MovieChat Forums > Chinatown (1974) Discussion > More movies like this?

More movies like this?

posted 8 years ago by Polygraph
18 replies | jump to latest

Can anyone recommend more movies like Chinatown, or something stylistically comparable? What I mean by this, is a genre that I like to call "modern set piece" - i.e. something taking place in more or less recent times (preferably between 1920 and 1950) with a good eye for historical details (clothing, cars, technology etc.) and an intrigueing and complex storyline.
It doesn´t necessarily have to be within the crime/mistery- genre - anything that takes place in that era and tells a good story would be appreciated (but, naturally, no war movies).

Just to give you two examples of what I am talking about - two movies that I have seen recently, that more or less fulfill said criteria are "LA Confidential" and "The Changeling" (2008).

What are your recommendations?

[–] swanstep 8 years ago

Once Upon A Time In America
The Conformist
Purple Rose of Cairo
Radio Days
Tin Drum
Godfather 1&2
Days of Heaven
Belle de Jour

And, pretty lightweight by comparison, but fun:

The Untouchables

[–] wylierichardson-966-922691 8 years ago

Try "Body Heat", a noir-ish thriller-romance from 1981. It was clearly inspired by this movie.

I also thought the poster with the 2 'woody allen' movie references might have been a bit far-fetched with those. Yes, they were set in the 30s, but the overall tone is far different than "Chinatown". Just my 2 cents.

[–] chninlp 8 years ago

"Body Heat" was much more inspired by "Double Indemnity" than this film, although the score to "Body Heat" was highly influenced by "Chinatown".

[–] sokeyt 8 years ago

From Here to Eternity. Despite a few bombs being dropped, I wouldn't consider it a war film.

The Remains of the Day.

Forget it Jake. It's Chinatown.

[–] ecarle 8 years ago

Farewell My Lovely(1975), starring Robert Mitchum as Philip Marlowe, with cinematography by John Alonzo, who photographed "Chinatown." The two films are photographed quite differently, and in different screen sizes. But its another detective movie set in LA.

[–] Doghouse-6 8 years ago

Although I mentioned on another thread that I consider FML's first screen adaptation (Murder My Sweet) definitive of both the genre and the character, I do consider it a tragic missed opportunity that Mitchum didn't play Marlowe - and I hate to be ageist - at what would have been a more appropriate time in his life and during the actual "noir" period; say 25 or so years earlier (and maybe directed by an Edward Dmytryk or Robert Wise).

Poe! You are...avenged!

[–] ecarle 8 years ago

Although I mentioned on another thread that I consider FML's first screen adaptation (Murder My Sweet) definitive of both the genre and the character, I do consider it a tragic missed opportunity that Mitchum didn't play Marlowe - and I hate to be ageist - at what would have been a more appropriate time in his life and during the actual "noir" period; say 25 or so years earlier (and maybe directed by an Edward Dmytryk or Robert Wise).

---

I recall the Mitchum Farewell My Lovely getting some good reviews -- but it got nowhere near the Oscar nominations or respect of Chinatown(despite the films sharing John Alonzo as cinematographer.) There was a lot of weird saluting of Mitchum --since he was FROM the noir 40s -- in a role in which he was pretty clearly overaged for the part.

I don't think ageism is involved if a part is miscast too old...ageism is more when movies aren't made that feature older characters "on the natural."

But we are getting more of THOSE lately. A lot more. Studios seem to understand that the huge Baby Boomer audience is now aged but still interested. We're getting "older people" stories with DeNiro and Redford and Streep.. and the oldsters are enjoying sex and hard action(Liam Neeson's thrillers) alike.

Meanwhile, the Mitchum Farewell My Lovely DID benefit in coming out the year after Chinatown, and in sporting a fair amount of the real dialogue of Chander's original novel.

And then..in both the new Farewell My Lovely and the follow-up...an even OLDER Mitchum in The Big Sleep(moved to LONDON!)...we got Chandler's violent and sexual world with even more violence and nudity than was in Chandler's books.

To the extent I like the "Big Sleep" remake, it is in seeing cameos from pros like James Stewart(as The General who gives Marlowe the case) and Richard Boone(Lash Canino, The Brown Man) facing off against Mitchum. All three actors had the goods...but they were all a bit past it.

Mitchum noted of Stewart's look in The Big Sleep: "The movie was filled with corpses, but Jimmy looked deader than any of them."

