Jake goes out and discovers that Mr. Mulwray is, indeed, cheating on his wife with a pretty blonde girl. He snaps some pictures of the cheating Hollis (who also happens to be the L.A. Water Commissioner), and soon finds that the photographs he has taken have been sold to a local paper. The real Mrs. Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway), soon appears in his office, and threatens to sue if he doesn't drop the case posthaste. Jake realizes that someone has used him, and he is determined to get to the bottom of it.
Chinatown begins getting a lot more complex when Jake's investigation leads to Hollis Mulwray's drowned body. Jake slowly uncovers a vast conspiracy centering around the city's water supply, state and local corruption, land use and real estate, and even Evelyn Mulwray's charming-but-sinister father, Noah Cross (John Huston).
Polanski's ending for Chinatown completely blew me away. It was, apparently, a point of contention between Polanski and Robert Towne. (Robert thinking it too grim, and Polanski wanting to shock the audience).
In order to fully appreciate Chinatown, the viewer needs to play close attention. Don't plan on making this a date movie, and don't run off to check on your laundry! The pacing of the movie does not allow for those of us with slower brains to catch up before it goes speeding off again. Chinatown is such a good watch because it does not feed into your expectations of the genre, but it still conveys the noir feel so well!
Nicholson play Jake Gittes brilliantly. He has the typical "private eye" one-liners, but Jake isn't as cynical as the genre normally conveys most gumshoes. He actually cares about what is going on in his city and to the people around him. Dunaway gives a stunning performance in Chinatown as well. I just couldn't tell if she was good or bad! All the actors in the movie did such an amazing job, that I felt like i was listening in on their private conversations.
The music and settings for Chinatown were fantastic as well. The idea of "color-noir" was contradictory and new at the time the film was released, but it was carried off very well. The shadows, and in many case, absence of shadow was almost an art-form.
Although, the script for Chinatown was very dark, and at times (especially the ending!) incredibly depressing and slightly morbid, I am a huge fan of this movie. I'm definitely going to watch it again.
