Chinatown [Blu-ray] (1974)

"You may think you know what you're dealing with, but believe me, you don't," warns water baron Noah Cross (John Huston), when smooth cop-turned-private eye J.J. "Jake" Gittes (Jack Nicholson) starts nosing around Cross's water diversion scheme. That proves to be the ominous lesson of Chinatown, Roman Polanski's critically lauded 1974 revision of 1940s film noir detective movies. In 1930s Los Angeles, "matrimonial work" specialist Gittes is hired by Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) to tail her husband, Water Department ... Read More

"You may think you know what you're dealing with, but believe me, you don't," warns water baron Noah Cross (John Huston), when smooth cop-turned-private eye J.J. "Jake" Gittes (Jack Nicholson) starts nosing around Cross's water diversion scheme. That proves to be the ominous lesson of Chinatown, Roman Polanski's critically lauded 1974 revision of 1940s film noir detective movies. In 1930s Los Angeles, "matrimonial work" specialist Gittes is hired by Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) to tail her husband, Water Department engineer Hollis Mulwray (Darrell Zwerling). Gittes photographs him in the company of a young blonde and figures the case is closed, only to discover that the real Mrs. Mulwray had nothing to do with hiring Gittes in the first place. When Hollis turns up dead, Gittes decides to investigate further, encountering a shady old-age home, corrupt bureaucrats, angry orange farmers, and a nostril-slicing thug (Polanski) along the way. By the time he confronts Cross, Evelyn's father and Mulwray's former business partner, Jake thinks he knows everything, but an even more sordid truth awaits him. When circumstances force Jake to return to his old beat in Chinatown, he realizes just how impotent he is against the wealthy, depraved Cross. "Forget it, Jake," his old partner tells him. "It's Chinatown." Reworking the somber underpinnings of detective noir along more pessimistic lines, Polanski and screenwriter Robert Towne convey a '70s-inflected critique of capitalist and bureaucratic malevolence in a carefully detailed period piece harkening back to the genre's roots in the 1930s and '40s. Gittes always has a smart comeback like Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, but the corruption Gittes finds is too deep for one man to stop. Other noir revisions, such as Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye (1973) and Arthur Penn's Night Moves (1975), also centered on the detective's inefficacy in an uncertain '70s world, but Chinatown's period sheen renders this dilemma at once contemporary and timeless, pointing to larger implications about the effects of corporate rapaciousness on individuals. Polanski and Towne clashed over Chinatown's ending; Polanski won the fight, but Towne won the Oscar for Best Screenplay. Chinatown was nominated for ten other Oscars, including Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Cinematography, Art Direction, Costumes, and Score. Lucia Bozzola, Rovi Read Less

• All from $42.10
• New Movies from $42.10

• Blu-Ray (1)
• Choose Release (12)

See All Releases

1974 Release

UPC:

032429258878

• Movie Details
• Seller
• Sort U.K./EUR Sellers Price: Low to High Price: High to Low Condition Condition: Reverse Release Date Release Date: Rev Sellers Near Me

• Blu-Ray, New 1974 UPC: 032429258878 See Item Details ▾

  Entertainment by Post - UK POOR BRISTOL, SOUTH GLOS, UNITED KINGDOM

  $42.10 Add to Basket

  	Edition: 1974 Blu-Ray, New	Details: UPC: 032429258878 Format: Full Screen Discs: 1 Released: 1974 MPAA Rating: R Alibris ID: 18167257195	Shipping Options: Standard Shipping: $3.42 Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
  Seller's Description: Jack Nicholson; Faye Dunaway; John Huston; Perry Lopez; John Hillerman. New. Run time: 130 mins. Language: English.
  ► Contact This Seller
  Hide Details ▴

2017, UPC: 032429256553 Blu-Ray See All from $8.02	2017, UPC: 032429287809 DVD See All from $6.39
2013, UPC: 883929301638 Blu-Ray See All from $12.99	2013, UPC: 883929303519 DVD See All from $6.24
2009, UPC: 097360729849 DVD See All from $8.59	2007, UPC: 097361224442 DVD See All from $4.82
1999, UPC: 097361551647 DVD See All from $5.59	1999, UPC: 097361551623 DVD See All from $6.99
1999, UPC: 097361551630 VHS See All from $14.49	1974, UPC: 097361551678 DVD See All from $7.00
1974, UPC: 5014437804235 DVD See All from $26.88	1974, UPC: 032429258878 Blu-Ray See All from $42.10