if A means a masterpiece, its an A-

Rating: Null/10 (18 August 1998)

Many people consider Robert Towne's script to be one of the best and coherent scripts ever. I thought it was confusing, but maybe I'll just have to see the movie again to sort things out. Chinatown's tragic ending, one of the highlights of the script has been considered one of the greatest movie endings of all time. It should be known that it was written not by Robert Towne, but by Roman Polanski. I thought the ending was good, but the only scene set in the film's title location went by too quickly. Roman Polanski with help from cinematographer John A. Alonzo created an excellent atmosphere with some scenes in darkness, and some in blinding sunlight. The acting of Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway and John Huston is also very good, but they're not 5 star performances. And Jerry Goldsmith's musical score is one of the best I've ever heard. I have no trouble at all with Chinatown ranking #19 on the AFI's Top 100.