Chinatown (1974) By Julie

Having seen The Fearless Vampire Killers, Rosemary’s Baby, and The Tenant I was already impressed with the Direction of Roman Polanksi.
The film was inspired by real events, the character of Hollis Mulwray is based on William Mulholland and a tragic event which occurred during his career at the L.A. Department of Water and Power in the late 1920’s.
Chinatown, with a film noir feel to it stars Jack Nicholson as Private Investigator Mr Gittes, and Faye Dunaway as Evelyn Mulwray, wife of Hollis Mulwray.
Mr Gittes is drawn into a web of mystery after a simple request from a “Mrs Mulwray” into the activities of her husband reveal much more than Gittes expects. “Mrs Mulwray” turns out to be a phoney, and Gittes meets the real Mrs Mulwray (played by Faye Dunaway) after a report ends up in the newspaper of the photographs Gittes obtained from his investigation; pictures of Hollis with another woman. Gittes also obtained photos of Hollis having an argument with another man but these are not in the newspaper report. Mr Mulwray is also witnessed visiting many dry reservoirs, sometimes staying for hours on end.
Gittes discovers how Hollis Mulwray was opposed to the building of a new dam, and after Hollis’ body is found in a reservoir, Gittes further investigation leads him to believe his death has something more sinister connected to it.
Water is being diverted and dumped into the ocean, and during his investigation Gittes ends up being attacked by two men, the result being a very deep cut to his nose, made by one of the men (a cameo appearance by Roman Polanksi himself!)
Gittes tells Evelyn that someone’s been dumping thousands of tonnes of water from the city’s reservoirs during the middle of a drought and that her husband was killed when he discovered this.
Whilst waiting to speak to someone at the Water Department, Gittes discovers that a man named Noah Cross (John Huston) owned the entire water supply for the city of Los Angeles. Hollis and Noah were partners at The Department of Water and Power. Noah is also Evelyn’s father.
Originally filing a lawsuit against Gittes for the destructive photographs that were put in the paper (something Gittes didn’t do himself), Evelyn hires Gittes to find out who killed her husband. Gittes is determined to get to the bottom of this mystery for his own reasons, as whoever hired a fake “Mrs Mulwray” in order to ruin Hollis’ reputation also make a fool out of him by using him to get the information which ended up in the newspapers.
Further talks with Evelyn reveal that Hollis and Noah had a falling out over the building of a dam which, when it burst, resulted in hundreds of deaths. Gittes learns from Evelyn that Hollis never forgave Evelyn’s father for talking him into the building of the dam. This would explain his opposition to the new dam right before his death.
Gittes meets with Noah Cross, Evelyn’s father. Noah wants to know where the lady who Hollis was having an affair with is now, as he would like to help her. Gittes confronts Noah over the argument he had with Hollis, and confirms that he knows this as he has the photographs of the two of them. Noah is more interested in knowing where the girl had gotten to.
After being told by the Water Department that water was being diverted to help irrigate some orange groves in the North- West Valley, Gittes is cornered yet again after a trip to this area of orange groves. The farmers of the orange groves believe Gittes is from the Water Department. Gittes tells the men he is a Private Investigator and was told by the Water Department that water being diverted was coming to the farmers, and he wanted to know this for sure. The farmers tell Gittes that poison is being put down their wells and their water tanks are being blown up.
Farmers are being forced out of their land only for it to be bought by people for a minimal amount of money, what else is suspicious is how the name of the one of the people who bought the land is dead. Along with Evelyn, Gittes visits an old people’s home. The names of the people who are buying the land are the same names who live at the old people’s home, a home connected with Noah Cross, whose Fishing club takes care of the home on an unofficial basis.
Gittes romantic involvement with Evelyn entices him to follow her when she is called away suddenly after receiving an urgent phone call. After confronting Evelyn over what is going on it is revealed that the woman in the house he followed her to is not only Hollis’ mistress but Evelyn’s sister. Evelyn already knew about the affair and was more relieved about it as she was conducting extra-marital affairs herself.
The police wish to bring Gittes in for questioning after the lady who originally claimed to be Mrs Mulwray ends up dead in her home, and Gittes discovers her body after going to meet her there. The police want to question Evelyn about the murder of Hollis and tell Gittes to bring her in or he’ll be brought in too. The coroner’s report found salt water in Hollis’ lungs yet Hollis drowned in fresh water. The police tell Gittes that they believe he saw who killed Hollis and want him to bring in the other pictures of his investigation.
Gittes arrives at the Mulwray Mansion to find Evelyn isn’t there and the house is being packed up as she is going away. He finds a pair of glasses in the salt water pond at the Mulwray mansion, who do they belong to?
Things take a grim turn later on in the film when Gittes doesn’t believe Evelyn is telling the truth about her sister and finally the truth comes out. The young girl is not only Evelyn’s sister but her daughter, the father is Noah Cross. Gittes makes arrangements for the two women to be driven to Mexico.
Evelyn tells Gittes that the glasses found in the pond don’t belong to Hollis. Gittes arranges for Noah to meet him and realises that the glasses belong to him. It was Noah who killed Hollis, and his plan to take the land that he has driven the farmers out of in order to build the new dam will make him very very rich. Gittes is forced to take Noah to where Evelyn and her daughter currently are. The glasses he has have been taken away by one of Noah’s accomplices.
Things take a nasty turn in Chinatown when Noah tries to get to his daughter/ granddaughter and Gittes is arrested for going over the time given to produce what they wanted. Evelyn tires to get away with her daughter but is shot at by the police and dies instantly. Noah takes his screaming daughter/granddaughter away from the horrid scene. Gittes, with no proof now that Noah was responsible for the death of Hollis, and confronted with the death of Evelyn, is told just to go home.
No justice is done here, there is no happy ending for our main character, but this is what I actually liked about the film, you couldn’t predict the outcome.
Full of action, suspense and a dash of humour too, Chinatown won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1974 and won four Golden Globe Awards.

Chinatown [Blu-ray](1974)
Roman Polanski’s marvelous blend of ’40s film noir mystery and ’70s sexual tensions stars Jack Nicholson as Jake Gittes, the L.A. gumshoe involved in a case of shady business dealings and corrupt politics who sticks his nose where it doesn’t belong one time too many. Faye Dunaway, John Huston, John Hillerman co-star. 130 min. Widescreen; Soundtracks: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Dolby TrueHD mono, French Dolby Digital mono, Portuguese Dolby Digital mono, Spanish Dolby Digital mono; Subtitles: English (SDH), French, Portuguese, Spanish; audio commentary; featurettes; theatrical trailer.