History YMMV / Chinatown

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Music/JerryGoldsmith's beautifully evocative score, highlighted by the main title theme with its melancholy trumpet solo. Possibly the famous replacement score ever- Philip Lambro's thrown-out score was released on a limited edition release which [[ExecutiveMeddling leaves the movie's name off the packagoing]].

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Music/JerryGoldsmith's beautifully evocative score, highlighted by the main title theme with its melancholy trumpet solo.

* TrueArtIsAngsty: Richard Evans, the film's producer, wanted Roman Polanski as director because he thought Polanski, a european, would have a DarkerAndEdgier vision of the USA more suited to the script. For his part, Polanski also insisted that the script's conclusion be changed from a BittersweetEnding reminiscent of classic film noir stories to a stark and nihilistic DownerEnding, thinking that they needed to go all the way now that the Hays Code was gone and that it was necessary for Chinatown to be a truly special film and not just a cookier-cutter Hollywood movie where everything magically works out in the end.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Back in the day, Creator/JohnHuston played a different, far more benevolent, Noah in 1966's ''The Bible''.

* NeutralEvil: [[spoiler:Noah Cross]] is a FauxAffablyEvil tycoon who has more money and power than he knows what to do with. Doesn't matter: he wants more.

* AwesomeMusic: Music/JerryGoldsmith's beautifully evocative score, highlighted by the main title theme with its melancholy trumpet solo.

* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad Noah Cross]] is a [[FauxAffablyEvil seemingly jovial, charming]] businessman who is working to stop a drought impacting Los Angeles. In truth, however, Cross is a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive ruthless sociopath]] who is purposefully enabling the drought to work towards creating fertile land he can sell for real estate. Cross murders anyone who could stand in his way, be it random innocents or his own son-in-law, and is revealed to have ignored serious warnings about the stability of the St. Francis Dam, showing zero remorse for the hundreds left dead when the dam inevitably burst due to his Cross's own greed. The true extent of Cross's evil is put on display as his daughter Evelyn is revealed to have been [[VillainousIncest raped as a teenager by Cross]], and in the present, Cross is attempting to get his hands on Evelyn's ChildByRape, Katherine. In the end, after Evelyn is killed, Cross fakes horror at the scene before swiftly dragging Katherine away, planning to use her as Evelyn's replacement for Cross's pleasure. Noah Cross has stood out for decades as one of cinema's most memorable, and depraved, villains, a reputation handily earned.

* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad Noah Cross]] is a [[FauxAffablyEvil seemingly jovial, charming]] businessman who is working to stop a drought impacting Los Angeles. In truth, however, Cross is a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive ruthless sociopath]] who is purposefully enabling the drought to work towards creating fertile land he can sell for real estate. Cross murders anyone who could stand in his way, be it random innocents or his own son-in-law, and is revealed to have ignored serious warnings about the stability of the St. Francis Dam, showing zero remorse for the hundreds left dead when the dam inevitably burst due to his Cross's own greed. The true extent of Cross's evil is put on display as his daughter Evelyn is revealed to have been [[VillainousIncest raped as a teenager by Cross]], and in the present, Cross is attempting to get his hands on Evelyn's ChildByRape, Katherine. In the end, after Evelyn is killed, Cross fakes horror at the scene before swiftly dragging Katherine away, planning to use her as Evelyn's replacement for Cross's pleasure. [[note]]She managed to escape before the sequel.[[/note]] Noah Cross has stood out for decades as one of cinema's most memorable, and depraved, villains, a reputation handily earned.

* ItWasHisSled: It's such a famous film that "[[spoiler:[[WhamLine She's my sister and my daughter!]]]]" has lost its power as TheReveal to many.
* MemeticMutation: "Forget it, _____. It's _______"

** An interesting use of this trope. Creator/JohnHuston, as Noah Cross, has all of two (three at a push), very brief, scenes in this very long film. And he's often remembered as [[spoiler:one of the most despicable villains in cinematic history.]]
** Also Creator/DianeLadd as "Mrs. Mulwray" (aka Ida Sessions), who hires Gittes in the first scene. She does turn up a couple times later, first as a voice on the phone and then [[spoiler:as a corpse]].
** And [[CreatorCameo Polanski himself]], as the Man with the Knife. "You're a very nosy fella, kittycat. You know what happens to nosy fellas? No? Wanna guess?"[[note]]And Polanski wasn't supposed to be in the role himself. Circumstances forced him into doing the part himself.[[/note]]

** And then there's Creator/JackNicholson losing Best Actor. The award (largely seen as a sympathy Oscar) was given to Creator/ArtCarney for the forgettable fluff piece ''Harry and Tonto''.

* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:Noah Cross is a 1930's CorruptCorporateExecutive who doesn't even know his own net worth, outside of the fact that it's a great deal over ten million[[note]]almost 200 million in 2016[[/note]], only caring about accumulating as much money and power as possible. In the midst of a drought in Los Angeles, Cross dumps away thousands of gallons of water in order to build up support for his new reservoir project. Drying up the northwest San Fernando Valley by depriving it of water, Cross also poisons the wells and blows up the water tanks of the valley's landowners to coerce them into selling their land dirt cheap. Once the valley is his, Cross plans to use his new proposed reservoir to irrigate the land and increase its worth by millions. However, his business partner, and son-in-law, Hollis Mulwray, hinders his plan. Previously Cross had convinced Mulwray to build a dam in an area known to be geologically unstable. The result was that the dam burst and 500 people died. Even though Cross knows that the new reservoir would suffer from the exact same geologic instability as the previous one, he still demands Mulwray build it. After Mulwray discovers Cross's crimes and conspiracy, Cross kills him by drowning him in a tide pool. However, the most disgusting crime Cross committed was what he did to his daughter Evelyn. When she was just 15 years old, [[ParentalIncest Cross raped her]], traumatizing her for life and fathering another daughter with her. Cross's secondary goal in the movie is to take possession of his "grandchild" with the intention of subjecting her to the same abuse he subjected Evelyn to. Despite all of this, Cross says he doesn't blame himself for his actions because he believes, under the right circumstances, men are capable of anything, ignorant of the fact that this is only true for [[TheSociopath men like him]].]]

** In one of the grand ironies in film history, Jack Nicholson himself found out shortly after the movie was released that [[spoiler: his "sister" was [[FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo actually his mother]], which is [[LifeImitatesArt damn-near identical]] to the movie's iconic plot twist. See the Trivia tab for more details.

** And then there's Creator/JackNicholson losing Best Actor. The award (Largely seen as a sympathy Oscar) was given to Creator/ArtCarney for the forgettable fluff piece ''Harry And Tonto''.

** Also Diane Ladd as "Mrs. Mulwray" (aka Ida Sessions), who hires Gittes in the first scene. She does turn up a couple times later, first as a voice on the phone and then [[spoiler:as a corpse]].

* NeverTrustATitle: Kind of. The titular Chinatown appears only at the very end of the movie and overall is used more as a metaphor for the corruption prevalent in LA. While there are a few Chinese characters working as house maids, the actual ethnicity doesn't matter. The movie could have just as well have been called "The Mexican District" or "Little Italy" and it wouldn't make a difference.

* VindicatedByHistory: ''The Two Jakes'' is now recognized as a worthy sequel to ''Chinatown'', especially if one watches the films back-to-back.

* NeutralEvil: Noah Cross is a FauxAffablyEvil tycoon who has more money and power than he knows what to do with. Doesn't matter: he wants more.

** [[spoiler:John Huston]] plays one of the most chilling villains of all time, and yet was not nominated for a supporting Oscar.
** And then there's Jack Nicholson losing Best Actor. The award (Largely seen as a sympathy Oscar) was given to Art Carney for the forgettable fluff piece ''Harry And Tonto''.

* HarsherInHindsight: [[spoiler:The sexual abuse Noah Cross commits within the movie]] could be seen in a whole new light after attention was brought to a real-life court case implicating Polanski himself in something similar. [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19918_6-terrible-decisions-that-gave-us-great-movie-moments_p2.html This]] article on Website/{{Cracked}} explicitly notes the parallels between how [[spoiler:Cross]] gets off [[KarmaHoudini scott-free]] for his crimes and how Polanski himself escaped jail time by fleeing the U.S.[[note]]This is technically not quite what happened, as Polanski's tvtropes page attests. Polanski confessed to his crime, and as per a plea bargain accepted to spend time in Chino Prison as part of a psychiatric evaluation. Polanski spent 42 Days in Chino, honouring his part of the plea bargain and was released early as per the recommendation of his probation officer. It was only when Judge Rittenbrand decided to back out of the plea bargain and planned to bring fresh charges that Polanski decided to flee, an action which the prosecutor of that case admitted was a justified response. In other words, unlike Cross whose crime is never unearthed and who does not admit to his crimes, Polanski both admitted to his crime and subjected himself to the justice system[[/note]]
* HilariousInHindsight: After this film was released, Creator/JoanCrawford declared that Faye Dunaway would be perfect to play her in a biography. [[Literature/MommieDearest Okay, stop laughing, it's true.]]

