It's as Good as You've Heard (or Studied)

Rating: 10/10 (1 March 2003)

Not just for fans of Jack Nicholson, Roman Polanski's expertly crafted mid-70's riff on mid-40's film noir that takes place in Los Angeles circa the mid 30's is everything it's cracked up to be. On one hand, it's simply a rock-solid mystery thriller chock full of quotable dialogue (my favorite line is Gettis to a police officer, "Nevermind, you're dumber than you think I thought you were."), political intrigue, snazzy private eyes, troublesome dames, grizzled henchmen, and excellent plot twists that service the story and aren't just there for the sake of surprise. The scene where Gettis is slapping around Faye Dunaway's character in an attempt to get to the truth about the mystery girl is probably the best executed and most brilliantly conceived way to reveal a shocking plot twist in a movie that I have ever seen. That alone would make it a damn fine film, but helmed by Polanksi, it's also a great work of art in terms of lighting, set design, pacing, and all those wonderful details.
Any time you think you spot a cliche or a genre cop-out, just remember this film probably did it first or was weaving and executing it in such a brilliant way as to make the term cliche moot. The only traditional film noir to even come close to this level of brilliance since is Curtis Hanson's much thicker and twistier "LA Confidential" and that was over twenty years later.