Search - Chinatown [25th Anniversary Edition] on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Not For Children Movie Release: 1974 DVD Release: 11/23/1999 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Edition: Restored/Remastered Audio Tracks: English, French Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 10 mins Studio: Paramount Members Wishing: 18 Genres: Mystery, Detective Film, Post-Noir (Modern Noir) See Also: Chinatown, Chinatown [Collector's Edition], Chinatown [Collector's Edition], Chinatown [Centennial Collection]

"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, All Movie Guide

Jack Nicholson - J.J. Gittes
Faye Dunaway - Evelyn Mulwray
John Huston - Noah Cross
Perry Lopez - Escobar
John Hillerman - Yelburton

Most serious movie-lovers regard Roman Polanski's Chinatown as an essential film to have in their collection, making it all the more important that Paramount's DVD edition of the film be satisfactory. There is probably still room for improvement; nevertheless, there is much to recommend this disc. It is doubtful that Chinatown could possibly look any better than it does in this format. The widescreen anamorphic transfer exhibits a superb degree of detail and completely natural colors. The sound is also vastly improved (the original mono audio track is available for purists), with a new Dolby Digital 5.1 mix that never lacks clarity and adds an extra dimension to Jerry Goldsmith's outstanding score. The additional features on the disc include the original theatrical trailer and a set of retrospective interviews with Polanski, producer Robert Evans, and screenwriter Robert Towne. The interviews are about 15 minutes long, but it is very interesting to hear the filmmakers putting Chinatown in a modern perspective. Given that Chinatown is generally regarded as one of the best films ever made, Paramount might well have done even more in the way of supplementary features. But given how wonderfully the film itself is rendered, this disc should cause few complaints. ~ Patrick Lee, All Movie Guide