Tuesday, July 28, 2009

The Movie You Have to See

With thanks to The Rap Sheet’s Jeff Pierce and blogger-author Patti Abbott, who invented the “Book You Have to Read” (aka “forgotten books”) feature, I offer this cinematic version.

Chinatown (1974) arguably presented Jack Nicholson’s best movie role, director Roman Polanski’s best work, and Robert Towne’s best writing. John Huston and Faye Dunaway weren’t too shabby, either, and Jerry Goldsmith’s music, John A. Alonzo’s cinematography, and Sam O’Steen’s editing were all superb.

I saw Chinatown for the second time this weekend, after watching a preview of a terrific, forthcoming PBS-TV documentary about Los Angeles’ newspapering Chandler family, who--with help from engineer William Mulholland--stole water from Southern California’s Owens Valley and diverted it to the San Fernando Valley. That theft lay at the heart of Towne’s fictional story, and Polanski and his crew created an evocative picture of 1930s Los Angeles to bring it to life.

If you haven’t seen Chinatown recently, do your good taste a favor and rent it. The movie trailer is here.

2 comments:

Kevin Burton Smith said...

You've only seen CHINATOWN twice? TWICE???

Dick, you're way behind schedule. The mind boggles... personally, I think it's a toss-up which is the greatest P.I. flick of all time: CHINATOWN or Huston's MALTESE FALCON. But both are well worth an annual viewing, at least...

And speaking of not too shabby: the sequel, THE TWO JAKES, is that rarest of things. A sequel that a) is an actual, honest sequel, not a cheesy, dumbed down remake and b) complements the original. No, it's not as good as CHINATOWN, but few films are.

Voorheesville Public Library said...

I agree that Chinatown is great but Bogart's The Big Sleep is pretty damn good. I've always thought the lady in the bookstore is one of the best of all small parts ever created. Also, the screenplay is by William Faulkner which is pretty interesting by itself.
However, one of the best shootout scenes ever has to be the hall of mirrors scene in The Lady from Shanghai. Great stuff!
Julie from Voorheesville