Chinatown Ending Explained
Chinatown came out in 1974. It stars Jack Nicholson as Jake Gittes, a private detective in 1930s Los Angeles. Directed by Roman Polanski and written by Robert Towne, the film mixes a classic detective story with a dark twist on corruption and power.https://www.imdb.com/news/ni63919920/
Jake starts with a simple job. A woman hires him to catch her husband, Hollis Mulwray, cheating. Mulwray runs the city’s water department. Jake follows him and snaps photos. But things go wrong fast. The wife turns out to be fake. The real Mrs. Mulwray, Evelyn, played by Faye Dunaway, shows up angry.https://www.deviantart.com/bkno/art/Fixing-Chinatown-Movies-1277096116
As Jake digs deeper, he uncovers a big scam. Rich men like Noah Cross, played by John Huston, steal water from farmers to buy cheap land in the valley. They dump water into the ocean to fake a drought. This lets them grab the land for cheap. Hollis Mulwray finds out and pays for it. His body turns up drowned in a dry riverbed.https://miscelana.com/2025/12/29/chinatown-the-1974-noir-david-fincher-wants-to-revisit/https://www.deviantart.com/bkno/art/Fixing-Chinatown-Movies-1277096116
Jake teams up with Evelyn. They learn Noah Cross is her father. Worse, he raped her as a teen. She had a daughter from it. Evelyn hid the girl to protect her. Cross wants the girl back. He sees her as his property, like the land and water he controls. Cross killed Hollis because he stood in the way.https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/roman-polanski/chinatown-roman-polanski-responsibility-noirhttps://miscelana.com/2025/12/29/chinatown-the-1974-noir-david-fincher-wants-to-revisit/
The ending hits hard in Chinatown. Jake sets up a meet to save Evelyn and the girl. Cross shows up with thugs and crooked cops. Jake tries to tell the police about the murders and water theft. They ignore him. Cross grabs the girl. Evelyn shoots him in the arm to escape with her daughter. A cop panics and shoots Evelyn in the face. She dies. Cross walks off with the girl. Jake’s partners pull him away. One says the famous line: Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.https://www.imdb.com/news/ni63919920/https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/roman-polanski/chinatown-roman-polanski-responsibility-noir
This finale shocked people. No hero wins. No bad guy gets caught. It shows power wins every time. The story draws from real California water wars, but the plot and end are made up.https://www.imdb.com/news/ni63919920/https://jaysanalysis.com/chinatown-did-this-movie-have-hidden-warnings-about-corruption/
Towne and Polanski fought over the end. Towne wanted something big and detailed. Polanski kept it short and brutal. Towne later agreed it worked better. After all the twists, a simple gut punch fits. Chinatown means a place where rules don’t apply. Jake can’t fix it.https://miscelana.com/2025/12/29/chinatown-the-1974-noir-david-fincher-wants-to-revisit/
The film warns about elite corruption. Noah Cross acts like he owns everything and everyone. Systems protect him. Exposure changes nothing.https://jaysanalysis.com/chinatown-did-this-movie-have-hidden-warnings-about-corruption/
Sources
https://www.imdb.com/news/ni63919920/
https://miscelana.com/2025/12/29/chinatown-the-1974-noir-david-fincher-wants-to-revisit/