Chinatown

In the tradition of Raymond Chandler and movies like The Big Sleep (Top 130: #24) and The Maltese Falcon (Top 130: #31), Chinatown is a near perfect movie which finds Private Investigator Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) plunged into a world of money, murder and... water.

Robert Towne is the writer responsible for this, one of the best original screenplays ever written. And Roman Polanski (like Lean, in my previous post on Lawrence of Arabia) is brilliantly economic in his direction of scenes, trusting both the script and his actors.

This particular scene between Gittes and Noah Cross (John Huston) is elegantly captured in one shot, avoiding the easy pitfalls of over-emphasizing the emotion of the scene. Polanski stays out of the way of the actors and keeps the camera back at a distance which brings to the surface the sheer banality of the evil communicated.

It's also worth noting the composition of the scene at the 2:10 mark: the camera is behind Gittes who is framed to the left. This framing is used often and emphasizes that we only see what Gittes sees. We follow him through the convoluted web of lies and are never given information that he himself does not uncover.

[Warning: major SPOILERs here. But if you haven't seen it, perhaps this will motivate you to rent or buy the DVD. A good story is worth telling over and over again, even if you know the ending!]

From: http://jasongoode.wordpress.com/2008/...

• Category

  Film & Animation

[miketheratguy]

I could listen to John Huston all day. That dude should have narrated audio books left and right.

Ape has killed ape, Lawgiver.

[MournfulWine]

noah cross is capitalism, raw and unencumbered.

[degree7]

In George Orwell's 1984, when O'Brien interrogates Winston, he explains that the one true motive of Big Brother is power, which is the end all be all goal. To feel powerful and to control that power over others really goes to your head and makes one a megalomaniac.

Pretty terrifying how characters like Noah Cross exist. They want to remain in power and continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Makes you wonder if he was a freemason as well.

[Wolfie]

Jake's hubris forces him to tell everyone that he knows what they've been doing! It is hilarious if you pay attention to it.

[FierceONeill]

The greatest thing about this character is how he gets away with everything. Murder, Rape, Incest, Land Fraud....all these terrible things and not a single comeuppance is casted on him. Why this is so great is that it exemplifies the way the rich and respected can get away with anything, while the innocent people like Evelyn pay.

[James Tressler]

I love the touch that John Huston brings to the character, deliberately mispronouncing Gittes' name. It's a subtle touch of arrogance that says, I mispronounce your name because I don't have to pronounce it correctly. You are nothing to me but a fly, a speck.

[Wheelman stan]

"What can you buy that you can't already afford??" that's what I'm always asking when I see rich bastards sucking the life out of the common man... I guess they just want to own the future, to control it all.

[JubalCalif]

If he'd taken the time to visit Chinatown, Noah Cross probably wouldn't have bothered to pronouce "Wong Brothers Laundry" correctly. That popular joint had a killer slogan" "TWO WONGS CAN MAKE IT WHITE".

[ertsamel]

He says "gitz" to impress on Gittes that he's so insignificant that Noah Cross needn't bother to get his name right.

[unionguy36]

"See Mr. Giddes, most people never have to face the fact that, at the right time and the right place, they're capable of ... anything!" The way he says the word "anything", crackling with evil, makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Not only was John Huston a great director and screenwriter -- the man was one hell of an actor!

[MrMoomoo112233]

I see Daniel Plainview from There Will Be Blood...

[auerstadt06]

I love the sound of that airplane in the background, and the crickets. Is there anything more lovely than a summer night in Southern California?