Chinatown [Blu-ray Steelbook]

This is one of our favorite movies! For those that enjoy ‘detective’ movies…

Stands up well and is well acted.

Best scene: Polanski, the director in his cameo scene as a hood. Nicholson says to the other hood "where'd you get the midget?" I'm on the floor laughing every time.

Good older movie, many may like the movie, but I not sure a lot of younger people will.

1974 was a big year for Paramount Pictures. Three of their films were up for a Best Picture Oscar including this one(the other two were "The Godfather, Part II" and "The Conversation" both directed by Francis Ford Coppola). If you factor in "Murder on the Orient Express"(also released in 1974)then you could say that Paramount(under Production Head Robert Evans) really did care about quality in their films. All the films I've just listed are now considered classics. Most have been released on Blu-ray(the exception being "Murder on the Orient Express"). Last week's blu-ray release of "Chinatown" was welcome news. I remember seeing "Chinatown" at the Cinema 21(sadly torn down shortly after a six month run of Cameron's "Titanic") in San Diego and although I didn't understand the picture, I certainly enjoyed it's film noir look of Los Angeles in a hot Summer of 1937. That look and other details are retained in this outstanding blu-ray release by the restorers at Paramount, who did a superb restoration of Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief" last month(see my review). I've owned every format of "Chinatown" since it's release. In fact, one of the first things I did in 1974 was to get a copy of Jerry Goldsmith's haunting and classic score(on vinyl) just to hear that opening trumpet solo again. According to one of the special features(there are about six of them) he wrote the score in nine days at the last minute and the minute the film starts, it sets the mood of the film. I won't go into the story since it took so long for me to figure out what was going on(a tribute to Robert Towne's Oscar winning screenplay) but it's basically about power and betrayal with water thrown into the mix. Lots of water. Other reviewers of the blu ray have commented on the blu ray's aspect ratio. The one I watched was 2.35 which is true to Roman Polanski's panavision version of the film. There is some film grain in certain scenes but this may have more to due with John Alonzo's photography of the film than anything else. For the most part, the colors are sharp and sometimes jump off the screen. Paramount has given this Blu-ray a high Bitrate(33.33) and the results are very impressive. "Chinatown" probably hasn't looked this good since I first saw it back in 1974. One thing that I noticed this time more than the other dozen times I've watched "Chinatown" was how well Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway looked in their costumes. You can see every little detail on the ties that Nicholson's character Jake Gittes wears in every scene. He changes clothes a lot from scene to scene and his suits compete with Richard Sylbert's elegant production design for the film. Sylbert makes Los Angeles look beautiful on Blu ray. Nicholson and Dunaway do some of their best work in this picture as does the rest of cast. It was good to see Perry Lopez, Joe Mantell and John Huston(sadly all passed away now) in their supporting parts. Once again I'd like to thank the restorers at Paramount for providing another superb restoration title on blu ray. "Chinatown" on blu ray is a must own for any film collectors library.

Roman Polanski's finest work takes place in a prewar Los Angeles where everyone has a past they would just as soon keep hidden, where morality is fluid, to say the least, and where respectability is generally always fraudulent. It also happens to be the most interesting film ever made about water...although to the extent that it is really about anything, it mostly seems to be about secrets: the cost of keeping them, what happens once they're in the open, what happens when you try to find them out. As one might expect from the arthouse days of the 1970's, this movie is a bit more intellectual than your average movie, but that's hardly a strike against it. In fact, there have been few films quite as exciting and engaging as Chinatown ever to come out in Hollywood. It has a masterfully-constructed plot, clever-but-still-believable dialogue, virtuosic acting, editing, scoring--it's a rare kind of film that has everything working for it (Citizen Kane is another example) and it single-handedly revived film noir while adding countless new, imaginative touches (such as the infamous Jack Nicholson nose scene). Needless to say, it's a great film. The one question that remains is this:What does a movie have to do to win a Best Picture Oscar, anyway?Yes, Chinatown lost to The Godfather, Part II, which is another near-flawless film. Still, the creative staff could, at the time, have savored the fact that it had another parallel to Citizen Kane--both films only won Oscar honors for their screenplays. It's quite a profound drop we've seen in film since 1974--a year where three undeniably great films were nominated for Best Picture (GF II, Chinatown, and The Conversation). These days, it's usually unlikely that even a single Best Picture nominee will have any sort of staying power. It might be the way of things, but watching Chinatown is a way to see that they weren't always this way.The setup of Chinatown [spoilers] involves a man by the name of Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson), a private investigator who takes a simple job to investigate if a man (a very high-ranking city official) is cheating on his wife. After taking some photographic evidence of the affair (or so he thinks), the man's real wife (Faye Dunaway) comes forward to let Gittes know he's been duped. They try to figure out why Gittes was framed, and the case leads in a number of different directions, most of which involve Dunaway's wealthy, shady father (John Huston), before all the threads come together at the end of the film, which truly has to rank high on any list of the greatest film endings of all time. It's all wrong--not a single person deserves what they get, though it all seems like just a matter of inevitability. [/spoilers]I'm gratified that we're finally getting a special edition of the film--the edition currently in existence is hardly outstanding. There seems to be little information available about the details as yet, but you owe it to yourself to purchase a copy. This is one of the greatest of all films--it's entertaining, enlightening, and emotionally resonant in a way that few works of art are--it's right up there with Greek tragedy. Seriously.

