Chinatown is the Los Angeles neighborhood that gives Roman Polanski’s film Chinatown its title.
Released in 1974, the film follows private investigator J. J. “Jake” Gittes as he uncovers corruption connected with water, land and political power in 1930s Los Angeles. Chinatown is both a real district and a crucial setting in the story’s backstory and ending.
The screenplay was written by Robert Towne, and Jack Nicholson played Gittes. The film’s famous final line, “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown,” has made the neighborhood name shorthand for a situation marked by confusion, corruption and institutional failure. The movie is set primarily in Los Angeles, not in the modern city of the film’s release period.