Audience Rated by buyers R (Restricted)
Type of bind: Video On Demand
Release Date: October 01, 2008
Running Time: 131 minutes
Sale Popularity Level: 9074
Studio: Paramount
Theatrical Release Date: June 19, 1974
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Rated by buyers 
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What a great movie - and such good acting. Jack Nicolson and Faye Dunaway are superb in this movie.
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Say what you will about Roman Polanski's personal life, this film is one of the greatest american noir releases of the last 50 years. Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway and John Huston are superlative. Jerry Goldsmith's score is moody and resonant, perfect for a story of this nature.
Screenwriter Robert Towne's great contribution to film noir is the subtle subversion of genre convention. Yes, Jack Nicholson is your rudimentary private investigator but his ability to accomplish anything by the end may be null and void. Faye Dunaway is set up as the standard grey widow but the truth of her character is far from such. There is also the backdrop of the mystery: Water and power, which was something unheard of at the time of the films release. Then there is the matter of 'Chinatown' itself, which by the end of the movie takes on an entirely different meaning than just another part of the city.
Sharp directing, compelling acting and a score dripping with neo-noir style, this is one of the greatest films of the early 1970's and arguably the greatest American Noir ever produced. Highly Recommended.
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Chinatown is a potent reminder that films are more than just the hormone fueled adventures of Dick and Jane. The film takes on a large social issue and shows one mans struggle against the machine in Los Angeles of the 50's. Powerful performances by Nicholson (not a fave) and Dunaway frame a beautifully directed drama demonstrataing the power of film. If you have never seen this film, I highly recommend that you do so. If you haven't seen this for years, reaquaint yourself with a masterpiece.
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Deeply atmospheric and mysterious. Jack Nicholson is great as a "nosy" private detective. He is really not prepared for the information Faye Dunaway's character lays on him. It is unthinkable, horiffic and chilling--a conclusion not many would easily jump to. Beautifully directed by Mr. Polanski who has a very bit part in the movie.
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Pros
Fantastic melange of nostalgia, feel-good, period-piece, proto-noir, detective, horror, drama and suspense movies - one wishes more movie makers would riff like this instead of making the type of hidebound, genre-tight movies that utterly fail to spark the imagination of the viewer.
Shines with intelligence, beauty and craftsmanship of the highest order - the film-makers really poured their hearts and souls into making this movie and it can't but help rub off on the viewer.
Tucker, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - outside of latter-day Bollywood I can think of very few movies in which the cinematography is so unrelentingly beautiful, joyful and uplifting.
Cons
Has no comment to make on the human condition which distinguishes the truly great films from the merely very good - it's a very nice plot about corruption, incest and so on, but in truth the glory of the movie is that it resembles a beautifully cut suit or a 1930s Dusenberg not because it is particularly deep or meaningful.
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