This UK blu-ray disc is reviewed as having extras including commentary along with extras featured on previously issued DVD version. IT HAS NONE WHATSOEVER !The film is without doubt a 5 star, but thisUK blu-ray edition is only worth 3 star. A rip-off!I have subsequently purchased a US import and it has several extras and therefor 5 stars all round.

Roman Polanski created an unforgetable film-noir. Although shot in colour, it still retains an authentic feel of place and time.Jack Nicholson plays the inevitable gumshoe wandering into a convoluted plot until it's way above his head. Faye Dunaway has the role of Femme-fatale to perfection. These two are the main players, but there's a decent supporting cast that includes an alarming `Goodfellas'-style cameo from the director himself. The plot twists so much it must be watched rather than described. Pacing, lighting & editing are absolutely spot-on, enabling the whole movie to flow in both plot and character development. And the icing on the cake is its theme music, which surfaces as incidental elements throughout the movie. It's a slow-burning jazz number with languid trumpet lead that hits the spot in every theme and is as much a part of plot cohesion as the script itself.Some don't appear to enjoy this movie half so much as they should. I don't know why, and clearly my praise of it must be as confusing to them. All I can say is that I was bowled over at first watching and have loved it ever since. It's nearly 40 years old now, but might have been made yesterday. No element has aged in the least.The Collector's Edition supplied by Amazon is crisp & clear. It is listed as 125mins run-time, `15' viewer-rating, and 2.35:1 aspect ratio. There's a number of interesting extras.Highly recommended and collectible.

Polanski's classic noir thriller based on the Los Angeles water wars, ie the political difficulties over the Owens Valley aqueduct. It presented a vague backdrop for a murder mystery story set in the 1930s. It was a generally entertaining film with some good acting and a very good musical soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith. The Blu-ray video was good but the sound was better when set to the restored mono rather than the simulated 5.1 Dolby stereo - the latter seemed to be at a lower level compared to the musical soundtrack which made it difficult to set a suitable sound level. For the record this US import will play in the UK and includes all the extras which are apparently missing from the UK version.

If there are any niggly little flaws in this movie then they are SO minor as to be completely inconsequential. The marriage of major movie stylists Polanski and Nicholson on one film proves to be almost too good to believe. Have they made another movie together? And if not, why not? It simply throbs with style and charisma, this movie, and the work of both men here is just exceptional. You really can't hype this movie enough, it sets out knowing exactly what it wants to be and delivers it by the bucketful. Nothing in it is forced or rushed or looks out of place. This is because there are cinematic masters at work here. Everything is relaxed (as real Noir should be) and very, very confidently executed. A masterpiece.

Chinatown is unforgettable, five stars, with actors like Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, the same high value as Vertigo of Hitchcock... There're scenes which stay in memory for ever and give you the highest examples of human behaviour as it should be. Bravo Polanski, probably his best. It couldn't be otherwise, with the association of names like Polanski, Nicholson, Faye Dunaway. It can be noted that Faye Dunaway has probably been much inspired by the story, given her possible Chinese ascendancy. Films like this one make movie making an equal of traditional classical litterature.