Juri wrote:
"I think CHINATOWN discusses and criticizes the manly myths
as openly and potently as does Altman's film."
I'll do you one better. Though I've been among Altman's
defenders, I think Chinatown deconsructs the image of the
hardboiled PI far more effectively. In fact, I've long
believed Chinatown to be the definitive generations and genre
break in PI fiction.
SPOILER ALERT (but has anyone on this list not seen
Chinantown? Correct that right now if you haven't)
And it's Polanski's new ending that highlights the
difference, moving from small, personal victories in a
corrupt world (as Towne's ending had it, Evelyn killing Cross
and stoically standing trial for his murder while Gittes
spirits her daughter away to Mexico) to complete
ineffectiveness, if not making things worse (as Evelyn is
killed and Cross gets custody of his daughter/granddaughter,
the product of his incest).
"J.J. Gittes is no hero - he could be even less a hero than
Gould's Marlowe. In my eyes, he's more closer to Mike Hammer
in Aldrich and Bezzerides's KISS ME DEADLY: manifestly well
off, but sleazy nevertheless."
That's a very good comparison. Another very good movie, and
one I would agree was disrespectful towards its source
material (Spillane is said to have hated it), improving upon
it in the process.
Mark
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