The best performances of Jack Nicholson: #4 "Chinatown" (1974)

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“Chinatown” is a triumph in Nicholson’s career and the contemporary film noir among the great pictures of Hollywood’s golden age of the 70s. Nicholson’s friend screenwriter Robert Towne had written the original “Chinatown” script with Nicholson in mind to play private investigator J.J. Gittes. Director Roman Polanski desired to work with Nicholson and producer Robert Evans wanted Polanski’s European vision and sensibilities to an American story. Faye Dunaway is leading lady and John Huston the villain. Towne’s complex and complicated script has been hailed as one of the greatest ever written. Set in 1937 Los Angeles, the dark story is based on true events surrounding the fight over water rights and bringing the aqueduct to Los Angeles by powerful and corrupt entities. Gittes is hired by a woman to follow her husband whom she suspects of cheating. What seems a routine case is a ruse leading to murder and Gittes being set up. There is a you did not see that coming shocking revelation. “Chinatown” is a beautifully crafted film capturing period atmosphere. The film collected a whopping 11 Academy Award nominations with Towne’s script the only Oscar winner. Nicholson and Dunaway received well earned acting nominations. Towne had envisioned a Gittes movie trilogy. Nicholson directed and starred in the 1990 sequel “The Two Jakes.” The film’s critical and commercial failure prevented a third film from being made.