Book in a Quick Look

Chinatown: A convergence of fraud, murder, and incest

Chinatown is the 1974 film noir directed by Roman Polanski. A modernized interpretation of classic film noir, Chinatown stars Jack Nicholson as J.J. Gittes, a Los Angeles private detective, Faye Dunaway as Evelyn Mulwray, a victim of incest and daughter of one of Los Angeles' most powerful men, and John Huston as Noah Cross, a corrupt business man and Evelyn's father. Chinatown, though released in 1974, is set in Los Angeles during the 1920s and not only revolves around a murder, incest, and a conspiracy to control the water supply in the city, but is also one of the few films to make reference to the California Water Wars.

In the film, J.J. Gittes is a private detective that has been hired by a woman impersonating Evelyn Mulwray who claims that she wants to hire Gittes to perform marital surveillance on her husband, Hollis Mulwray. In the process of following Hollis and attempting to catch him with his mistress, Gittes notices that Hollis has been checking in at major water drainage points throughout the city. Shortly thereafter, Hollis is found drowned in one of the drainage points that he was investigating. Incidentally, Gittes had found out that he had been duped by an imposter posing as Evelyn Mulwray when the real Evelyn subpoenaed him; it was only after her husband was murdered that Evelyn hired Gittes to investigate Hollis' murder. During the course of the investigation into what could have led to the murder of Hollis, Gittes also finds that Ida Sessions, the woman who had impersonated Evelyn at the beginning of the film, has also been brutally murdered. Furthermore, he uncovers that Hollis' murder was caused by his desire to make the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power a public entity; the Department of Water and Power was privately owned by Hollis Mulwray and Noah Cross. As Gittes looks further into the motivating factors that led to Hollis' death, he uncovers a conspiracy that would allow the Department of Water and Power to remain privatized; moreover, Gittes discovers that Noah Cross has been terrorizing ranchers in the San Fernando Valley by poisoning their water supply and destroying their water tanks. The water that the L.A. Department of Water and Power supplies to the city is pumped from the San Fernando Valley and passes through the land that is owned by these ranchers. Additionally, Gittes uncovers a ploy orchestrated by Noah Cross to buy as much property as possible thereby securing water rights throughout the San Fernando Valley even if it means that he has to use the names and identities of people that have died.

In addition to the conspiracy to control all the water rights of the San Fernando Valley that has been orchestrated by Noah Cross it is also revealed that Noah used to have an incestuous relationship with his daughter, Evelyn, who went on to marry Noah's business partner, Hollis, when she found out that she was pregnant with her sister/daughter. When Gittes uncovers the Cross family secret, he tries to arrange for Evelyn and her sister/daughter, Katherine, to escape the clutches of Noah's grasp. Unfortunately, Noah learns of Gittes' and Evelyn's plan and in his attempt to stop his daughter, Evelyn, from leaving with Katherine, Evelyn is killed in a shoot out between herself and the police.