Member review

New Hollywood was a time from 1968-1981 when the big studios gave young directors huge amounts of money told them to do what they liked without any control. In effect the lunatics ran the asylum and in their lunacy created classics such as "The Godfather and Part II" (an offer you can't refuse),"Taxi Driver" (you talkin' to me?), "Dirty Harry" (are you feelin' lucky?) and of-course "Chinatown". The plot is a well thought out and intelligent, not only in its cleverness but its realism being a logical story of financial corruption rather than what some call "sexier" plots about murder and drugs. This is brought to life by Roman Polanski's direction and Jack Nicholson's classic performance. This was before Jack played every role with an over-the-top attitude and a Cheshire Cat look that created his characters personalities without him even needing to speak. He is more tender and caring than the usual film-noir detective but slightly less mature and allows himself to be deceived by his love interest, Faye Dunaway, and eventually is drawn into a depraved and sick series of events leading to the shocking ending. There is a general consensus that Chinatown is one of Polanski's best films and I think its his masterpiece. If he hadn't committed that heinous crime of his in 1977, he could have been a true hero of the New Hollywood movement but we should just take character Lawrence Walsh's (Joe Mantell) advice on the subject "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown."