CHINATOWN (1974)
Revisionist noir melodrama horror in which cynical private investigator Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) investigates the murder of the man in charge of Los Angeles’s water and power. He assumes the murder of this powerful man is motivated by the usual desire for money and power. When he begins an affair with the victim’s neurotic widow (Faye Dunaway) who she seems to have more secrets than anyone. Soon enough, Jake unravels the mystery, but finds that the motivations involved are much darker than he could have possibly imagined.
This is the world’s most horrifying noir movie. Its world view could not be more negative and despairing. The moral is that no man on earth is cynical enough to expect the horrors we are capable of. But it’s thrilling and sexy and meaningful. The cast is incredible. And one of the finest scripts of all time.
