Chinatown Movie Information

Your Rating

• This movie was an epic failure
• This movie was horrible
• This movie was not good
• This movie was average
• This movie was okay
• This movie was good
• This movie was great
• This movie was incredible

Movie Information

Overall Rank: 124

Average Rating: 3.2/4

# of Ratings: 566

Theatrical Release Date: 06/21/1974

Blu-ray/DVD Release Date: 10/06/2009

Language: English

Genre: Mystery, Crime

MPAA Rating: R

Director: Roman Polanski

Actors: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Diane Ladd, Perry Lopez, James Hong

Plot: A private detective, who is investigating an affair, finds himself in the
middle of a water problem.

Logan D. McCoy - wrote on 06/03/2019

A stunningly great movie from start to finish, "Chinatown" is potentially the greatest movie in the neo-noir genre.

mitchellyoung - wrote on 01/15/2013

Director Roman Polanski brings back the spirit of the classic noir - invoking gritty city scenery, some nasty character acting, and a plot full of deception and doublecrossing. The end result is a wellmade, sneering and nostalgic journey through dark human emotions. An effective performance from the two leads is aided by razor-sharp writing.

patjohnson76 - wrote on 09/14/2011

An excellent film noir, powered by Jack Nicholson's performance, make this film still viewable and relevant today. What begins as a routine investigation for a private investigation soon snowballs into a web of lies, murder, deceit, and mystery. Some conversations go on a little too long, but Roman Polanski gives us a strong film that has suspense and intrigue. A good viewing for any film buff.

SteelCity99
Director

Chinatown

SteelCity99 - wrote on 04/21/2018

Chinatown is the last film that master Roman Polanski filmed in the U.S., a fact that would surely mean he would divide audiences once more with his upcoming French thriller Le Locataire (1976), the last chapter of the loose trilogy concerning the horrors faced by apartment duelers. More than being one of the most brilliant, brutal, realistic and undeniably stylish crime films ever made in cinema history, it is an intentional direct homage to the film-noir genre that was the filmmaking branch originator of several masterpieces mainly in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 40's and 50's. This is the first time Polanski attempts to direct a strictly crime film with no surrealistic elements and psychological horror involved, which is a very daring ambition to achieve. …

Matthew Brady
Movie God

No wonder this movie is a classic

Matthew Brady - wrote on 03/01/2015

Ida Sessions: "Are you alone?"

J.J. Gittes: "Isn't everybody?"

The story to Chinatown is about a private detective, Jake Gittes, hired to investigate an adultery case, stumbles on the plot of a murder involving incest and the privatization of water through state and municipal corruption, land use and real estate. If he doesn't drop the case at once he faces threats of legal action, but he pursues it anyway, slowly uncovering a vast conspiracy.

Some people may not know but I got a lot of things to do and those things are reviewing 8 Movies, three TV shows and two video games so basically that's why I'm a bit behind of the new releases. Then and now I have to take a little break or a day off from doing this because well I can be a bit tried of doing this, but I still have fun …

Unknown
Movie God

Misleading The Misleaders

Unknown - wrote on 04/29/2014

'Chinatown' is a constricting noir mystery that unravels it's knotted narrative in a wildly unpredictable manner. Each new twist is just a lie to cover up another lie, and so on. That is, until the shocking truth is revealed. Turns out to be less complicated than it initially started. That classic noir sensibility is oozing through every frame and out of every character. This was made a couple decades after the genre was fading, but it sits equal with the best of those early masterworks of crime. My only real complaint is the fact that the movie takes it's sweet time to get to the point. Not an overly long film, but one that has pacing issues due to the many asides our main case solver runs into. Though, the great payoff does forgive some of this. Shame on a few other reviewers …