**Part of the Best Picture Project**

It's widely accredited as having one of the best scripts ever for a reason. The main mystery is mere surface for what the more sinister answers lie beneath it all (like glasses hiding in a pond). Towne and Polanski's deconstruction of the noir makes Chinatown King of the Neo-noirs, and Polanski brings his European post Holocaust lens for some extra cynicism, and gets John Huston to participate for some extra irony. One of the best films ever made.