Chinatown (1974 film)

Chinatown is a 1974 mystery/film noir in which a detective named Jake Gittes, played by Jack Nicholson, is hired by a woman to spy on her husband, Hollis Mulwray--but shortly thereafter the real Mrs. Mulwray appears in his office threatening to sue if Gittes doesn't drop the case immediately. Gittes pursues the case anyway, slowly uncovering a vast conspiracy centering on water management, land use and real estate, and involving at least one murder. The film is densely plotted and deals with issues of corruption and responsibility. In the best mystery tradition, the film is nearly impossible to figure out before it's over (and maybe not even for some time after).

Chinatown was directed by Roman Polanski and stars Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, and John Huston. It is consistently in the top 50 on the Internet Movie Database's list of top 250 films and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

In 1990 a sequel, called The Two Jakes, was released. It starred, and was directed by, Jack Nicholson. The screenplay was written by Robert Towne, who also wrote the script for Chinatown.