Chinatown: is it really the best screenplay ever written? 

I'm a huge learn by example person, so your channel is amazingggg thank you so much!

He missed the most important thing. Every single scene includes Jake and is told from his perspective. The story never leaves him. The audience never sees anything that Jake doesn't see. They never learn anything apart from Jake learning it. And that is what gives the story the feeling of visceral reality.

A useful lesson from Chinatown - it doesn't really matter so much if the audience understands "the plot" as long as they get "the story".

Years and years ago, I used to frequent a Cheers-like bar in my hometown; all kinds of characters and conversations were there on a nightly basis. One of those nights I met a guy who was casually speaking to his friends in snippets of dialogue from Chinatown. I joined in with him, much to his delight, and we would continue this practice every time we crossed paths at the bar. Late one evening, a lively shrill girl near us was playfully shooting her friends around her with a water pistol, arm outstretched. Bill smiled with delight as I held out my hands to her and did John Huston: "Evelyn! You're a disturbed woman! You cannot hope to provide.....!" She looked at me and Bill like WE were crazy. I miss Bill still; he was a Vietnam vet who was in the process of drinking his awful memories to death. One of the last things I asked him was, which Hollywood release-to-date (1992) most accurately depicted his experience in war-time Vietnam. Of all the lot---Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, etc., he immediately answered: "Casualties of War', with Michael J. Fox. This might be a good choice for you to feature in your next film screenplay breakdown.

Reading the original screenplay is an experience you'll never forget much like watching the movie Chinatown itself, both are masterpieces!

Honestly this is some of the most underrated content on RU-vid

_"Yaaaaa, the heat's murder..."_ That line always gave me chills.

One thing I like about this screenplay is that nobody is really "stupid" in the sense that they cannot think for themselves or figure out things. They may be ignorant of all the facts, but not just an idiot like so many movies try to make out characters (or the audience). Midway through Jake mentions that the police lieutenant is quite good at his job, and near the end (with the dead women) he pieces together why she has Jake's number and that she must of been impersonating Evelyn Cross to hire him. A nice little detail in a movie full of them.

Great examples! Have you covered 'motifs' in any other videos? We also get a puzzle hint the first time Gittes goes to the Mulwray residence. We see him spot something shiny in the pond, and try to fish it out before Evelyn arrives, which sets up an expectation there is a clue, presumably evidence, thrown into the pond (water again) to hide it. This raises a suspicion in both the house and Evelyn. When we saw Hollis' body, he was missing his glasses. We also later hear about the salt water in the lungs and the supposition that the body was moved. When we return to the pond, we're aware there's something unresolved about it, and when the glasses are fished out, we correctly presume that Hollis was drowned there, and make the connection between the salt water and the glasses. We think we've been clever in making this association at the same time as Gittes. It's only when Evelyn says they aren't Hollis' glasses, because they are bifocals, that we remember Noah had similar glasses at the table in his meal with Gittes. It isn't even a massive leap for us to conclude that Noah is involved in the murder, as the story has established conflict between them, and motive. Then we learn a personal motive that Noah has to get Hollis out of the way, and how evil he truly is. This also makes sense because Hollis and Katherine never looked affectionate together, which is also why we are suspicious of the whole case at the start, and finally we know why. It's also fun that Curly basically serves to introduce Gittes' profession and character in the beginning [along with setting up a false expectation of what the story will be], but is useful later on, and we don't even need an explanation why his wife has a black eye, or why he is willing to help. It is another example of Gittes outsmarting those around him, even though it is ultimately futile.

It helps if the head of Paramount at the time - Robert Evans RIP - likes your script and puts his top people on the development staff. The script went through several rewrites but all in all, remained true to Towne's essence.

Awesome breakdown of a genius script! Thanks for posting, keep up the great work.

Best Reviews on RU-vid!

Point Blank (1967) is an under-appreciated gem.

Absolutely WONDERFUL....

So what are all the horses about in the movie? I understand the theme of "water" but notice all the horses; pictures of horses in Jake Giddes office, Seabiscuit on a newspaper, horse racing in the background on the radio in the morgue, a picture of Evelyn Mulray with a horse on Hollis's desk, Evelyn mentions she was riding bareback, not to mention all the horses that appear in various scenes.

Love it!

You deserve a lot more subscribers, bruh. Great channel. Humbly presented and told with a scholar's unerring eye for the right details. Props. Subbed.

This is an excellent class in screenwriting, and entertaining to watch as well. Riveting! Well done.

You are very good at your work ....🤩🔥

Thank you for your effort

As always, amazing video essay!

