"You may think you know what you're dealing with, but believe me, you don't." That's one of the many great lines from the classic film noir Chinatown, which opened forty years ago. It also applies to the film itself. There are probably many things you think you know about the Roman Polanski classic, starring Jack Nicholson, penned by screenwriting legend Robert Towne. You might be right. But there's also a fistful of things you're not aware of in this story of greed and corruption. Just like detective J.J. Gittes himself. Here's a bunch.
1. 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 have none of it. 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."
2. Jake's name is a Hollywood reference. J.J. Gittes was named after Towne's friend, producer Harry Gittes.
3. Huston couldn't say his lines right. He keeps calling Nicholson's character "Mr. Gits." Although Polanski knew that was wrong, he liked it and kept it.
4. The cameraman was replaced. One of the most gorgeously shot films of its time, Chinatown was started by cameraman Stanley Cortez. The look of it was wrong. He was replaced by John Alonzo. The rest is cinematic history.
5. It was Towne's first time. Chinatown was the first produced screenplay by Towne, for which he won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. An auspicious beginning.
6. The third time never happened. Towne conceived of the film as the first part of a trilogy. The second was 1990's The Two Jakes and the third, never made, was going to be called Cloverleaf.
7. Chinatown wasn't as successful as you think. The film cost a reasonable $6 million when it was made. According to IMDb, it made $12.4 million when first released in 1974. As of 2014, it's grossed $29.2 million. For a film nominated for 11 Oscars, not so much dough.
8. Jane Fonda nearly got the role of Evelyn Mulray. Polanski wanted Dunaway. Case closed.
9. Don't bring it up at a pitch meeting. Screenwriting ace Wesley Strick (Cape Fear) has said that when he began pitching stories in mid-'80s Hollywood, he was told by execs to stop referencing Chinatown. "It's considered a succès d'estime," says Strick. "Which is another way to say 'flop.'"
10. It's preserved for posterity. In 1991 Chinatown was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for films that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
11. John Huston almost didn't get the role. The original choice for the grandfatherly, breathtakingly evil Noah Cross was legendary director William Wellman (of Public Enemy fame). Sadly, Wellman died before filming. So Polanski "settled" on director/actor John Huston. Good choice. Is anybody more chillingly cheery than the grand old man of cinema?
12. Even the director loves it. Roman Polanksi, who'd already made Rosemary's Baby and Knife in the Water, considers it his greatest achievement.
13. Polanski didn't want to do it at first. When Nicholson told Polanski about Towne's script, it meant Polanski's return to Los Angeles. His first instinct was "Not to do this." Quite understandably. Four years earlier, Polanski's pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, and several of his friends had been butchered in L.A. by the "family" of a notorious scumbag, still rotting away in prison.
14. The voiceover was cut. An early version of the script has a great deal of narration by Nicholson's character, J.J. Gittes. Where'd that go?
15. Roman wasn't sweet on Dunaway. "She had problems with her lines, she had problems with her delivery, she did not feel comfortable on the set..."
16. He didn't move the camera much. The story and characters were strong enough that Polanski didn't want to make the audience "nauseous" by circling around conversations and, generally, doing fancy moves.
17. Credit goes to John Steinbeck. Polanksi said that as a kid he loved the film version of Of Mice and Men. It stayed with him for a long time and "I felt so sorry for that Lennie" (Lon Chaney Jr.'s tragic character). Its sad ending helped form Chinatown's.
18. The director became the writer. According toPolanski, he wrote the final scene the night before it was shot, because he had a "falling out" with screenwriter Towne.
19. The director says the writer now loves the ending. Polanski says that Towne has since said that "the final approach" was right for the film.
20. They had to go to Chinatown. Polanski also insisted that there be at least one scene in Chinatown. In the original script, there wasn't one. Movie lovers are happy Polanski got his way. The film ends there, with one of cinema's most famous last lines: "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown." Clearly, Jake will never be able to forget what happened there. Neither will we.
