Chinatown (AFI No. 19)
1974, U.S.A., 130m, Color
Director: Roman Polanski
English
Chinatown seems like one of those movies that turns up often in discussions about great movies, but rarely spends much time in the limelight. Even in 1974, it was largely shut out of the Academy Awards by The Godfather Part II—despite 10 nominations that year, it won only for original screenplay, a category in which it didn’t have to compete with Godfather.
It’s really a shame it didn’t win more awards at the time, because Chinatown is excellent. The acting was fantastic, particularly Jack Nicholson (as J.J. Gittes), Faye Dunaway (as Evelyn Mulwray in arguably her best work in her career—including Bonnie and Clyde) and John Huston (as a fantastically frightening Noah Cross).
It’s not just the acting worth mentioning here, though. Jerry Goldsmith’s score, Anthea Sylbert’s costumes, Robert Towner’s screenplay, John Alonzo’s wonderfully photographic cinematography, art direction and set decoration are all stellar. But what really stood out for me was Sam O’Steen’s editing.
O’Steen does a masterful job of staying with shots longer than you’d expect: his philosophy here seems to be “why cut when you can pan?”—and it works wonderfully. Entire scenes are presented in single, continuous takes; speakers are left off-camera during intense dialogues; the important action isn’t shown in some scenes. The end result of all this is a stunning film that keeps you engaged throughout.
Of course, any time a movie comes together this well, credit must go to the director. Roman Polanski was on top of his game for Chinatown: acting performances were wonderfully guided, the pacing was perfect, and every last detail just works.
This is a film to pull off the shelf next time you want an excellent hard-boiled detective, film-noir type suspense film. Or, perhaps, the next time you need to remind yourself that Jack Nicholson was the best actor around, back before he only played Jack! Chinatown should make the short list—yours, mine, and everybody’s—for great films to watch, rewatch and treasure.