The film won an Oscar for Best Screenplay, but probably would have won a few more, perhaps even Best Picture, if not for the misfortune of being released in the same year as The Godfather Part II. A lesser example than most, because the winner is also a great film. And Chinatown did beat The Godfather Part II for Best Drama at the Golden Globes.
Then there's Jack Nicholson losing Best Actor. The award (largely seen as a sympathy Oscar) was instead given to Art Carney for the relatively forgettable Harry and Tonto.
And John Huston somehow wasn't even nominated for Best Supporting Actor despite playing one of the most memorable and chilling screen villains of all time.
Complete Monster: Noah Cross is a seemingly jovial, charming businessman who is working to stop a drought impacting Los Angeles. In truth, however, Cross is a ruthless sociopath who is purposefully enabling the drought to work towards creating fertile land he can sell for real estate. Cross murders anyone who could stand in his way, be it random innocents or his own son-in-law, and is revealed to have ignored serious warnings about the stability of the St. Francis Dam, showing zero remorse for the hundreds left dead when the dam inevitably burst due to his own greed. The true extent of Cross's evil is put on display as his daughter Evelyn is revealed to have been raped as a teenager by Cross, and in the present, Cross is attempting to get his hands on Evelyn's Child by Rape, Katherine. In the end, after Evelyn is killed, Cross fakes horror at the scene before swiftly dragging Katherine away, planning to use her as Evelyn's replacement for Cross's pleasure. Noah Cross has stood out for decades as one of cinema's most memorable, and depraved, villains, a reputation handily earned.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Lawrence Walsh serves as one of Jake's two assistants and plays a very minor role in the film, but he helps Jake conduct his investigation into Hollis, at one point spying on a conversation between Hollis and Noah. Also, he has the honor of muttering the Signature Line, "Forget it, Jake—it's Chinatown."
Genius Bonus: Noah Cross's constant (and most likely deliberate) mispronouncing of Jake's name as "Gits" takes on further meaning once you know that, in British slang, the term "git" refers to a foolish or annoying person.
Harsher in Hindsight: The sexual abuse Noah Cross commits within the movie could be seen in a whole new light after director Roman Polański was infamously involved in something similar. This article on Cracked explicitly notes the parallels between how Cross gets off scot-free for his crimes and how Polański himself escaped jail time by fleeing the U.S.
Those who saw Who Framed Roger Rabbit first will enjoy Roger's "pattycake" scene a lot more after watching the opening scene in Chinatown. Rabbit also used the same plot as the never-made third film, Cloverleaf, which involved L.A., the red car line, and freeways.
In one of the grand ironies in film history, Jack Nicholson himself found out shortly after the movie was released that his "sister" was actually his mother, which is damn-near identical to the movie's iconic plot twist. See the Trivia tab for more details.
Jake wants the truth but suffers dire consequences from it. One could say that he can't handle the truth.
James Hong plays the minor role working as a butler for the lead female character named Evelyn.
It Was His Sled: It's such a famous film that the Wham Line " She's my sister and my daughter!" has lost its power as The Reveal to many.
Love to Hate: Everything about Noah Cross. His wicked schemes, ruthless behavior, fake joviality, abuse of his daughter, and beating the law make him one of the vile, and memorable, movie villains.
Roman Polański's brief but notable cameo as the man with a knife.
Moral Event Horizon: If there was any kind of sympathy for Noah Cross, it is long gone when it's revealed that he fathered a daughter upon his own daughter, Mrs. Mulwray, by rape.
The final scene where Cross gets away with his crimes, Evelyn is shot and killed by the police Jake called, and Katherine is taken away before Jake's eyes, all while they tell him to forget it even happened.
"I don't blame myself. You see, Mr. Gittes, most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and the right place, they're capable of ANYTHING."
The "Man with a Knife" (played by the film's director) only appears in one scene with only one line of dialogue (he barely appears later in the background of a sequence), but also sports one of the most memorable lines and is memorably creepy and jumpy, as well as scarring Jake's face for the remainder of the film. Polański wasn't supposed to be in the role himself. Circumstances forced him into doing the part himself — and his natural accent gave the character a weaselly Peter Lorre feel.
"You're a very nosy fella, kittycat. You know what happens to nosy fellas? No? Wanna guess?"
John Huston, as Noah Cross, has all of two (three at a push), very brief, scenes in this very long film. And he's often remembered as one of the most despicable villains in cinematic history.
Realism-Induced Horror: Everything about Noah Cross is horrific, but it becomes even more horrific that people like him actually exist. The parallels with the Jeffrey Epstein case (American financier convicted of sexual crimes who had connections with very powerful individuals) are there.
Evelyn Mulwray. Not only was she raped by her father Noah Cross at the age of 14, but she ran away from home and faced a lot of social stigma. Furthermore, she met a miserable end when she was shot in the eye and her daughter Katherine Mulwray was kidnapped by her abusive father.
Speaking of Katherine Mulwray, special mention goes to the fact that she was a product of Noah's rape, and since her mother was killed, she'll spend the rest of her life as a victim of sexual abuse by her grandfather.
Hollis Mulwray. He knows what a ridiculously evil man Noah Cross is and wants to keep him from controlling the city’s water supply. He refuses to build a dam, knowing it will not be safe based on an earlier accident that killed hundreds of people. He marries Evelyn out of what is implied to be sympathy for her tragic background and genuinely cares for Katherine as a Father Figure. For all this good, he’s set up to be publicly humiliated as an adulterer and murdered by a man who gets away with everything.
The Two Jakes
Captain Obvious Reveal: That Kitty Berman is Katherine Mulwray, especially since Kitty is a nickname for Katherine.
Continuity Lockout: The chief reason The Two Jakes failed. Despite Chinatown's many It Was His Sled moments, Jakes required a lot of knowledge of the previous film for it to have a full impact.
So Okay, It's Average: The movie requires extensive knowledge of Chinatown to understand and lacks any of the shocking twists of the original film. Most agree it's a perfectly serviceable detective film, though.
Tough Act to Follow: Chinatown is considered one of the greatest movies ever made, so The Two Jakes was always going to be disappointing to some.
Vindicated by History: Though it's not nearly the classic the original is, some retrospective reviews have come to recognize The Two Jakes as a worthy sequel to Chinatown, especially if one watches the films back-to-back.
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