Ever notice that every blockbuster movie has the same fundamental pieces? A hero, a journey, some conflicts to muck it all up, a reward, and the hero returning home and everybody applauding his or...

Los Angeles and Environs, 1937 Too Much for the Man Gladys Knight once sang the line, "L.A. proved too much for the man." In Chinatown, L.A. proves too much for Jake Gittes, despite all his tough d...

First Person Limited Perspective Chinatown basically offers a first person limited perspective narrative—we know everything that Jake knows, but nothing more. When he discovers that water is bein...

Film Noir, Historical Film, Crime Film Chinatown takes all the film noir tropes and gives them an extra turn of the screw. Usually, in film noir, there might be some sexual corruption brewing—lik...

Forget About It, Jake… Watching this movie for the first time, you might think, "Why is this called Chinatown if so few of the scenes are actually set in Chinatown?" Good question. The key to thi...

Last Stop, ChinatownThe ending provides one nasty turn after another. We've already been rattled by Evelyn's revelation of having been raped by her father. So, when Noah and Jake go to Chinatown, w...

RMurder's pretty bad—but Bambi's mom gets murdered, and that movie was still a solid "G." The violence in Chinatown elevates it to a PG, and the occasional F-bombs kick it up to a PG-13. But what...