The Neo-Noir genre is a modernized or colorized revival of the classic film noir. From 1960 onward, any movie that contained the Noir themes of crime/psychological thrillers and was made in color would be Neo-Noir. One of the greatest of these films, and one that can proudly be placed on top of the Noir pedestal with the best of the classic films, is Roman Polanski’s, “Chinatown”. Polanski truly loved classic films and created an immediate classic with this hard-nosed and gritty movie.
The movie takes place in the 1930s Los Angeles, and every scene in Chinatown is shown from the perspective of its private eye hero, Jake Gittes (Jack Nickolson in one of his most celebrated roles). Nickolson’s Gittes is more Bogart than Marlow, with his taste for flashy clothing and swanky cars. He is a successful private detective who specializes in catching the infidelity of the spouses of his clients. As the movie opens, he is relaying one such affair to a stupefied husband. A woman claiming to be rich, Evelyn Mulwray, hires him to follow her husband Hollis, who is the City’s chief Water Engineer. It turns out that the lady who hired him is not the real Mrs. Mulwray, as the real one, is initially angry at Gittes for following her husband and then ultimately re-hires him to find out why said husband ends up drowning. The real Evelyn Mulwray is played by the stunning Faye Dunaway and her sexy, cunning charm sucks Jake into her family’s dark dirty secret. Jake, for his part, is most annoyed at being used by the people who sent him the fake Mrs. Mulwray, in the first place and throughout the film, is wary about trusting anyone, especially Dunaway’s femme fetal. The movie weaves its way within a thick, complex plot concerning getting water through to the city. Without water, Los Angeles would never become what it is today. Controlling the water means controlling the city’s future, and there are people who want that power and are led by Mulwray’s Father Noah Cross, who is superbly portrayed as old, rich and evil by the great director John Huston.
Gittes, whose perspective carries the entire film, is sharp, arrogant, and untrusting. As is the case with many Noir heroes, he is an ex-cop who left the force because something bad happened to him on the job. That history took place in the city’s Chinatown, but that is the only thing that links the story to the movie’s title. Nickolson brings a neurotic charm to Gittes. He likes to crack dirty jokes, speaks in a polite, fastidious way, and mostly does not look for violence. When violence finds him, he stands up to it with unflinching bravado, and to the films’ credit, this does not always work to his advantage. At one point in the movie, a small nasty thug played by Polanski himself slices his nose with a knife. This results in Nickolson having to go through almost a third of the movie with his nose sporting a large cumbersome bandage. Like all Film Noir heroes, his Gittes do not lack for smart comebacks and sardonic responses. One superb example is when Evelyn Mulewray tells Gittes that her husband seems to think he is an innocent man and Nickolson, as Gittes, retorts that he has been accused of many things but never that. There are numerous smart, cynical lines like that throughout the movie, and it is a credit to Nickolson’s performance that they all come out realistic and appropriate to the character. Nickolson almost reinvents the Noir private detective in this role. Business is good, and he looks successful while retaining his sad appearance of resignation , which made me aware that he would be much happier if he was still a cop.
As Evelyn Mulwray, Dunnaway is perfect. She shows a breakable façade of bravado that seems to always be on the brink of disappearing. For example, she starts her introduction to Gittes by coldly threatening him with legal action, yet immediately switches to asking him for help the next day. Her family has a dirty secret that is eating her up from the inside and the scene when it is revealed is striking with its violence and revelation. As a result, her final breakdown is utterly believable.
As Noah Cross, John Huston creates one of cinema’s great villains. He is a rich man who does not have even an iota of conscience or empathy for others, as all his actions are made for his own sole interests. When confronted with one of his more heinous actions, he states that he believes that most people in the right circumstances are capable of doing anything, no matter how bad. When asked what he wants that he does not already have, his response is that he wants the future, or more specifically to have power over countless people. Huston delivers these lines with steadfast authority and unwavering belief in what he is saying. His deep drawl made my skin crawl.
Polanski is right at home in this story of deceit and corruption. He films his scenes in a tight, tense, resolute fashion that allowed me never to get lost in the complex tale. His bright light and dark-colored shots slide beautifully alongside Jerry Goldsmith’s jazzy score that features a haunting trumpet solo throughout. It is one of those movie scores that will forever define the movie it is associated with.
One of the improvements Neo-Noir has to film Noir is the freedom the screenwriter has on how to end their stories. A typical hero wins, the villain loses ending is not required, and “Chinatown” has a powerhouse ending that is one of the more powerful endings that I have ever seen. This is a Noir that concerns itself in American history and is viewed through the unfiltered eyes of a European who, through his own personal pain, has no use for forced endings. It is a grim and fitting ending to a story of power, greed and corruption.
Polanski and his brilliant screenwriter Robert Towne, with their incisive, witty film, have created, with Chinatown, alongside with Huston’s own, “Maltese Falcon”, one if the two greatest Noir films ever made. It is a thrilling viewing experience that never ceases to impress, no matter how many times I watch it.
1001 Movies before you die 