Chinatown (1974)

Director
Roman Polanski

Main cast
Jack Nicholson; Faye Dunaway; John Huston; Perry Lopez; John Hillerman

Genres
Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Description
Private eye Jake Gittes lives off the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-World War II Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite to investigate her husband's extra-marital affair, Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits, uncovering a web of personal and political scandals that come crashing together.


Similar movies

As a corporate auditor who works in a number of different offices, Jonathan McQuarry wanders without an anchor among New York's power brokers. A chance meeting with charismatic lawyer Wyatt Bose leads to Jonathan's introduction to The List, an underground sex club. Jonathan begins an affair with a woman known only as S, who introduces Jonathan to a world of treachery and murder.
An arrogant, high-powered attorney takes on the case of a poor altar boy found running away from the scene of the grisly murder of the bishop who has taken him in. The case gets a lot more complex when the accused reveals that there may or may not have been a 3rd person in the room. The intensity builds when a surprise twist alters everyone's perception of the crime and what happens next...
A wax museum run by a demented doctor contains statues of such crime figures as Jack the Ripper and Bluebeard. In addition to making wax statues the doctor performs plastic surgery. It is here that an arch fiend takes refuge. The museum also houses a statue of Charlie. Frustrated number-two son kicks statue in rear; oops, number-two son wrong in his assumption
Based on the actual case files for one of the most intriguing unsolved crimes in America, "Zodiac" tells the story of a serial killer that terrified the San Francisco Bay Area, taunting police with his ciphers and letters. The case becomes an obsession for four men as their lives and careers are built and destroyed by the endless trail of clues.
Slevin is mistakenly put in the middle of a personal war between the city’s biggest criminal bosses. Under constant watch, Slevin must try not to get killed by an infamous assassin and come up with an idea of how to get out of his current dilemma. A film with many twists and turns.
A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he's investigating.
After her cheating husband leaves her, Mildred Pierce proves she can become independent and successful, but can't win the approval of her spoiled daughter.
Two Boston area detectives investigate a little girl's kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally. Based on the Dennis Lehane novel.
Frederick Manion, an Army lieutenant, is arrested for the murder of bartender Barney Quill. In his defense, he claims that Quill raped and beat up his wife Laura. Although Laura supports her husband's story, the police surgeon cannot find evidence of rape. Manion is defended by Paul Biegler, a humble small-town lawyer. During the course of interviews, Biegler discovers that Manion is violently possessive and jealous, and that his wife has a reputation for giving her favors to other men. Biegler realizes that the prosecution will try to make the court believe that Laura was the lover of the bartender and that Manion killed him and beat her up when he discovered them together. Manion pleads "not guilty" and Biegler, who knows that his case is weak, sets his assistants to try to find a witness who will save Manion.
A retired San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.
A man receives a mysterious e-mail appearing to be from his wife, who was murdered years earlier. As he frantically tries to find out whether she's alive, he finds himself being implicated in her death.
Detective Philip Marlowe tries to help a friend who is accused of murdering his wife.
The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of criminals who have kidnapped her child.
After being double-crossed and left for dead, a mysterious man named Walker single-mindedly tries to retrieve the rather inconsequential sum of money that was stolen from him.
Emma is an attractive girl in her 20s who has been blind for 20 years. A new type of eye operation partially restores her sight, but she is having problems: sometimes she doesn't "remember" what she's seen until later. One night she is awakened by a commotion upstairs. Peering out of her door, she sees a shadowy figure descending the stairs. Convinced that her neighbour has been murdered she approaches the police, only to find that she is unsure if it was just her new eyes playing tricks on her.
Phil Gaines is a bitter, cynical cop who investigates the case of a dead stripper/porno actress found on the beach. Gaines is experiencing a troubled relationship with a hooker, and things don't get any better when the dead girl's father launches his own investigation.
A pair of girls seeking adventure beyond the their Western Washington trailer park encounter the area's most ruthless serial killer. Based on Sheriff David Reichert's book, "Chasing the Devil: My Twenty-Year Quest to Capture the Green River Killer".
While doing a friend a favor and searching for a runaway teenager, a police detective stumbles upon a bizarre band of criminals about to pull off a bank robbery.
Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones leads an all-star cast in this psychological thriller based on the bestselling novel by James Lee Burke. While on an investigation into a series of grisly murders, veteran detective Dave Robicheaux (Jones) navigates his way through the Louisiana bayou and the dark, sultry world of New Orleans mobster "Baby Feet" Balboni (John Goodman). Layers of corruption and long-dead secrets reawaken grudges and a lethal alliance A tangled web of killings, past and present, converges in a shocking showdown with stakes that become deeply personal to Robicheaux and his family. Featuring music from five-time GRAMMY Award-winner Buddy Guy, this film takes you deep into Cajun country's hidden worlds.