I never understood the stopwatch scene. But I always wanted to tho 😭

This is the second or third video I've just watched on Chinatown, and as someone who considers themself a student of film, I'm embarrassed at how much I miss. Though it's not really my genre, tbh I didn't enjoy it, but having things like this pointed out, I'm starting to respect it more, and appreciate the writing even if I didn't enjoy the movie

Ton of work goes into this. Keep up the good work. Thanks.

Thank you so much for your time and effort your videos are great!!!

YES!

I guess he's crafty but he is not clever though, and that's exactly what propels the plot forward again and again, his vanity. His major flaw is that he thinks he is clever, yet again and again he cannot see what's just in front of his eyes. Until the very end, his vanity is what stops him from saving the characters played by Dunaway and her daughter/sister.

That was a great movie!

Well done sir, I do appreciate it. great work . . ! !

Great screenplay, great directing, great acting!

Wow, this video was very interesting and, in fact, useful. Thank you very much)

The Big Sleep, The Miracle of Morgan Creek, The Friends of Eddie Coyle or The Seven Samari which feels like the shortest 4 hour movie ever. At the end I wanted more.

Love the videos! Great breakdowns on the nuance of screenwriting

Really great video, and amazing movie.

It’s crazy that this video has so fewer views than The Godfather one. This movie is at least as good, and many people consider this the greatest screenplay of all

This is so good.

You are very good at selecting the best movie clips to demonstrate how a screenplay tactic is employed. Could we though have more exposition by you while the movie clips are running, to drive your lessons home into the minds of the viewer?

Thanks for this! Please give us your tips on other great films. Here are some of the best and my favorites: Casablanca, Some Like It Hot, Rebecca, The Cowboys, The English Patient, The Third Man, Dances With Wolves, Gone With The Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Gradúate, Mississippi Burning, All About Eve, Animal House, M*A*S*H, My Fair Lady, Clear and Present Danger, Remains of the Day, Witness for the Prosecution, Marathon Man, Bringing Up Baby, The Philadelphia Story (the first one), From Here to Eternity, Charade, Zorba the Greek, La Strada, Lawrence of Arabia, Patton . . . well, I could go on. But that should get you started.

This was very good. For motifs, I thought you might have mentioned one part of a pair flawed like the watch or even Gittes’s nose.

Thank you for this, I liked the video and the scenes. Maybe I would have preferred a little more commentary, but it's still very good. Keep up the good work!

Thank you for helping me scratch an itch. I am obsessed with this film. Still traumatised by the last scene. Why did Jake call Noah Cross ? He could have been a true hero.

This movie could get very confusing at times but I wasn’t surprised since it very inspired by Raymond Chandler whos work was also the inspiration for the big Lebowski... but the ending was amazing and it had great moment leading up to it Great dialogue, great structure, great screenplay 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Robert Towne

The mad magazine parody was excellent

I love this channel

Chinatown is definitely the best screenplay in my book

Definitely the best script to just read.

So what are your thoughts? Is Chinatown the "greatest" screenplay ever written? I'd love to hear your votes for the greatest script!

Can you please analyze Knives Out for us?

Who told Bekins moving company that there was a shot of one of their trucks in one of your clips? Presto! A Bekins ad coincidentally appears in the middle of your video! Should we get Gittes to investigate?

Just Classic . Up there with Casablanca .

Rango would be a fun script to cover.

Can you do Body Heat, Lawrence Kasdan, 1981?

Is this the 3rd Draft? I can't find the final draft, the 3rd one is different from the movie and I read Robert said once the script was down they didn't stray from it at all. Help?

pls bro can you do one for Blade runner 2049

ChinaTowne

Video just started, but: just for fun I put into youtube search "Jasper Lamar Crabb"....and this came up, lol EDIT: I also once searched for "Road Warrior Dinki Di", and a clip of the right scene was at the top of the list, lol.

Can you cover "Persona" by Ingmar Bergman ...I shall be obliged to you..

I Love You Philip[ MoRIS

Great to celebrate this movie without once having to really think about Roman Polanski. It's so much more than it's director.

the one who disliked probably has getting cheated by his wife recently

guy with the blade is the director - trivia.

jake isn't clever he just believes he's more clever then he really is

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Screenplay is great, but I must say the plot was very complex and confusing at times. This is one of those movies that requires multiple viewings, and I don't like movies that do that on purpose.

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Not sure why the movie's called Chinatown. How much of it actually takes place there ?? The very last scene ??

Prince of Tides

The room is better.

This is Towne and Polanski's screenplay.

No, its not. Its very good though.

I love your channel, but this movie in particular is overrated imo

Really boring movie, why would want to its "secrets"? LOL