Chinatown 1974 * FIRT TIME WATCHING * reaction & commentary * 

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i lost my shit when she said it

I felt myself reaching for the “Black woman says mm-hmm” meme.

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Tenderfoot! The way I HOWLED with laughter when I read this comment!

Not to mention that elements of the plot tie in to certain aspects of John Huston's life. Plus the film was directed by Roman Polanski (who slices Jack's nose). Roman hasn't returned to the U.S. for years as he faces charges of defiling a minor...

Funny, really. Playing The Devil seems to have been the Huston family business, so Jack would have made a brilliant addition to the clan.

nice

It's funny, I haven't smoked in over a decade, but I still have that tapping habit! (with pens and pencils)

@@sempervigilo7961 : )

Thank for the information I didn't know that!

I originally watched it on VHS. When it got to the sister/daughter part my brain stopped "Wait. What?" I rewound it a bit to see what I'd missed before it clicked in my head.

I think the ending ruins the film for me. Jack Nicholson was great. But it is so nihilistic. There is nothing redeeming about it the story. In the end, why bother.

@@cheeseburger12 you could see the nihilism as part of the protest of monopolies and corporatism. I don't think much of this film was meant as entertainment.

@@RobinHood-cd9mh Except nihilism makes things worse.

@@cheeseburger12 it's not trying to offer a solution. It doesn't have to. It's more of a cry in the dark.

He also did the voice of Gandalf in the Hobbit cartoon.

He was also the voice of Gandalf in the animated Hobbit movie. A movie I like but am in the minority on. The Smaug scene is fantastic. I also enjoyed the tunes in it and its whimsey.

Maltese Falcon was the first movie directed by Houston!

Don't forget Moby Dick w/ Gregory Peck

@Alexander Fish treasure of the Sierra Madre We don't need no stinking badges

I always thought that she have seen all these movies already. So many predictions hits too close.

me too.

Haha, same! I was like 😳

I'm still LMAO from that understatement...

I was thinking the same thing

The Great Robert Towne

Google William Mulholland...some plot elements in the movie have historical precedents...

Forgotten!

@@theotherjake hm?

All three are excellent choices. I love the African Queen, although it might not hold up as well as the others. But the ending is so golden and the ship's captain is given won of the best lines in film history.

@@theman4884 I still love African Queen but yes, lots of cringe when watching today 😂

I second that Malteae Falcon is a ride!!!!

From today's perspective, I think the relationship between Bogart and Hepburn in African Queen is just very weird. But the Maltese Falcon is timelessly great.

Sierra Madre is one of my favorites, and Dark Passage for the iconic twist in the beginning

THIS guy put "Kelly's Heroes" on his list.... He is indeed "The Man".

@@MpowerdAPE It's a movie I love, I wonder if Ashleigh would. I am guessing, yes, she would.

This is a pretty good list. Have not seen Sorcerer.

KELLY'S HEROES is a great pick!

@James Harper +1 to these (i just watched these back to back the other night) and add The Sting to the list

Except Star Wars didn’t get an exception. The battle with the unions continues for decades over this, and is the reason Steven Spielberg never got to direct a Starwars film, and Empire and Return were directed by no name nonunion directors.

@@DonArsuk84 they got an exception for star wars. they did *not* get one for empire. lucas was fined over it which caused him to leave the guilds. spielberg remained a guild member and thus couldn't do it in an official capacity but he ghost directed segments of the saga. notably bits of Utapau (sinkhole world) and mustafar (volcanic world) in Episode III. Kershner wasn't exactly a noname director and he WAS part of the guild (probably the real reason the directors guild had an issue, since it wasn't lucas waiving his credit). Marquand wasn't since he was a small-timer brit. TL:DR it was the sequel that got lucas to leave the guilds, the original DID have an exception.

I concur; Hollis is the unsung hero of the film. He was protecting Katherine. I think his growing disgust with Cross is what started his own investigation into the water company, leading to the ultimately fatal confrontation with Noah.

I think LA Confidential is way more entertaining than this movie.

2nd LA Confidential. An Excellent noir. Plus Danny Devito!

I love LA Confidential too, I feel like its in the same universe as Chinatown and the video game LA Noire.

Bullseye on most of people who didn't like the movie don't like Polanski either.

Watched it in film studies also. I thinks it's probably being studied in every film studies around the world.

Also it's from the Seventies when cynical "downer endings" were popular. Movies were not escapist entertainment but art meant to reflect the ills of society, not a mindless escape from them.

@@themoviedealers from Esquire magazine: Polanski changed the ending. In Robert Towne's original script, Evelyn Mulray (Faye Dunaway) and her illegitimate daughter get away. Evil Noah Cross (John Huston) is killed. But Polanski would ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Q34OSPw17o4.html. According to Towne, Polanksi wanted a tragic ending, in which Evelyn is killed. Guess who got his way? Polanski said to a TV interviewer, if Chinatown had ended happily, "We wouldn't be sitting around talking about it today."

