It's hard to argue with anyone wanting to claim that 1974 was among the best film years ever. Obviously, there's The Godfather: Part II. Amazingly, both Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein were released that year. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, despite all the praise its received over the years, I still think is underappreciated. The Conversation turned out to be pretty great. And that's just the movies I have seen. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, The Longest Yard, The Parallax View, The Towering Inferno, and many other make it as strong and diverse as any year I can think of. Now I can finally add Chinatown to that list.
Chinatown is one of those films that's been referenced in large and small ways so much that when I was watching it, so much already felt familiar: like a low-grade deja vu. I, of course, kept thinking about the Psych episode that directly referenced it, but there are countless other things you could point to (Find a list on your own). Part of the familiarity also comes from the fact that Chinatown itself is made to look like modern film noir*.
It's hard to see any movie this famous with fresh, unspoiled eyes. I know it's widely regarded as a classic and I did enjoy the movie. When you combine those two facts, there's nothing I'm really going to add to the conversation about the movie. Jack Nicholson was great in it as was Polanski's direction. The script is loopy and fun. There are some terrific and iconic scenes. I feel just short of loving the movie. That's the hottest take I have: I only liked it a lot; I didn't love it.
*I've always found it odd that film noir belongs so much to a specific era. There aren't many genres like that. Not to the degree that film noir disappeared.
Verdict: Strongly Recommend
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