Chinatown
*Availability in US
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- Release Date
- June 20, 1974
- Director
- Roman Polanski
- Cast
- Jack Nicholson , Faye Dunaway , John Huston , Perry Lopez , John Hillerman , Darrell Zwerling
- Runtime
- 130
- Main Genre
- Crime
- Studio
- Paramount
- Writers
- Robert Towne , Roman Polanski
- Tagline
- Gittes: Dam nosey detective
Summary
Director Roman Polanski's classic neo-noir detective story is set during a heat wave in 1930s Los Angeles, where residents suffer from a water shortage due to an ongoing drought. With stellar contributions from composer Jerry Goldsmith and screenwriter Robert Towne, whose script recalls the hard-boiled cynicism of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, CHINATOWN is a complex and superbly crafted period drama that has become Polanski's most critically acclaimed film. Private investigator Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) runs a sleazy detective agency specia. When a client (Diane Ladd) hires him to spy on her "husband," who is rumored to be having an affair with a younger woman, Jake uncovers a plot against the man--but this is only the tip of the iceberg. Yet to emerge are a sex scandal implicating the real wife (Faye Dunaway), with whom Jake is destined to become more closely acquainted, and a real estate swindle of tremendous proportions devised by her tycoon father (John Huston), backed up by a vast network of corrupt city officials and landowners who make life hell for the private eye.
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