Chinatown
2nd Edition
Published on 14. November 2024
96 pages
978-1-83902-816-8 (ISBN)
Description
Directed in 1974 by Roman Polanski from a script by Robert Towne, Chinatown is a brilliant reworking of film noir set in a drought-stricken Los Angeles of the 1930s. Jack Nicholson stars as J. J. Gittes, a private eye who, despite his best intentions, can bring only disaster on Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway), the enigmatic woman he has come to love. Gittes's investigation into the death of Evelyn's husband exposes a chaos of political corruption and sexual violence lurking beneath a glittering, sun-bleached surface.
Michael Eaton's compelling study situates Chinatown in relation to a history of fictional detectives, from Sophocles to Edgar Allan Poe and Alfred Hitchcock. In an absorbing account of the film's narrative development and visual style, he traces Chinatown's relationship to the pessimism of American cinema (and, by extension, the wider culture) in the mid-1970s, and the source of the film's narrative and visual impact.
In his afterword to this new edition, Eaton considers Chinatown's 1990 sequel The Two Jakes and also the movie's changing fortunes in the years since its release.
Michael Eaton's compelling study situates Chinatown in relation to a history of fictional detectives, from Sophocles to Edgar Allan Poe and Alfred Hitchcock. In an absorbing account of the film's narrative development and visual style, he traces Chinatown's relationship to the pessimism of American cinema (and, by extension, the wider culture) in the mid-1970s, and the source of the film's narrative and visual impact.
In his afterword to this new edition, Eaton considers Chinatown's 1990 sequel The Two Jakes and also the movie's changing fortunes in the years since its release.
More details
Series
Edition
2nd edition
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
60 colour illus
ISBN-13
978-1-83902-816-8 (9781839028168)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Person
Michael Eaton is a screenwriter and playwright based in Nottingham, UK. His screen credits include Fellow Traveller, Signs and Wonders, Shoot to Kill and Why Lockerbie?, and he is the author of Our Friends in the North in the BFI TV Classics series. In 1999 Eaton was awarded MBE for services to film in the New Year's Honours List.
Content
Acknowledgements
'Chinatown'
Afterword to the 2024 Edition
Notes
Credits
Bibliography
'Chinatown'
Afterword to the 2024 Edition
Notes
Credits
Bibliography
