Robert Towne's credentials are as varied as they are impressive. From an uncredited turn for Bonnie & Clyde to more recent fare such as Without Limits and Mission: Impossible, he certainly has talent. Which leaves me baffled as to why Chinatown didn't get a few more rounds with the red marker before it was filmed. To me, the screenplay is all over the map and singlehandedly prevents me from seeing it as the classic picture which so many critics have called it.
I've seen Chinatown twice now. The first time I saw it was about 6 or 7 years ago, and having seen the chilling Rosemary's Baby around the same time, I was certain I would hit Roman Polanski gold twice. However, I wasn't all that impressed. In fact, I was downright disappointed. But I know that tastes can change as time goes by, so I recently tried to approach it from a different angle this time around. No luck. This is a mediocre picture at best where the stakes are low and the actors look bored.
To appreciate its merits, one need only look at Jack Nicholson's career after it was released. To understand its demerits, one need only hold it up to any other entry in the film noir genre. While Polanski's gall to toy with the established conventions of the format border on noble, few of them ever work. The key decision to film most of Chinatown during the day defies the very definition of film noir, but it actually could have worked, had he taken a more creative approach to lighting with cinematographer John A. Alonzo. As it stands, the look is a wash of yellows and static L.A. backdrops that may fly in terms of mood, but dull the eyes after a few hours and negate the atmosphere required in some key scenes.
The story begins as detective Jake Gittes (a hit-and-miss turn by Jack Nicholson) is approached by a woman (Diane Ladd) who identifies herself as the wife of the water commissioner. He is hired to spy on Mr. Hollis Mulwray (Darrell Zwerling who does his best with a stereotype part), and find out if Mulwray has been cheating on her. When the wealthy official turns up dead, Gittes finds himself caught in the middle of lies, false aliases and cover-ups, including a mild surprise when the real Mrs. Mulwray shows up (a jarring Faye Dunaway). Gittes goes through the motions and uncovers clue after clue, but the pay-off is only mildly suspenseful.
I think the biggest problem I have with Chinatown is that it's about water and real estate, which make for about as much as excitement as an 8 hour documentary about paint cans would. Shady characters immortalized on the screen by actors like Peter Lorre and Humphrey Bogart delivered juicier dialogue, way more action, and took on more sinister villains. There are those who think Polanski breathed new life into a kind of movie that was long thought dead. I am not one of them.