@@wwk68tig Robert townes also totally screwed up John Dante's "ask the dust" and has a reputation of kind not knowing what makes things work but still somehow knowing how to build the good structure of a story without telling a story. He's a Hollywood man who gives the producers what they want

In a role that was later taken by Bill Murray no less. Ashleigh will love that one.

I think that movie was shot in...I want to say 3 days? It's worth seeing for movie buffs just because of that! And it's shockingly good considering how quickly and cheaply it was made!

You may not like it?

I heard it was made on a bet. Can you make a picture on this new york set before it gets demolished tomorrow? Thats why the lighting is so inconsistent. It’s a hoot though, watch it as a double feature with the musical version.

Loved Steve Martin as the dentist

also, lose tobacco burns faster.

I’ll just add that, given the very large number of additives that have been introduced into cigarettes since the 1960s, the tapping is now essentially pointless. It did actually make sense when cigarettes were only made from unadulterated tobacco. But now additives affect strength, burn rate, draw, etc.

Tapping the cigarettes was also a thing for none filter cigarettes. To compress any loose tobacco into the cigarette. Which would otherwise fall into the smoker's mouth.

It keeps tobacco shreds out of your mouth. Back in the Day smokers were always spitting out nasty flakes off their tongues. In fact you will see actors doing it as a "thing" sometimes, picking a tobacco flake out and tossing it.

I would love an Ashleigh video to LA Confidential.

@@alisong4667 I was just about to post the same.

Great film

I also like LA Confidential, but I do prefer Chinatown, just for the artistry of Polanski’s work. No slight to LA Confidential - terrific cast, wonderful story, and it looks beautiful.

@@pebblesanddirt I'm not gonna agree with that, but it's a matter of taste.

outstanding reference, Scott.

@@wwk68tig thank you. party on wayne.

Right he did not find this out til he was 37. A reporter uncovered this info & he could not ask his bio mom or grandma bc they were both deceased so he called his favorite sister ( really aunt ) Lorraine who confessed the whole thing. Some interesting quotes by Jack, he said he was glad he found out at 37 instead of younger bc he was a fully formed adult. He also said " nobody can keep a deep secret like a family of mostly women. Jack had about 4 or 5 aunts ( including his bio mom ) this also gave him a unique perspective on abortion. He said something to the affect that he can only answer the pro life vs pro choice debate like this. " my mom was a 15 year old girl when she got pregnant & even though it was illegal people still found back alley drs to perform them so it would have been very easy for my biological mother & my parents ( grandparents) to terminate my mothers pregnancy. They decided to keep me & my grandparents would Claim me & nobody knows who my bio dad is. All I can say is I'm grateful for my life & to be around. So that's the most honest answer I can give on abortion. Also i think it's interesting that jack said his bio mom put of all his aunts he was the least close to. He was closest to his aunt lorraine whom he named his daughter after. I also bet when jack was born & saw he was a boy his grandma was probably excited to raise a boy after having all daughters. Also I know jack said he was ok with all this bc he was 37 when he found out but I gotta imagine that's a real kick in the head to have been lied to ur whole life ( the late 30s was such a different time ) & thought ur grandparents were ur mom & dad & ur sister is really ur mom & ur other sisters are really ur aunts. Also that he wound up closest to his " sister Lorraine " instead of his sister that was his mom. I imagine that had to be so strange for everyone & I feel bad jack learned the truth after his mom & grandparents were dead.

@@natalieps2387 very interesting to learn, it’s also a unique look into the psychology of families.

Def not for sensitive kids. I would have been carred too.

The real sequel is "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" This is not a joke.

If you want a laugh, check out Disney's The Jungle Cruise. They stole the costumes straight from TAQ. Dwayne Johnson is no Bogey. 😂

YES!!!!!

@@MrRezRising That makes some sense though because the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland was inspired by The African Queen in the first place. Also, coincidentally, John Huston who played Noah Cross in Chinatown was the director of The African Queen.

@@tropicalcatdetective Yeah, get enough lawyers and anything can be "inspired". TAQ was made by United Artists, which MGM owns now. Disney has never had a legal stake in the film. Fun fact: UA was founded by Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and DW Griffith. They were the 'united artists'. 🤘

@@MrRezRising I don't understand your response? It's well documented that the Disney Imagineers took ideas from the film for the attraction, especially illustrator and set designer Harper Goff. Even the canopied ride vehicles are based on Charlies's titular steamer, with the ride flagship named the 'Congo Queen'. If you're arguing they stole ideas made by another film studio for their ride, yeah, sure, I won't argue they didn't. Ripped off, inspired by, stole, homaged - "everything is a remix."

Now, maybe. Wasn't the case before 1938 and all the dams put along it though.

Every time I see those concrete channels of the LA river, I remember the car racing scene in "Grease" with the T-Birds' Danny Zuko driving Greased Lightning against the Scorpions' Leo "Crater-Face" Balmudo.

I used to work around the corner from one. It was an old Cadillac dealership out in the Valley. Just a mishmash of all kinds of 50s/60s/70s vehicles. Cars, trucks, ambulances, police cars, busses, news channel vans.

Well, she did watch The Big Lebowski, which is at it's heart a film noir.

Any noir filmed after the 50s is considered ‘neo-noir.’

The flood catastrophe mentioned by Hollis Mulwray early in the movie was also an actual event. St. Francis Dam collapse in 1928 killed hundreds of people........it fits into the movie's timeline perfectly.

I prefer 'Pineapple Express' for my pot-noir, lol

for pot-noir, nothing beats The Big Lebowski

I think Ashleigh would love Blade Runner Director's Cut.

@@sharonstratis2846 I actually think the theatrical version is best for first time viewers, since it saves a lot of confusion. After the first viewing, I’d recommend the Director’s cut, as that seems to be the preferred version by most (not me. I prefer the theatrical cut) people & I can understand that. Guess I’m just a sucker for voiceover.

@@goldenageofdinosaurs7192 I feel that the director's cut fills in a lot of holes and makes a much fuller storyline but that's just my opinion. :)

Excellent suggestions

All are great! For a "newer" movie Prizzi's Honor is a must see.

Network is probably my favorite film of all time.

Although a long-time fan of the film, I just recently read "The African Queen" and it was one of those rare occasions where the movie was much, much better than the book, which had a really stupid ending.

I liked Fight Club in the 90s bit imo it really hasn't stood the test of time. YMMV.

Yes. The fleekest.

@@oaf-77 very Streets Ahead

Jerry Goldsmith's musical score is haunting.........

I don't want to defend Polanski, but he wasn't doing anything that dozens, if not hundreds of Hollywood power brokers had been doing since Hollywood started. And none of those people have had the shitstorm of a life that he had: At 7 years of age his parents were sent to concentration camps by the Nazis, his mother was executed. He lived rough, begging for and stealing food. At one point he was beaten so severely he had a fractured skull. Not to mention, years later his wife, unborn son and several friends were butchered at his home by members of the Charlie Manson gang. After all this, no one would be especially well balanced.

To get back to your point, debe, the only movie that had me so confused for so long--but had a completely satisfying explanation (and was arguably as beautiful)--was LA Confidential. And there's something about both movies--acting, directing, writing?--that makes you trust that everything will eventually make sense. Probably all of the above. I hope LA Confidential shows up a lot in your Patreon polls, Ashleigh. If you love young Jack Nicholson, you are gong to have to do laundry after seeing a young Russell Crowe in LA Confidential. Or, if you want to double down on truly beautiful men in movies, watch Paul Newman and Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Just warn your husband in advance that you'll be putting some rasslin' moves on him later that night. Bless ya both. Haven't seen him in a while but he seems like such a great guy.

Well, he was playing a villain in this.

If I'm reading this right, what you mean to say is the woman he thought was his sister was actually his mom and the woman he thought was his mother was actually his gran?

@@mikethemotormouth yep.

You made me choke laugh on my water!

My line of thought exactly! 😂

They make me laugh groan every time 😆

100% agree.

I would add 5 easy pieces also

@@craigplatel813 I actually rate Five Easy Pieces a little lower than many people I think, but it's still a great movie.

On a lighter note, those pants Faye Dunaway are called jodhpurs, aka old Hollywood director's pants. They were worn by English saddle equestrians back then... ... I think

Maurice ain't lying!

Great movie! I feel like we need to warn her about Kevin spacey and Roman Polanski first tho!

YOU CANT HANDLE THE TRUTH!

My second favorite courtroom drama

I think it was done already, check Ashleigh's playlist.

...and to show off your cigarette case.

We will hear no slander about jack’s joker!

Saw all those as a young child. A good cinema formative experience.

(Except Dirty Harry, saw that much later on TV)

I do wonder if she would enjoy the 70's classic disaster movies...I think most would just be too looooong for her except maybe Poseidon.

I watched this movie for a course, and the professor pointed out that Polanski comes in at the middle of the movie and cuts Jack’s nose, so he has to wear that great big bandage for the rest of the film, as if to say, “You think this is *your* movie? It’s mine.”

Nobody should support Roman Polanski. Sexual assaulting a child should not be ignored.

And The Pianist, and The Ninth Gate... There are many that are really good from Polanski.

The incorrect part is that it actually took place in the 1900s/1910s. The Aqueduct was open by 1912.

American Graffiti would be great to see on here