** And [[CreatorCameo Polanski himself]], as the Man with the Knife. "You're a very nosy fella, kittycat. You know what happens to nosy fellas? No? Wanna guess?"

* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:Noah Cross is a 1930's CorruptCorporateExecutive who doesn't even know his own net worth, outside of the fact that it's a great deal over ten million[[note]]almost 200 million in 2016[[/note]], only caring about accumulating as much money and power as possible. In the midst of a drought in Los Angeles, Cross dumps away thousands of gallons of water in order to build up support for his new reservoir project. Drying up the northwest San Fernando Valley by depriving it of water, Cross also poisons the wells and blows up the water tanks of the valley's landowners to coerce them into selling their land dirt cheap. Once the valley is his, Cross plans to use his new proposed reservoir to irrigate the land and increase its worth by millions. However, his business partner, and son-in-law, Hollis Mulwray, hinders his plan. Previously Cross had convinced Mulwray to build a dam in an area known to be geologically unstable. The result was that the dam burst and 500 people died. Even though Cross knows that the new reservoir would suffer from the exact same geologic instability as the previous one, [[LackOfEmpathy he still demands Mulwray build it]]. After Mulwray discovers Cross's crimes and conspiracy, Cross kills him by drowning him in a tide pool. However, the most disgusting crime Cross committed was what he did to his daughter Evelyn. When she was just 15 years old, [[ParentalIncest Cross raped her]], traumatizing her for life and fathering another daughter with her. Cross's secondary goal in the movie is to take possession of his "grandchild" with the intention of subjecting her to the same abuse he subjected Evelyn to. Despite all of this, Cross says he doesn't blame himself for his actions because he believes, under the right circumstances, men are capable of anything, ignorant of the fact that this is only true for [[TheSociopath men like him]].]]

* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:Noah Cross is a 1930's CorruptCorporateExecutive who doesn't even know his own net worth, outside of the fact that it's a great deal over ten million[[note]]almost 200 million in 2016[[/note]], only caring about accumulating as much money and power as possible. In the midst of a drought in Los Angeles, Cross dumps away thousands of gallons of water in order to build up support for his new reservoir project. Drying up the northwest San Fernando Valley by depriving it of water, Cross also poisons the wells and blows up the water tanks of the valley's landowners to coerce them into selling their land dirt cheap. Once the valley is his, Cross plans to use his new proposed reservoir to irrigate the land and increase its worth by millions. However, his business partner, and son-in-law, Hollis Mulwray, hinders his plan. Previously Cross had convinced Mulwray to build a dam in an area known to be geologically unstable. The result was that the dam burst and 500 people died. Even though Cross knows that the new reservoir would suffer from the exact same geologic instability as the previous one, he still demands Mulwray build it. After Mulwray discovers Cross's crimes and conspiracy, Cross kills him by drowning him in a tide pool. However, the most disgusting crime Cross committed was what he did to his daughter Evelyn. When she was just 15 years old, [[ParentalIncest Cross raped her]], traumatizing her for life and fathering another daughter with her. Cross's secondary goal in the movie is to take possession of his "grandchild" with the intention of subjecting her to the same abuse he subjected Evelyn to. Despite all of this, Cross says he doesn't blame himself for his actions because he believes, under the right circumstances, men are capable of anything, ignorant of the fact that this is only true for [[TheSociopath men like him]].]]

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Back in the day, John Houston played a different, far more benevolent, Noah in 1966's ''The Bible''.

* TearJerker:
** [[spoiler:Noah Cross gets away it with all. Mrs. Mulray is dead, her sister/daughter is taken away by Noah, Jake can't do anything to stop this and is told the famous line before solemnly walking away]]. If any of that didn't make you jerk a tear then the absolutely depressing music that plays when Jake's walking away certainly will.
--->"Forget it, Jake...It's Chinatown."
** In the sequel, the very last line: "It (the past) never goes away." Neither Jake [[spoiler: nor Katherine]] can ever catch a break or forget.