October 8, 2025
SIFF and Greg Olson Productions Present
L.A. NOIR
shadows in paradise
The Two Jakes (1990) At the ending of Roman Polanski’s Chinatown (1974), written by Robert Towne, starring Jack Nicholson as 1930s detective J. J. Gittes and Faye Dunaway as his love Evelyn Mulwray, Gittes is a shattered man. Evelyn’s been killed, her young daughter Catherine spirited away by her incestuous father/grandfather. What happens next? With Robert Towne writing and Nicholson directing, Gittes has fought in World War II and is back in L.A. As Nicholson says, “Gittes was originally kind of fast, full of piss and vinegar. Like America, he’s been through the war, he’s a bit less likely to go off, a bit more laid-back. Plus he’s heavier. At that point my cholesterol could have been spread on bread. I’m at least 75% of every character I play. Gittes owns his office building, belongs to the country club. He’s watching the new morality develop. He watches people being immoral all day, and he believes in divorce. He doesn’t believe marriage is an act of God, he thinks he’s helping people . . . .” He always does, full of good intentions, but he has a way of not seeing what’s really going on. In Chinatown he tells Evelyn that in the past “I thought I was keeping someone from being hurt, and actually I ended up making sure they were hurt.” And tragically, that dynamic repeats with Evelyn and Catherine. Author Sam Wassojn (The Big Goodbye) notes that Nicholson as director emphasizes the idea of the past as present. “Nicholson doted on vintage costumes, tailoring, the color palette. He wanted the early scenes evocative of Charles Sheeler, painter of the rising 20th century technological landscape, later scenes recalling desert painter Maynard Dixon. He pictured a visual correlate to the theme of doubling, foreground-background layering, the film’s images melding in cross-dissolves, devising ways to state, in screen terms, the feeling of return. Lifelong Angeleno Robert Towne’s “pastel sensibility” was attuned to “a light wash of colors with the delicacy of a gouche, the whisper of a pink-gold sunset, the scent of eucalyptus, desert wind and ocean salt spray.” But predatory capitalism was devouring his beloved land: “They’re going to mine it until it runs dry.” So in Jake Gittes Towne saw “A guy used to petty crime getting involved in a truly evil crime, allowing him to see larger implications, if he can. When a crime can no longer contain or content itself with the past, and insists on visiting the future, it’s no longer a crime—it becomes a sin, very difficult to punish.” Deep, soul-searching themes, presented by master showmen. As Nicholson says, “At night producer Bob Evans and I sit up at his house alone, wondering if we’re the last ones left who feel the the main artery pumping blood into Hollywood is glamour, excitement and fun.” Thanks to poet, film curator and teacher Tova Gannana for her film essay and her L.A. Cruising, Radio On pre-film playlist.
Directed by: Jack Nicholson Screenplay by: Robert Towne Cinematography by: Vilmos Zsigmond Music by: Van Dyke Parks Edited by: Anne Goursad THE PLAYERS: Jack Nicholson as J. J. Gittes Harvey Keitel as Jake Berman Meg Tilly as Kitty Berman Madeleine Stowe as Lillian Bodine Eli Wallach as Cotton Weinberg Ruben Blades as Mickey Nice Frederic Forrest as Newly David Keith as Loach Richard Farnsworth as Earl Rawly Tracy Walter as Tyrone Otley Joe Mantell as Walsh James Hong as Kahn Perry Lopez as Captain Escobar Faye Dunaway as the voice of Evelyn Mulwray