Los Angeles is the capital of film noir
50 years after “Chinatown”, the city is still inspiring new takes on the genre
![Jack Nicholson, "Chinatown" (1974)](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20240622_CUP502.jpg)
“MIDDLE OF A drought and the water commissioner drowns,” the mortician remarks drily to Jake Gittes, a private investigator played by Jack Nicholson (pictured): “Only in LA.” Indeed. June 20th marks the 50th anniversary of the release of “Chinatown”, the film truest to the Los Angeles of the countless noirs set in America’s second-most-populous city. Other films revolve around Hollywood—or at least its dark, gritty edges—where every millionaire, wannabe actor and insurance agent has a secret worth killing for. But Gittes was fixated on water, or the lack thereof, a perennial problem in a city that is otherwise constantly changing.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “No city of angels”
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