Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4849 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-10-02
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish
• Dubbed in: German, Italian, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 125 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Roman Polanski's brooding film noir exposes the darkest side of the land of sunshine, the Los Angeles of the 1930s, where power is the only currency--and the only real thing worth buying. Jack Nicholson is J J Gittes, a private eye in the Chandler mould, who during a routine straying-spouse investigation finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into a jigsaw puzzle of clues and corruption. The glamorous Evelyn Mulwray (a dazzling Faye Dunaway) and her titanic father, Noah Cross (John Huston), are at the black-hole centre of this tale of treachery, incest and political bribery. The crackling, hard-bitten script by Robert Towne won a well-deserved Oscar, and the muted colour cinematography makes the goings-on seem both bleak and impossibly vibrant. Polanski himself has a brief, memorable cameo as the thug who tangles with Nicholson's nose. Chinatown is one of the greatest, most completely satisfying crime films of all time. --Anne Hurley

Amazon.co.uk Review
Roman Polanski's brooding film noir exposes the darkest side of the land of sunshine, the Los Angeles of the 1930s, where power is the only currency--and the only real thing worth buying. Jack Nicholson is JJ Gittes, a private eye in the Chandler mould, who during a routine straying-spouse investigation finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into a jigsaw puzzle of clues and corruption. The glamorous Evelyn Mulwray (a dazzling Faye Dunaway) and her titanic father, Noah Cross (John Huston), are at the black-hole centre of this tale of treachery, incest, and political bribery. The crackling, hard-bitten script by Robert Towne won a well-deserved Oscar, and the muted colour cinematography makes the goings-on seem both bleak and impossibly vibrant. Polanski himself has a brief, memorable cameo as the thug who tangles with Nicholson's nose. One of the greatest, most completely satisfying crime films of all time. --Anne Hurley, Amazon.com

Special Features
2.35 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 9
French\German\Hungarian\Italian\Spanish
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English\Dolby Digital Mono French German Hungarian Italian Spanish
Dolby Digital 5.1
Dolby Digital Mono
Theatrical Trailer
A Retrospective Interview With Roman Polanski Robert Towne And Robert Evans
Danish\Dutch\English\Finnish\French\German\Italian\Norwegian\Portuguese\Spanish\Swedish\Turkish

Customer Reviews

An American Masterpiece
To my mind this is the greatest American film of all time.A dazzling film full of wonderful performances,superb plotting and dialogue with a stunning sense of the period (L A in the 30's).
Private eye Jake Gittes(Jack Nicholson) gets in way over his head and ends up "drowning"in a sea of murder, incest and a battle over ownership of valuable water rights.Part noir,part character study(with the city itself up there in front),part the ties that bind, this is perfect entertainment.
Faye Dunaway and especially John Huston are magnificent and director Roman Polanski even gives himself a juicy little part.If what makes a great film is a subtle and perfect mix of suspense,romance,horror and even a little comedy allied to an engrossing story then look no further Chinatown is all those things and more.

A Superb 1930s-Era Detective Drama - Jack Nicholson at his Best
Chinatown is a terrific period drama of the 'Film-Noir' genre (although note it is filmed in colour !) and in my top 5 best films. It was directed by Roman Polanski and deservedly won an Oscar for Best Screenplay.

It features 2 fantastic lead actor performances, from Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, and is perhaps notable for the fact that the Nicholson character is never off the screen since the film is made from his viewpoint.

He plays a very 'colourful' private detective who gets himself involved with an investigation into an apparent murder, corruption and family feuding. Things progress dramatically and he unearths many well-kept secrets....

It is set in 1930s Los Angeles and the production values to reflect that era (eg costume and vehicles) are superb. Similarly, the musical soundtrack (which it turns out only replaced an inferior version at the very last minute !) helps to portray the mood.

There are some other well-known actors (eg John Huston) but this film belongs to Nicholson, who delivers his lines (which include some hilarious one-liners) superlatively and exhibits all the necessary emotions of confusion, aggression and competence in a lively and masterly fashion. I shan't give it away, but watch out for a 'sharp' and amusing cameo by the director himself....

The picture on this 'Special Collector's Edition' disc has been restored - it is excellent and a clear improvement over the previous issue; it is sharp, bright, flawless and has vivid colours.

I didn't notice any great change in the soundtrack, largely because the previous issue was already quite good.

There are a number of interesting featurettes which include contributions from Polanski, Nicholson and the writer of the Screenplay, Robert Towne.

A true great - a modern-day masterpiece.
I've lost count the number of times I've seen this brilliantly executed period piece. Beautifully photographed and superbly played by all concerned, a director on the top of his game and a screenplay that screams class and pulls you in to the film.

Jack Nicholson plays Jake Gittes, a Private Investigator who gets embroiled in double dealings and deceits in the clammy climate of a pre-war Southern California where the orange groves flourish from the water supply being pumped there in the middle of a drought. He gets hired by a beautiful socialite, Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) to investigate her husband's extra-marital affair and to find out who his killer was.

Although this is a wonderful film that is also a gem and a landmark movie in the tradition of film noir, some of the concepts featured in the film can still somehow ring true watching it today. Jack Nicholson has never been so masterful and Faye Dunaway has never looked so sexy and sultry as she does here. It also features stunning support in the shape of film legend John Huston, father of Anjelica Huston.

This is one of those films that should be seen. Many people think that L.A. Confidential is better than this. In my personal view though, this set the standard for other film noir movies to follow. And only L.A. Confidential has been able to come close. This is still the better film in my opinion. It's one of my favourite films of all time.