Product Description

Landmark movie in the film noir tradition, Roman Polanski's Chinatown stands as a true screen classic. Jack Nicholson is private eye Jake Gittes, living off the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-war Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite (Faye Dunaway) to investigate her husband's extra-marital affair, Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits, uncovering a web of personal and political scandals that come crashing together for one, unforgettable night in...Chinatown. Co-starring film legend John Huston and featuring an Academy Award®-winning script by Robert Towne, Chinatown captures a lost era in a masterfully woven movie that remains a timeless gem.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2575 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-11-06
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Portuguese, English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: Portuguese, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 130 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
Roman Polanski's brooding film noir exposes the darkest side of the land of sunshine, the Los Angeles of the 1930s, where power is the only currency--and the only real thing worth buying. Jack Nicholson is J.J. Gittes, a private eye in the Chandler mold, who during a routine straying-spouse investigation finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into a jigsaw puzzle of clues and corruption. The glamorous Evelyn Mulwray (a dazzling Faye Dunaway) and her titanic father, Noah Cross (John Huston), are at the black-hole center of this tale of treachery, incest, and political bribery. The crackling, hard-bitten script by Robert Towne won a well-deserved Oscar, and the muted color cinematography makes the goings-on seem both bleak and impossibly vibrant. Polanski himself has a brief, memorable cameo as the thug who tangles with Nicholson's nose. One of the greatest, most completely satisfying crime films of all time. --Anne Hurley

Customer Reviews

CHINATOWN a masterwork
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.

"How to Stop a 'Nosebleed'"
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.

Very Good, but not Great

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.