Thesis: Chinatown is the product of a wager*

1972:

"Hey, Polanski!  Bet you can't shoot a noir film entirely during the day somewhere it never rains!"

"Bet you I can!"

1974:

"Damn it!  Who knew there were so many Chinese in Chinatown?  You win this time!"

---

*And am I the only person who didn't know that the planned third sequel to Chinatown—titled Cloverleaf and about the expansion of the Los Angeles Freeway—was imported whole-cloth into Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Comments

[Vance Maverick]

Am I confused, or does the image you link belie the first claim?

[Ahistoricality]

* No, you're not the only one. I may be the last living American over forty who hasn't actually seen either of the "Chinatown" movies all the way through.

[andrew]

Is the sequel that film with "Jake" in the title (I don't remember the name, haven't seen it)? I didn't realize that had been planned ahead of the first movie.

Seven is an interesting contrast, because it's always dark or raining until the very end, when it's suddenly all sun and blue sky.

[Vance Maverick]

Thanks for the clue, Andrew. The linked image is indeed from the end of the movie.

[SEK]

There are actually two others, but they're both at the same run-off and one of them required a special effect that damn near took Nicholson's nose off. (It had to be done very carefully. He tried to do it during the day, but it looked terrible, so he moved that and another scene to night.)

Admittedly, I wasn't paying quite as much attention as I could/should have. I've got the worst head cold I've had in years.

[onymous]

Chinatown had sequels? Dude!

[andrew]

damn near took Nicholson's nose off.

I've always liked that Polanski is in the credits as "Man with Knife" (assuming you're talking about the same scene). And yeah, there's at least one other night in the film, but only the final night has that feeling of shadows and confusion, if you know what I mean. The final scene also makes use of deliberately unsteady camera work that I don't think shows up anywhere earlier.

[Scott Eric Kaufman]

Sadly, the "sequel" was the Nicholson-directed The Two Jakes. Had Townes on as screenwriter again, but time had clearly diminished his talent. (Or something. I tend to think neo-noir had pretty well died, er, been killed by Don Johnson by '89.)

But I'm with you 100 percent on the deliberateness of the darkness in Chinatown at the conclusion of the film. Earlier it was meant to overcome technical limitations---and extended a bit to cover up the plot difficulty that fix entailed---but in a perfect world, Polanski would've kept it bright and sunny until that final sequence. As to why, I'm not sure. With Seven, there was a "in the light of day" or "sunshine is palliative" angle; but with Chinatown, I just don't know. (Nor does Curtis Hanson. LA Confidential borrowed the style without the logic subtending it. Not that it was a terrible movie---it was no American Beauty, which I think was released the same year and set the bar for "quality" just above "don't soil yourself in public"---but it could've been much, much better.)

[Tom]

Jesus, American Beauty is an embarrassing film.

Also, Slumdog Millionaire is now officially the nation's favorite movie. What I hate most about this sort of thing is that now I feel obligated to see it, even though I could happily have lived many more months before accidentally catching it on cable.

[Jake]

Live happily for many more months because it is worth only catching on cable, trust me.

[JPool]

I think of Chinatown as the best adaptation of Raymond Chandler (despite its not being based on an actual Chandler book) and almost all of his action plays out in day lit interiors. Not a lot of night work or dark shadows for Philip Marlowe.

As for this,
I tend to think neo-noir had pretty well died ... by '89.
Really? I would think that was just about when it was getting good.