some ways is a good prep for when you eventually get into 1950s/60s French Avant-garde. Or Polanski's old stuff.
In the late 60s and early 70s it was expected to have sad endings, re: Love Story, The Way We Were, Brian's Song. Just off the top of my head. I remember trying to predict how badly they would end. I think ET started things going in the other direction.
How many movies end with the title being the last line spoken? Few. Alright, it's not the very last, but it's close.
13:55 She wants to know if her Dad killed her husband....
Super great reaction!
Be sure to watch the sequel
When I first watched this film, I was also outraged about the ending. Then I remembered the title from an "Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." story: *"Sometimes the Good Guys Lose!"*
A great movie, with a deeply unsatisfying end.
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the "Noir" genre as there is large disagreement even over what the "Noir" genre is.
I define Noir as a film without "good guys" and even the protagonist is a baddie. Double Indemnity would be my textbook example. So this film does not count as a Noir to me, but it does to a lot of people. Jack's character ultimately is trying to do the right thing even if he is comfortable with underhanded tactics.
This movie is very bleak, which is how a lot of people define the genre.
I’ve never really thought about its definition. I’ve only seen a small handful. In my mind I always just associated it with hard boiled detective. Someday I’ll form a more rounded opinion.
@@CasualNerdReactions You called it a "neo-noir" in the video, which I think is correct. The original "film noir" was a style and a moment in history - not a genre as such. You can't step into the same river twice, and you can't make a modern film noir, because the cultural conditions to make it don't exist. Film noir means much more than private eyes and Venetian blinds, of course. One of my favorites is "Kiss of Death" (1947), about an ex-con trying to go straight who gets tangled up with a psychopath.
@@ThreadBomb
Two of my favorites are "D.O.A." (1949)
& "Please Murder Me" (1956),
which I've only recently discovered.
And Noah now has a "grandaughter" and soon a GREAT granddaughter.. yeash
*shudders*
In the real world, of course, the powerful, the rich, and the wealthy never get away with anything like land scams, speculations, perversions...
Roman Polanski is a degenerate but he's a genuis filmmaker. I love Chinatown but my favorite of his is "ghostwriter" with Ewan Macgregor, Pierce Brosnan & a small but pivotal role by the late great & under rated Tom Wilkinson. He's scary but subtle. It's one of the best suspense movies i've ever watched.
Perfect example of the cynicism that permeated the 70's.
Thanks for the video!! See you later!! Stay safe.😁
It’s a great movie, directed by a complete ISHSTAIN of a man.
Yup. Brilliant but horrifying as it was intended.