Director
Roman Polanski
Leading Actors/Actresses
Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway
Supporting Actors/Actresses
John Huston
Genre
Neo Noir, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Language
English
Awards
Academy Award for Best Writing: Original Screenplay (by Robert Towne); BAFTA for Best Direction and Best Screenplay
Date of Release
1974
Producer
Robert Evans
Setting and Context
The film is set in Los Angeles in 1937 and depicts the ongoing political conflicts over water rights known as the California Water Wars.
Narrator and Point of View
The film has no narrator; the main point-of view-character is Jake Gittes.
Tone and Mood
The tone is serious and procedural; the mood is tense and ominous.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is J.J. "Jake" Gittes; the chief antagonist is Noah Cross.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is that Jake Gittes wants to protect Evelyn Mulwray from harm while simultaneously uncovering a conspiracy to divert public water and push farmers off their land.
Climax
The film reaches its climax when Noah Cross forces Jake at gunpoint to lead him to Katherine and Evelyn before they can flee; after shooting her father, Evelyn is killed by a police officer. In this turn of events, Jake's attempt to uncover the conspiracy and save Evelyn results in Evelyn's death.
Foreshadowing
The glint of Noah Cross's broken bifocals in the Mulwrays' salt-water pond foreshadows Jake's epiphany that someone drowned Hollis in his own yard.
Understatement
When Jake realizes that one of the Northwest Valley landowners who bought a property in the last week died two weeks earlier, he employs ironic understatement to call the evidence of corruption "unusual."
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
Allusions
The film makes reference to the California Water Wars, a series of political conflicts over water rights between the city of Los Angeles and ranchers in Eastern California.
