"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."

Rating: 9/10 (7 March 2009)

The title, "Chinatown", derives from an anecdote told in the film by private detective Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson). Years earlier when he was working in law enforcement in Chinatown he was told to do 'as little as possible' because you couldn't be sure if you were preventing a crime or helping to commit one. It is this central concept that the film is built on, though very little of the action actually occurs in Chinatown.
The Oscar-winning original screenplay by Robert Towne is today regarded as one of the very best of all time, and with good reason. The crux of the mystery is highly original and the plot is incredibly intricate without becoming convoluted. Thus, given the storyline's complexity, you'd be advised to pay close attention.
The cast is a fine one and produced two Oscar nominees in Jack Nicholson & Faye Dunaway. I also think that John Huston was worthy of a nomination but apparently the Oscar voters didn't agree. The rest of the supporting cast is uniformly solid, including Polanski himself in a small role as a man who has a unique way of dealing with nosy people.
Polanski's direction is top-notch and the film's eleven Oscar nominations give an idea of the general high standard of all of the film's components. For instance, Jerry Goldsmith's score was later named one of the top ten of all time by the AFI. Personally, I think that it's good but not quite that good.
Ultimately, I would have no problem ranking this film among the best of all time. In fact, if you've seen the film once and didn't particularly care for it then I would suggest that you give it another try. Admittedly, on my first viewing I was less than enthusiastic but since then I've come to regard the film as a masterpiece.