"On Rotten Tomatoes Chinatown has an approval rating of 98% based on 60 reviews, with an average rating of 9.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "As bruised and cynical as the decade that produced it, this noir classic benefits from Robert Towne's brilliant screenplay, director Roman Polanski's steady hand, and wonderful performances from Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway."[26]

Metacritic assigned a score of 86 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[27] Roger Ebert added it to his "Great Movies" list, saying that Nicholson's performance was "key in keeping Chinatown from becoming just a genre crime picture", along with Towne's screenplay, concluding that the film "seems to settle easily beside the original noirs".[28]

Towne's screenplay has become legendary among critics and filmmakers, often cited as one of the best examples of the craft,[9][29][30]...

Towne wrote the screenplay with Jack Nicholson in mind.[7] He took the title (and the exchange, "What did you do in Chinatown?" / "As little as possible") from a Hungarian vice cop who had worked in Chinatown and explained to the writer that the complicated array of dialects and gangs in Los Angeles's Chinatown made it impossible for the police to know whether their interventions were helping victims or furthering their exploitation.[7]

"Polanski learned of the script through Nicholson, with whom he had been searching for a suitable joint project. Producer Robert Evans wanted Polanski to direct for his European vision of the United States, which Evans believed would be darker and more cynical. Polanski, a few years removed from the murder of his wife and unborn child in Los Angeles, was initially reluctant to return but was persuaded on the strength of the script.[7] (Polanski's wife and friends and unborn baby all murdered by the Manson family in 1969).

Chinatown brought more public awareness to the land dealings and disputes over water rights, which arose while drawing Los Angeles' water supply from the Owens Valley in the 1910s.[33] Margaret Leslie Davis, in her 1993 book Rivers in the Desert: William Mulholland and the Inventing of Los Angeles, says the sexually charged film is a metaphor for the "rape" of the Owens Valley and notes that it fictionalizes Mulholland, while concealing the strong public support for Southern California's water projects."

If you haven't seen it give it a look.

I watched this special on film in the '70's. Nicholson actually came to Hollywood as a screenwriter. He couldn't sell any screen or teleplays and he found little work as an actor. He and Bruce Dern were starving artists together at one point.

I don't include the link because of all the spoilers.

This post was edited on 6/15/17 at 7:05 am