Rating of
4/4
"You're a very nosy fellow, kitty cat."
Arbogast1960 - wrote on 03/29/08
This film blows me away every time I watch it. Robert Towne's screenplay is remarkable, combining a labyrinthine plot (that thankfully never cheats the viewer by playing fast and loose with its facts) and beautifully crafted dialogue. Nicholson and Dunaway are fantastic; it's nice to see them at a time before they began playing increasingly garish caricatures of themselves. Also memorable is Huston's turn as the menacing Noah Cross, a grandfatherly embodiment of evil who views himself as a victim. As much as I love some of Polanski's later work (The Tenant, Tess, The Pianist), he never again lived up to the incredible promise demonstrated in this film and Rosemary's Baby. The direction and cinematography create an elegant-yet-gritty neo-noir atmosphere. And the ending is crushing, but inevitable (certainly you couldn't get this downbeat finale greenlit today)--absolute power corrupts not only at the macro level (the people of Los Angeles and their water supply) but, even more devastatingly, at the micro level as well (incest and filicide). A masterpiece.
