Cinema Rediscovered: Chinatown

A rare chance to experience this classic of New Hollywood, which pierces straight to the heart of American darkness, on its 50th anniversary.

In a legendary performance, three-time Academy Award winner Jack Nicholson stars as private eye Jake Gittes. Hired by a mysterious woman to investigate Hollis Mulwray (Darrell Zwerling), the chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Gittes' sleuthing brings him into contact with Mulwray's wife Evelyn (Academy Award winner Faye Dunaway), a stunning socialite with secrets of her own. As a determined Gittes delves deeper he soon realises that even the City of Angels has a dark side.

A personal project for screenwriter Robert Towne, Chinatown features one of the greatest scripts of all time, and fifty years on, despite the controversy surrounding director Polanski, it continues to resonate with filmgoers and critics, many of whom have declared it the greatest film of all time.