Chinatown · reception & legacy
1974 · Roman Polanski
How Chinatown has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
No reappraisal needed — it landed as an instant classic in 1974, earning 11 Oscar nominations, though it walked away with just one (Robert Towne's screenplay) after being steamrolled by The Godfather Part II. Its stature has only hardened since: Towne's script is now routinely called the greatest ever written.
What's debated
It's ground zero for the separate-the-art-from-the-artist debate — a stone-cold masterpiece fans have to caveat because of Polanski, plus a perennial side-argument over whether its famously bleak ending (which Polanski insisted on over Towne's objections) is the whole point or pure cruelty.
Its footprint
"Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown" is one of the most quoted closing lines in movie history, and Nicholson's nose bandage is an instantly recognizable image parodied everywhere; the title itself became shorthand for corruption too deep to fix.
Where it stands
A load-bearing pillar of the New Hollywood canon and screenwriting-class scripture — firmly in 'you must have seen this' territory for anyone getting into 70s cinema.