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  • Chinatown – Season Finale

    on 29th Mar 2024 7:30:pm, at

    1974 / USA / 131 min. / Colour Director: Roman Polanski Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Hillerman, Perry Lopez, Burt Young, John Huston. We close as we started, with another of the greatest films of all time - one of Hollywood’s great neo-noir mystery films. 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. Set in 1937 Jack Nicholson has the Bogartian role of the LA private investigator who sticks his nose into a corrupt conspiracy in the state's Department of Water and Power. The plan to create a drought in California, sending farmland prices into a dustbowl slump so that it can be bought cheap and made the site of a colossal new dam, to be sold at a huge profit back to the taxpayer. Jake gets that nose of his slashed by a goon – an unforgettable cameo for Polanski – but finds himself falling in love with the mysterious Mrs Mulwray at the centre of the murky plot. The dialogue is crackling and the set pieces are just superb. Unmissable. What the passage of time has done for this superlative 1974 film is progressively lessen our sense of its being simply a modern pastiche of the classic 30s gumshoe thrillers. The time- gap has narrowed, and it now looks like a classic in a direct line of succession to those earlier pictures. As our season finale this film will start 7:30pm and a hot supper will be served in the interval.


For full details please go to our Current Season page.

British Film Institute