Powerful, affecting

Rating: 8/10 (21 June 2013)

Almost 40 years later this movie has lost none of its power to affect.
It uses the trappings of a fedora-sporting detective (Jack Nicholson), on the trail of a mystery he doesn't realize he does not want to unravel, to tell a drama of a family destroyed by horrific deeds and secrets. The story remains timeless, ultimately, due to its illumination of the best and worst within us - and that enormous valley where most of us, like detective Jake Gittes, fall - somewhere in between.
I won't give away any story, but to give you some idea how powerful this is, I was never able to enjoy John Huston acting in a movie ever again because of his portrayal here (Noah Cross). The revelatory scene between Gittes and Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) retains its power to shock and disturb.
What makes this so potent, really, is the screenplay by Robert Towne. It's powerful in ways many movies never reach; and maybe no one writes more realistic dialogue than Towne.
The unsavory parts of the story are redeemed by the positive we get from Evelyn Mulwray, and her determination to carry on. Although the story doesn't end with her walking away victorious, her perseverance is really the heart of this tale.
20 years earlier this story could never have been told in a Hollywood movie; the excellence of this one movie - "Chinatown" - makes that entire fight to loosen censorship worthwhile.