![]() ![]() We know and see what our detective does, so it never cheats the details, and it sets up one of its great reveals through ethnic misunderstanding. ![]() Polanski and Towne made a brilliant decision early on that no scene should be staged outside of Gitties viewpoint. On first pass the character is meant to be a question mark, but Dunaway’s ticks and characterization shows both a women of privilege, and a fragile creation. Watching it again, it’s such a brilliant, layered performance. The tropes are there, but completely reinterpreted, even moreso than Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye.Īs great as everyone is here, it’s worth singling out Faye Dunaway’s performance. Towne and Polanski’s work exists in that noir universe, but finds a greater truth to it by dealing with grander conspiracies (which also ties it nicely into its era – it’s not just a corrupt old man, it’s the system). Gitties is an ex-cop who’s now reduced to taking pictures of infidelity, and he doesn’t have women throwing themselves at him the way Bogart or Mitchum did. He’s an attractive figure, but not given the same sort of lush romantic fetishism normally bestowed on crime fighters in trench coats. Perhaps its Polanski’s widescreen framing that never really reminds of such famous gumshoes as Humphrey Bogart, or perhaps it’s the film’s attitude toward Nicholson’s character. Screenwriter Robert Towne was working from the detective/film noir template, and he makes a murder mystery that doesn’t feel like those earlier films – though is obviously indebted to them. Alonzo, to composer Jerry Goldsmith, to co-stars Burt Young and James Hong. Everyone brings their A game here, from cinematographer John A. One of the undeniable classics of the 1970’s, Chinatown is a seminal work that is endlessly entertaining, and always rewatchable. ![]()
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