Ex con turned private investigator Bradford Galt (Mark Stevens) suspects someone is following him and maybe even trying to kill him. With the assistance of his spunky secretary, Lucille Ball, he dives deep into a mystery in search of answers.
A journalist goes undercover to ferret out businessman Harrison Hill as her best friend's killer. Posing as one of his temps, she enters into a game of online cat-and-mouse.
On the afternoon of July 1, 1981, Los Angeles police responded to a distress call on Wonderland Avenue and discovered a grisly quadruple homicide. The police investigation that followed uncovered two versions of the events leading up to the brutal murders - both involving legendary porn actor John Holmes. You're about to experience both versions.
An ethical Baltimore defense lawyer disgusted with rampant legal corruption is asked to defend a judge he despises in a rape trial. But if he doesn't do it, the judge will have him disbarred.
A retired ex-cop and private detective gets mixed up in murder when he is asked to deliver blackmail money and walks into a 20 year old case involving the mysterious disappearance of an actress' former husband.
Uncle John revolves around the struggle to keep a mysterious disappearance unsolved
Wes Block is a detective who's put on the case of a serial killer. His victims are young and pretty women, which he rapes and murders. The murders are getting personal when the killer chooses victims who are acquaintances of Block. Even his daughters are threatened.
A jealous musician kills his wife and frames a cab driver.
The murder of a prostitute in Nazi occupied Warsaw draws Wehrmacht Major Grau into an investigation where the evidence points to one of three high ranking Generals. The trail leads Grau from Warsaw to Paris and straight into the 1944 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, of which two of the Generals are deeply involved. Grau's case goes unfinished and it is not until 1965 when the true killer is brought to justice.
Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and — if he has his way — every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians who are under his control. It’s enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop… except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) and Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), who come together to try to tear Cohen’s world apart.
A driven young man (Gyllenhaal) stumbles upon the underground world of L.A. freelance crime journalism. When Lou Bloom, desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story. Aiding him in his effort is Nina, a TV-news veteran.
Jackie Chan reprises his role as Chan Ka-Kui (also known in some versions as Jackie) yet again as a Hong Kong cop who works with Interpol to track down and arrest an illegal weapons dealer. Later Jackie realizes that things are not as simple as they appear and soon find himself a pawn of an organisation posing as Russian intelligence.
In the combustible action franchise's final installment, maverick detectives Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh square off against Asian mobster Wah Sing Ku, who's up to his neck in slave trading and counterfeit currency. With help from gumshoe Leo Getz and smart-aleck rookie cop Lee Butters, Riggs and Murtaugh aim to take down Ku and his gang.
In New York, racist Capt. Stanley White becomes obsessed with destroying a Chinese-American drug ring run by Joey Tai, an up-and-coming young gangster as ambitious as he is ruthless. While pursuing an unauthorized investigation, White grows increasingly willing to violate police protocol, resorting to progressively violent measures -- even as his concerned wife, Connie, and his superiors beg him to consider the consequences of his actions.
It's tough beat for San Francisco police lieutenant Jake Martin (Walter Matthau) when he has to investigate a city bus massacre in which a madman opened machine gunfire on eight people.
Rembrandt Macy (Tom Berenger) is a maverick cop assigned to a case where the primary evidence is a woman's hand found in a pond. Investigators identify the dead, and Macy is lead into a young woman's past. Macy's primary path to understanding the victim is through one of her roommates, Nikki. Through Nikki and others, Macy learns of the victim's shady contacts at City Hall, the involvement of a gang of Asian drug runners, and the sordid affairs of one of the city's bigwigs. As Macy begins to understand how all these crimes fit together, he learns that his new friend Nikki is not an innocent bystander.
22 Female Kottayam, also known as 22FK, is a 2012 Indian rape and revenge film directed by Aashiq Abu and starring Rima Kallingal and Fahad Fazil in the lead roles. The film deals with the travails of a nurse who was victimised for no fault of hers and who takes revenge on her tormentors in a rather unusual manner. Set and filmed in Bangalore, the film released on April 13, 2012, and received strongly positive reviews from critics. It was also well received at the box-office.
Cat burglar Henry Clarke and his accomplices the Moreaus attempt to steal diamonds from the chateau of millionaire Salinas.
A man who has failed as a father and husband commits a heist to make money for his fledging business, but things become complicated when his wife interferes.
A struggling, unemployed young writer takes to following strangers around the streets of London, ostensibly to find inspiration for his new novel.
A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.
In neo-noir fashion El Aura narrates in the first person the hallucinating voyage of Espinoza, a quiet, cynical taxidermist, who suffers epilepsy attacks, and is obsessed with committing the perfect crime.
