Chinatown (1974): A private detective investigating an adultery case stumbles on to a scheme of murder that has something to do with water. (8.4)
Director: Roman Polanski
Writer: Robert Towne
Stars: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway and John Huston
Okay, this is one of those supposedly neo-noir films, a classic, etc. The Wikipedia article about Chinatown claims that it has been called one of the greatest films ever made. Really, one of the greatest? That's just effing BS! Cinematography isn't something to write home about. The portrayal of the private detective and a femme fetale client, to me at least, looked like feeding into the '20s-'30s stereotype or actually inventing that stereotype. I don't get what's so great about fast-speaking, monotonic, high-pitched dialog (a la Joe Friday or Johnny Dollar) for a private detective. Yeah, for its time, the story with so many convoluted/perverted twists may have been revolutionary, but then again, it was only short 3 years later (in 1977) when the director Roman Polanski was convicted of charges stemming from an affair with a 13-year old girl. Life imitating his own art? And, that scene where the PI slaps the woman who hired him ... seriously? I think that says more about the portrayal of women in Hollywood movies than it does about the attitude of men in the 1920s. I think, a lot of the people say this is a great movie (or one of the greatest) because others say it. I personally don't think this is a wonderful movie. It us useful as a reference point in the evolution of cinema; watch it for that and not because it is all that good. That's just MHO. My Rating: 7.0
