Chinatown (1974)
Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.
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00:00 Intro
02:29 Reaction
32:08 Outro & Discussion
47:22 THANK YOU!
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*This video is for commentary and criticism only and is not a replacement for watching Chinatown*
*Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED. All rights belong to their respective owners.*
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The Sure Thing (1985) John Cusack & Daphne Zuniga – Trailer: https://youtu.be/Vkg1eQuqIOw
Chinatown is the crossroads between heaven and hell.
,, people often forget the great performance of Faye Dunaway alongside Steve McQueen, in ,, The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
Instead they prefer the 1999 remake with Pierce Brosnan which i refuse to watch bc Dennis Leary was such an unabashed theif to
the American legend, Bill Hicks rip ✨🕊️
For a better Brosnan role i recommend,, the long good friday (1980) Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren
If you want to revisit this realm along w various good Humphrey Bogart films, i recommend you perhaps read,,
The Long Goodbye (1953) by Raymond Chandler
The Crying of Lot 49 (1966) by Thomas Pynchon
The Last Good Kiss (1978) by James Crumley
Double Indemnity (1943) by James m Cain
And if u like Geena Davis and Samuel l Jackson,, then there's always the great film
,, The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) ✨😏💋 x
27:30 TBR figuring it out goes down as one of YouTube's finest moments.
I took several screenwriting classes in college and every textbook uses this as an example of a perfect script.
Apparently Robert Towne originally wrote a happy ending, where Jake and Evelyn get away, but Polanski wanted a rougher ending (and Polanski added Chinatown at the end as a location…to Towne Chinatown was just a state of mind). I've also heard a rumor that Towne's grandfather was actually one of the powerful men in LA that controlled all the water back then, and he wrote this movie as a sort of apology.
You guys gotta watch Polanski's Fearless Vampire Killers come Halloween season or even Christmas, it's a wintry tale spooky/goofy classic. Also The Ninth Gate is another macabre thriller/mystery from him The Pianist is a great war time Polanski film worth watching.
Polanski is a complicated guy. His film, The Pianist, is on my short list of greatest ever. It was about what happened in Warsaw during WW2, and some of it is based on Polanski's personal experience. He is a holocaust survivor, and has seen some serious shit. That said, I separate the artist from the art, for the most part.
The ninth gate was interesting. Jonny Depp was good in that film from the kid toucher Roman Polanski. This movie combines several of my favorite things mystery and domestic violence 😁😉😉
Blurring the line between Red Herrings and MacGuffins… 😉
NETWORK!!!
No way a cop would shoot at Evelyn's car like that as it's moving away.
Hi there. Where is Sopranos?
One of the greatest movies of all time. #5 in my personal top 10 all time. "Mr. Gittes."
Today (as I type this, anyway) is the 49th anniversary of when this came out in theaters. One of the greatest noir films of all time. Almost every time I drive by or go to Chinatown in LA I'll say that line "It's Chinatown, Jake". Great reaction, as always.
John Huston,the movie's villain and a legendary director, was Daniel Day Lewis's main inspiration when playing Daniel Plainview in "There will be Blood"
As the next Roman Polanski movie I recommend: " The fearless vampire killers".
💫Maybe you guys should watch "The Fearless Vampire Killers" (1967), a horror comedy directed by, co-written, and starring Roman Polanski as well as his wife Sharon Tate. It's different.
Off the wall Polanski comedy: 1967, "The Fearless Vampire Killers". Future wife, Sharone Tate is featured.
A few great ones…””Runaway Jury” and US Marshals” AND THEN Cuba Gooding,Jr &Robert DiNero in “MEN OF HONOR”. True story. Great movieS!!
I've found it odd, to say the least, that this film, along with Rosemary's Baby and Repulsion (especially that one) seem to have great sympathy for rape victims, and then, yeek. People are unfathomable. You should check out a later Polanski film, The Ninth Gate, which is about, well, Satan. Kind of.
This film has a sequel directed by Nicholson himself, titled The Two Jakes (obviously, his character is one of them). It was unfairly maligned upon release, as often happens with sequels to incredibly popular films, but I've always found it to be a worthy sequel.
Your analysis of "Chinatown" is right on. But you seem surprised that "evil wins." Look at the world all around us. Evil wins most of the time. But take the 1970s when "Chinatown" was made. Efforts to end the war in Vietnam by the peace movement were going nowhere. Vietnam was just a convenient effort by the military industrial complex to make and sell lots of weapons, it didn't matter who they killed. All the stuff that was coming out about Nixon and the Watergate affair made it clear that crooks were running the country. Following the '60s when leaders JFK, RFK and MLK were all assassinated, you didn't know who to trust. All that plays into the theme that evil wins in "Chinatown."
Another Polanski masterpiece that deals with great evil is “The Pianist.” (2002) It includes some autobiographical details from Polanski’s childhood in Poland when the Nazis invaded, altho is based on a real person.
If you want a movie thats uncomfortable try “8mm” with Nicolas cage
Some of the political maneuvering in this is based on real history, and some of the powerful individuals who came to control, wealth and influence in LA.
Also, the score is one of the reasons for the success of this film; it perfectly expresses the bittersweet, noir-ish tone and brings a jazzy 1930’s feeling to the atmosphere.
Okay, old man killed Hollis Mulray in the tide pool. But did he do it because of the water – land thing, or, did he do it because Hollis had inserted himself between old man and his younger daughter ? 🤔 Jake suggests they go to the Butlers house to get ready for the boat trip to Mexico. That is the house in Chinatown 😉👍
Great review of a classic film — which I labeled in my own film review as "a potent mix of Brylcreem and gun oil". Robert Towne's Oscar-winning screenplay still holds up to this day, as "Forget it Jake…it's Chinatown" is one of the greatest film lines ever uttered on screen. Kudos for presenting CHINATOWN in its original Panavision aspect ratio — John A. Alonzo's & (uncredited) Stanley Cortez's elegant cinematography is truly the film's touchstone, along with costumes, production design and brilliant acting all around. Chinatown not only refers to the geographical area within L.A., but also represent the sublime, beyond-the-pale situation that all of the players are involved in…
Three Days of the Condor is another great movie Faye Dunaway is in, along with Robert Redford.
Be sure to watch the sequel THE TWO JAKES. 👍
30:14
SHE'S MY DAUGHTER AND MY GRANDAUGHTER!
One of the greats! Fascinating on a re-watch. Makes it a completely different film.
Ah man if you guys are looking for more Faye Dunaway movies, Network is a must-watch. One of the most prophetic movies ever made
If you ever take an official screenwriting class, you will be studying this screenplay.
Chinatown is a depiction of corruption where the rich and powerful have an incestuous relationship with civil authority that is supposed to keep the playing field level and honest. In the movie, the literal China Town was considered a place of crime and corruption by the non-Asian community. But the grotesque crime and corruption lives at the top. The power brokers swindle farmers out of their land by creating a false drought, in order to buy their land for pennies on the dollar. Then turn the land into prime real estate and become more powerful going forward. Why? NOT for the money, but as Noah Cross (sounds like "Double Cross") says, "The future, Mr. Gittes. The future." In the end, the film maker leaves the audience with the sinking feeling that despite efforts to the contrary, corruption of this type will continue, with the final line, "Forget it, Jake. It's China Town." In other words, LA will always be corrupt because of the incestuous relationship between law enforcement, the system, and the wealthy. The corrupt will always control the levers of power into the future.
And for Faye Dunaway, please watch NETWORK. 👍