109

Gittes, the Jack Nicholson character. He replied that the first question he often asks himself when approaching his character is "What
is this character afraid of?" In other words, what is his/her deepest
ear? Gittes, a private detective who specializes in "discreet investigation," has a certain reputation to uphold, so he always wants to
"look good." He does everything to make a good impression. He
dresses immaculately, has his shoes shined every day, and has his
own code of ethics. Gittes's unspoken, deep-seated fear is not being
taken seriously, looking foolish.
I was very impressed with Bob Towne, both by what he said and
how he said it. He was open, insightful, articulate, engaging, and extremely literate, qualities I genuinely admire. I was so impressed
that I wanted to see Chinatown again; I wanted to see if I'd be able to
catch those little nuances of character and story that Towne had
spoken about that I had missed during my first viewing of the film.
So, one night after work, I went to see it again. And this time, by
the end of the film, when Evelyn Mulwray, the innocent victim, is
killed in Chinatown, I felt I had really seen the movie. When I heard
that familiar last line, "Forget it, Jake __ It's Chinatown," I was
touched, moved, and inspired. The film lingered with me over the
next few days, and various scenes kept coming back to mind.
My experience of Chinatown was literally a voyage of discovery.
Against the backdrop of water runoff and several murders, we follow Jake Gittes as he uncovers the puzzle, one piece at a time. We
learn what's going on at the same time that Gittes does; audience
and character are linked together as they connect the bits and pieces
of seemingly unrelated information, as they assemble this giant jigsaw puzzle.
From the very first images on screena series of photographs
showing a man and woman having sex in the parkwe know this is
a story told in pictures. Over these pictures, we hear the moans and
groans of Curly, the husband of the woman, played by Burt Young.
What does this show? What Jake Gittes, the main character, does for
a living. He's a private detective specializing in divorces, unfaithful
spouses, and "going through other people's dirty linen," as one of
the characters remarks. It's his mtier.
Jake's character is defined by what he does, his actions. Towne

SETTING UP THE STORY

SCREENPLAY

sets up the story in the very first scene. When the phony Mrs.
Mulwray (Diane Ladd) hires Jake to find out who her husband is
having an affair with, he begins his surveillance of Hollis Mulwray.
As he does, the audience learns what Gittes learns.
After Gittes follows Mulwray to the dried-out Los Angeles River
bed, then to the ocean, his long surveillance is rewarded when he
witnesses water being dumped into the ocean. Several hours later,
when Gittes returns to his car, he picks a leaflet off the windshield
declaring, "Our city is dying of thirst!" and "Save our city."
This theme of water is an organic, thematic thread, woven
through the story. As I began tracing the connection of water to the
story, I felt like Gittes when Noah Cross (John Huston) tells him, "You
may think you know what's going on, but believe me, you don't."
When Gittes finds "the girl" at the end of Act I and closes the
case, he sees the pictures he had taken on the front page of the newspaper. (And if you look closely in the background of this scene,
you'll see a car overheating from lack of water.) The headlines
scream "scandal," and when Jake returns to his office, he finds a
woman waiting for him: Faye Dunaway. She confirms they've never
met, then declares she could never have hired him to find out who
her husband is having an affair with. "You see, my name is Mrs.
Evelyn Mulwray": the real Mrs. Mulwray.
This is the key incident in the movie. It is the "key" that unlocks
the story. If Faye Dunaway is the real Mrs. Mulwray, who is the
Diane Ladd character who hired Gittes, claiming to be Mrs. Mulwray?
And who hired the phony Mrs. Mulwray? And why? That's the question that shocks Gittes into action. It is the true beginning of the
story.
The relationship between these scenes of seemingly unrelated
information sets up the entire story. Every scene, every piece of information, no matter how seemingly small, reveals something
about the story and leads to that moment when the real Evelyn
Mulwray shows up. This entire unit of dramatic action serves to establish three things: who the main character is, what the story is
about, and what the dramatic situation is, the circumstances surrounding the action; i.e., "L.A. is dying of thirst."
The first ten pages set up the entire screenplay. What follows are

110