Logging

Screenplay: Chinatown

A later draft. Re-read. Notes:

-Extra dialog in the opening scene that nails the "theme" on the head about needing to be rich to get away with murder. Removed from the film.

-Gittes overuses the business cards in the script - to get into Evelyn's house, etc. Only uses to get into reservoir in the film. Much better.

-Initially, Lou doesn't want to investigate Mulray's death b/c he holds him responsible for killing a cousin in the dam accident. It's a nice thought but undermines Lou's role later in the film, so again - film better.

-Someone getting over a summer cold (I think Lou), mortician has a cough. I wonder what this detail was about? I think this as there was a summer cold going around about a week or two ago in LA.

-Extra scene in The Prince (Evelyn and Jake's first lunch, The Prince is where it was shot) where a client's wife comes and confronts Jake. 

-Interesting extra scene with the pilot while flying to Catalina (I believe he took a boat in the film). They talk about Evelyn's backstory - running away to Mexico, etc. Of course, another good cut for the film.

-Plot wise - Gittes has his own motivation to solve the case, Evelyn has hired him to do so, and Cross has also hires to him to find the girl. Similar to Casablanca - this centers the story on our main character - everyone needs/wants him to do something different. It allows us to understand each character's POV through their desire. Screenwriting 101.

-Gittes investigates more after the hall of records scene - goes around to land parcels, etc. All cut from film. 

-The entire final scene was different - the cops show up late. Evelyn finds a gun on the ground, does not have her own. As shot, much more elegant. 

-General thought: the final 1/3 of the film is the strongest element and I wonder if its why Chinatown is regarded as such a classic. All the best scenes of the film come in the final 1/3. The Evelyn and Jake scenes setting up the my sister-my daughter scene are terrific, subtextual, rhythmic, and play exactly on screen as written. Jake and the cops also have a terrific dynamic toward the end - especially Jake's wisecracks.