In all of cinema, perhaps the hardest genre in which to make a great movie would have to be the film noir. Many directors have made countless classic films in the action-adventure, comedy, drama and science fiction genres, but there are startlingly few in comparison when the film noir is brought into the equation. Not surprising, because when you think of it, the prerequisite for a great film noir is a water-tight script, a great director, a perfect cast and a very complex plot that makes logical sense towards the end of the film. To bring all these different pieces together to form a perfect machine is a very difficult task. Not many people can pull that rabbit out of a hat, many have tried, but only few have managed to leave a lasting footprint on this mesmerising genre.

One man who did manage it back in 1974 was director Roman Polanski, with his great masterpiece ‘Chinatown’. Polanski may now be making headlines as an absconder fleeing from one country to another for having had sex with an underage girl, but in the 1970s he was the toast of town. Having already proved his tremendous talents as a film maker with ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ (1968) and ‘Macbeth’ (1971) Polanski then shifted his attention, under the auspices of producer Robert Evans, to screenwriter Robert Towne’s original screenplay ‘Chinatown’.

Polanski still reeling from the shocking murder of his wife, actress Sharon Tate, by the insane Charles Manson gang, was reluctant to return to Hollywood to make the film. However, Robert Evans wanted the film to be made by a European’s perspective, feeling that the cynical and myopic viewpoint of someone from across the Atlantic would give the film the dark edge that it needed. Eventually Polanski, after the encouragement of his friend Jack Nicholson, decided to get behind the camera and make the film.

The film is set in Los Angeles during the 1930s and like many film noir’s the central character on which the movie revolves around is a private detective. Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler made Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe as their respective anti-heroes. A tough-minded detective who has graduated from the school of hard knocks is the only one who can deal with cerebral cases. J.J Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is formed in the same mould as the above mentioned characters. He shares their cynicism and distrust of the facts presented to him in every case. But for Gittes the particular case of Evelyn Mulwray, in which he gets himself embroiled in, is more of a brain crusher than even he could have imagined.

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Gittes is initially hired by a woman who poses as Evelyn Mulwray, to investigate the infidelity of her husband, an influential engineer in L.A’s water and power department named Hollis Mulwray. When the scandal breaks out in the local newspapers, and the real Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) threatens to sue him, Gittes discovers that he’s been used as a pawn in a larger game. Not the type of man to be “caught with his pants down” Gittes decides to investigate. Things really turn pear shaped for him when Hollis Mulwray is found dead having drowned in an apparent accident, added to this is the fact that there is a drought in the state. For a water and power official to end up dead in the middle of a drought is bizarre to say the least and Gittes knows it. Eventually what unravels before him is a strange labyrinth of corruption, dark family secrets and a tale of greed and deception. Not to give the plot away completely, let’s just say that when watching the film, don’t believe everything you hear from the characters. Who is playing whom and what is really going on; well that’s the fascinating key to the film.

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The movie in essence is a tour de force, where the viewer is taken on a ride with Gittes from start to finish. He’s in virtually every scene almost like a curator at a museum, telling the audience ‘welcome to my world, this is what I have to deal with’. Gittes cynical views along with his shady background, is worn by him like his finely tailored suits. Though he makes mistakes in his deductions to solve the case and is sometimes in over his head, Gittes is no fool. Like all antiheroes he’s not an entirely admirable character. His methods may raise eyebrows but he does get the job done, one way or another. His one redeeming quality is that he does have a moral compass, even though the needle is a bit bent. Roman Polanski used the Gittes character to perfection in ‘Chinatown’ and made him a memorable character in this landmark motion picture.