Mitchum and Stewart died within days of each other in 1997.

PS. For a good example of an OLDER movie with some elderly lead characters "going at it," consider "The Boys From Brazil" of 1978. Gregory Peck plays a real old Nazi, and Laurence Olivier plays a real old Jewish Nazi Hunter, and the two old guys end up grappling and ripping each others' faces bloody, in a to-the-death fight at the end. The film also features a pretty old James Mason up about the title with Greg and Larry.

[–] bear022013-909-645034 8 years ago

Remains of the Day,I agree.Very few films made since day one can really make
a list after these two and Godfather I and II.
Requires a certain amount of time.
Do not care for From Here to Eternity.But,who cares what I think.

[–] franzkabuki 8 years ago

True Confessions (1981). Another tale of systemic corruption in Los Angeles, taking place right after WW2 and nominally centering around the infamous Black Dahlia murder investigation. The period look is as impeccable as in Chinatown, the vibes similarly melancholy and it reunites Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall (although, of course, in The Godfather 2 they didn't share any scenes) with Duvall giving a particularly excellent performance. It's not a masterpiece, but still a very good character driven, unjustly overlooked film.

And talking of the Black Dahlia case, there's of course the 2006 De Palma movie of the same name, but everybody hates that one.

"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan

[–] eileen-guthrie555 7 years ago

Yeah, don't waste you time it was horrible and really disappointing. I always thought it was an intriguing story that's for sure and remains unsolved crime/murder and I do hope another filmmaker decides to make it. I thought it was badly miscast. I loved True Confessions, two brothers one a LA Homicide Detective and the other an ambitious monsignor. Another film that has the film noir feel "Mulholland Drive," "Memento," "Mulholland Falls,"Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang," "The Usual Suspects" and maybe Sidney Lumet's last film "Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead," "Payback" (director's cut only), and the Coen Brothers first movie "Blood Simple" and "The Grifters" come to mind.

If your going to quote Reagan at least get it right. He said Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the states of facts and evidence. That's the exact quote and he was quoting John Adams, which Adams gave when defending the British soldiers during their trial of the Boston Massacre in 1770.

[–] Doghouse-6 7 years ago

If your going to quote Reagan at least get it right. He said Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the states of facts and evidence. That's the exact quote and he was quoting John Adams, which Adams gave when defending the British soldiers during their trial of the Boston Massacre in 1770.

To be perfectly accurate, franzkabuki does get it right, if out of context. What Reagan said on 8/15/88 was:

“Before we came to Washington, Americans had just suffered the two worst back-to-back years of inflation in 60 years. Those are the facts, and as John Adams said, ‘Facts are stubborn things.’ Interest rates had jumped to over 21 percent. Facts are stubborn things. The median family income fell 5 1/2 percent. Facts are stubborn things. Fuel costs jumped through the atmosphere, more than doubling. Then people waited in gas lines as well as unemployment lines. Facts are stupid things...stubborn things, I should say.”

So it's no more nor less valid than quoting Obama's slips referring to "58 states" or "the Marine Corpse," or famously out-of-context quotations of "You didn't build that" or Hillary Clinton's "What difference does it make?"

Mistakes in speech and omission of context are among the hazards of speaking when in public life, and together they're a double whammy. Is being accurate but misleading fair? Who can say? As Dan Quayle might put it, "You say 'potato,' and I say 'potatoe.'"

Poe! You are...avenged!

[–] chauhan-mg 8 years ago

There is an Indian movie called "manorma six feet under"(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0920464/) that is actually inspired/based on chinatown itself...but the plot is slightly different and the acting is top notch...you probably have to use subtitles though...

[–] espdemon-18077 8 years ago

To OP.. Look, there is only one Chinatown. There is nothing like it. LA Confidential was a good story but it's no Chinatown. What you may want to do is go back and watch some of the old film Noirs like Out of the Past, Where the Sidewalk Ends, The Killers, A Touch of Evil etc.... In fact... The one film that holds its weight against Chinatown pretty well is A Touch of Evil. It's a must see if you have not had the pleasure of watching it already.

[–] ninofrank 8 years ago

Hollywoodland

Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown.

[–] DaveBowman2001 8 years ago

Inherent Vice Different period, but similar complex plot
The Big Sleep
The Long Goodbye
Millers Crossing
The Man Who Wasn't there.
The Hudsucker proxy

[–] 7 years ago

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