A multi-strand narrative set in early 1980's Los Angeles, that deftly balances a vast array of characters who represent both the top of the heap and the bottom. Connecting the intertwining strands are a group of beautiful, blonde young men and women who sleep all day and party all night, doing drugs and one another with abandon, never realising that they are dancing on the edge of a volcano.
Raymond Lembecke (Vincent Gallo) is a con just out of prison after serving time for selling drugs for his mob boss Tony Vago (Rod Steiger). (Lembecke was innocent and took the rap for Vago.) Lembecke thinks Vago owes him big time so, when his former boss gets him a measly job in a warehouse, he decides on revenge and plans to steal a million dollars worth of drugs from him.
The Driver specializes in driving getaway cars for robberies. His exceptional talent has prevented him from being caught yet. After another successful flight from the police a self-assured detective makes it his primary goal to catch the Driver. He promises pardons to a gang if they help to convict him in a set-up robbery. The Driver seeks help from The Player to mislead the detective.
Gene Watson is a public accountant who arrives on a train at Union Station in Los Angeles, accompanied by his 6-year-old daughter Lynn. Because of his ordinary looks, he is approached by a pair of sinister people named Smith and Jones.
A series of interviews are conducted with convicted serial killer Ted Bundy in hopes of gaining insight into the Green River Killer who is terrorizing Seattle.
Manu (Raffaela Anderson) has lived a difficult life. Abused and violently raped, she sets off to find herself only to meet Nadine (Karen Bach), a prostitute who has encountered one too many injustices in the world. Angry at the world, they embark on a twisted, rage-filled road trip. They choose to have sex when they please and kill when they need. Leaving a trail of mischief and dead bodies in their wake. Generating a media blitz and man hunt, soon everyone is out to capture the young fugitives.
After he accidentally kills his father, Mike, during a sting, Joe tries to carry out Mike's dying wish by recovering valuables that Mike's twin brother Lou stole from him years earlier. But Uncle Lou is also a confidence artist, and Joe is soon drawn into his increasingly dangerous schemes.
Two gangsters seek revenge on the state jail worker who during their stay at a youth prison sexually abused them. A sensational court hearing takes place to charge him for the crimes. A moving drama from director Barry Levinson.
A shy and mute seamstress goes insane after being attacked and raped twice in one day. She wanders the New York streets at night in a sexy black dress with her attacker's gun strapped to her garter belt, blowing away any man who tries to pick her up.
Spade and Archer is the name of a San Francisco detective agency. That's for Sam Spade and Miles Archer. The two men are partners, but Sam doesn't like Miles much. A knockout, who goes by the name of Miss Wanderly, walks into their office; and by that night everything's changed. Miles is dead. And so is a man named Floyd Thursby. It seems Miss Wanderly is surrounded by dangerous men. There's Joel Cairo, who uses gardenia-scented calling cards. There's Kasper Gutman, with his enormous girth and feigned civility. Her only hope of protection comes from Sam, who is suspected by the police of one or the other murder. More murders are yet to come.
A conservative Midwest businessman ventures into the sordid underworld of pornography in California to look for his runaway teenage daughter who is making porno films in the porno pits of Los Angeles.
Follows veteran police officer Dave Brown, the last of the renegade cops, as he struggles to take care of his family, and fights for his own survival.
Anne Baxter stars as Norah Larkin, a single woman whose heart is broken after receiving a "Dear John" letter. After a night of drinking she passes out in the apartment of womaniser Harry Prebble (Raymond Burr), awaking to find herself accused of his murder.
Based on real events, Canada's most notorious serial killers, Paul Bernardo and wife Karla Homolka kidnap, sexually abuse, and murder three young girls.
A crime photographer gets involved in a conspiracy.
Ray, a construction worker trapped in an unhappy marriage, pursues an affair with his neighbor, Carla. Carla's husband, Greg, is a mobster who keeps large sums of drug money in their home. With this in mind, Carla comes up with a plan: She and Ray will steal Greg's money, burn down her house, convince Greg the money was lost in the fire and then run away together. Carla's scheme, however, doesn't go off as planned.
Chicago crime kid Mick O'Brien has been sent to a juvenile prison for vehicular manslaughter. Most unfortunately, the person he kills is the kid brother of his nemesis Paco Moreno, who vows revenge by raping Mick's girlfriend. Paco is caught and sent to the same prison where he re-works his revenge plan, and Mick has no choice but to defend himself.
Michael Mann directs James Caan as a professional safecracker named Frank, who specializes in high-profile diamond heists. Frank plans to use his ill-gotten income to retire from crime and build a nice life for himself complete with a home, wife and kids. To accelerate this process, he signs on with a top gangster (Robert Prosky) for a big score. But when Frank tries to quit the job, the mob comes after him and his girlfriend (Tuesday Weld).
Marty Lakewood is a reporter forced to leave Chicago and his family because he had uncovered too much police corruption. He returns to his small home town on the California coast to his ailing mother and prostitute sister, with whom he had an incestuous affair. Being short of money, he seduces a woman cop in order to sell her house.

© Valossa 2015–2024