One of Jack Nicholson's finest efforts

Rating: Null/10 (13 October 2002)

The scene: 1930's Los Angeles. Someone is fiddling with the scant water resourses in the time of drought. When the water commissioner "drowns", private eye J.J."Jake" Gittes becomes entangled in the mystery while investigating a routine domestic case that is anything but routine. Nicolson's cool, yet passionate character is the standard by which all of his subsequent roles can be measured. Faye Dunaway is also excellent as the wealthy yet seriously messed up Evelyn Mulray. Ditto John Houston as the menacing Noah Cross. Add to this a haunting score and you have a detective picture in the best film noir tradition. One of my favorite movies of all time. On a scale of 1-5(5 being the best) this gets a 10.