8. Chinatown
A throwback to the film noir of the 1940’s, this 1974 classic has private investigator Jake Gittes, played by Jack Nicholson, hired by Evelyn Mulwray to spy on her husband Hollis, an engineer for the Los Angeles Water and Power Department. He does only to be confronted by a woman – Faye Dunaway – who claims to be the real Evelyn. This plunges Jake into a confusing case involving killers, power and water rights, a sliced nose and sleeping with Evelyn. Jake soon discovers that Evelyn is protecting Katherine, the mistress of her husband who Evelyn claims is her sister but later admits she’s her daughter. The two are both abused by their father, the rich and powerful Noah Cross.
The ending has Jake arranging for them to escape to Mexico and confronts Cross, who’s been planning to annex lands north of the city and make a fortune developing them himself. His security chief takes the evidence Jake had against Cross and forces the detective to drive them to the women. Clearly, the man has been abusing both girls for years and intends to continue and when Evelyn drives away with her sister, the police open fire, killing her. Cross takes Katherine away and the police hold Jake back as he realizes the man is going to get away with the murders, his plans for the land, the abuse, all of it. That he can do nothing is a stunning move for a film and how the police and city officials are willing to turn a blind eye to such crimes as nothing in the grand scheme of things. It’s all summed up by that famous closing line: “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.”
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