Chinatown - Film Review

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Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974) Stasia McGehee 12/8/97

A Revision of the Classic Gangster Film
Chinatown is a detective story, and although the loose ends are wrapped up in one pivotal scene towards the end, there is no closure, for the villain is too powerful to indict. When the chief engineer of the LA Water Department, the diffident Hollis Mulwray is murdered, Detective Gettes is alarmed. One of Detective Gettes’ clients is Hollis’ wife, Evelyn Mulwray, who commissioned him to procure photographs of Hollis’ alleged mistress. When Detective Gettes is confronted by the real Evelyn Mulwray, he realizes that he has been set up by a fraud, and is provoked to find Hollis’ murderer. He first tries to uncover the identity of Hollis’ alleged mistress, a young blond girl who had since disappeared, by questioning Hollis’ wife as well as Hollis’ father-in-law and business partner, Noah Cross. Cross pays Gettes handsomely to solicit her safety, explaining that he knew Hollis was very fond of her. After Gettes gets involved with the mysterious and beautiful Evelyn Mulwray, he finds that she has custody of the girl, confronts her, and threatens to turn her over to the police.

The Use of Sound for Shock Effect
Sound in conjunction with rapidly fired dialogue define this as the most pivotal scene in the whole movie. Chinatown is a film replete with mysteries and loose ends, but the most shocking revelation comes towards the end. Concluding that Evelyn Mulwray is guilty of murdering her husband, Gettes he makes his ruinous call to Chief Escobar. This forces Evelyn to reveal the identity of Katherine, her young charge, simultaneously clearing herself and damning her father. The detective had bunglingly assumed that Katherine was Hollis Mulwray’s mistress. However, the truth is much more sensational.

Although their interactions up till now had been low-keyed, in this scene the volume is heightened, until the dialogue explodes into violence. Cornered, with staccato like rapidity, she fires off her response, "She’s my sister….She’s my daughter…." Each supposed lie is punctuated by a resounding thwack as the detective rudely slaps her across the face, until we are all slapped by her bawling assertion, "She is my sister and my daughter. My father and I…understand, or is it too tough for you?" Not even the detective is willing to argue with a proposition so appalling. This revelation almost trivializes the detective’s preoccupation with finding a mere murderer.

The Modern Criminal
A late gangster film, Chinatown adopts a reprisal of film noir. But unlike the classic film noir with its petty criminals and slick city streets, the corruption originates with Los Angeles’ largest corporate leader, Noah Cross. His guilt is not disclosed until the very end, and by implication, perhaps never revealed to the public. Wealthy, polite, affable, beneficent, and seemingly harmless, this patriarch seems an unlikely suspect in the murder of his son-in-law and close associate. But as he laughingly chides Detective Gettes, "I’m only respectable because I’m old!"

No longer driven by the mere desire for wealth, the contemporary gangster exhibits psycho-social motivations; as the most shocking of taboos - incest, is used to illustrate Cross’ preoccupation with self, as well as his unbridled quest for territorial control and domination. Whether it is by controlling Los Angeles’ water supply or controlling his progeny, Cross attempts to extend his influence beyond his own generation.

The Setting
In the obligatory chase scene, Gettes is out chased by rough-hewn farmers on horseback, pursuing him through verdant orange groves. Although the farmers beat him soundly, they are not the real enemies, but pawns of an unseen operation. High key and panoramic, the idyllic settings are anything but hostile, yet serve to mask a political and moral corruption that speaks to a real poverty of spiritual values. In fact, the corruption that occupies the palatial estates and tidy suburban homes is all the more insidious in that it belies its outward appearance, and hence evades detection. The polished exteriors, which presents a departure from the earlier dark and gritty gangster film, ultimately hides transgressions much more depraved than a mere murder investigation would suggest. And finally, even the protagonist, the idealistic detective, is implicated in this corruption, for he too was on Noah Cross’ payroll.

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