A private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.
In 1937 Los Angeles, private investigator Jake 'J.J.' Gittes specializes in cheating-spouse cases. His current target is Hollis Mulwray, high-profile chief engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, whose wife suspects him of infidelity. In following Mulwray, Gittes witnesses some usual business dealings, such as a public meeting for construction of a new dam to create additional water supply for Los Angeles, as fresh water is vital to the growing community during the chronic drought; Mulwray opposes the dam. Eventually Gittes sees Mulwray meeting with an unknown young woman who isn't his wife. Once news of the supposed tryst between Mulwray and this woman hits the media, additional information comes to light that makes Gittes believe that Mulwray is being framed for something and that he himself is being set up. In his investigation of the issue behind Mulwray's framing and his own setup, Gittes is assisted by Mulwray's wife Evelyn, but he thinks she isn't being forthright with him. The further he gets into the investigation, the more secrets he uncovers about the Mulwrays' professional and personal dealings, including Mulwray's former business-partnership with Evelyn's father, Noah Cross. The identity of the unknown woman may be the key to uncovering the whole story.—Huggo
In 1937 Los Angeles, private detective J.J. Gittes is hired by a woman to investigate whether her husband is having an affair. The husband, Hollis Mulwray, is the chief water engineer for the city of Los Angeles. Soon after Gittes delivers the photos that seem to confirm her suspicions, he meets the man's real wife and, intrigued, investigates further. Then Hollis Mulwray turns up dead.—grantss
Profoundly cynical but also empathetic, 1937 Los Angeles' well-dressed private investigator and expert in adultery cases, Jake Gittes, runs a successful business. Then, all of a sudden, a cryptic blonde walks into his office, convinced that her husband, Hollis Mulwray, the chief engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, is having an affair. And, just like that, Gittes finds himself entangled in a murky case of deceit and murder. As a result, corrupt government officials and murderous henchmen are after Gittes for sticking his nose into an elaborate and dangerous conspiracy, and as if that weren't enough, Jake is now starting to believe that he's been had. However, in this thorny case, almost everybody has a skeleton in the closet. Can Gittes get to the bottom of it before it is too late?—Nick Riganas
Los Angeles detective Jake Gittes is hired by a "Mrs. Mulwray" to spy on her husband. Shortly after Gittes is hired, the real Mrs. Mulwray appears in his office threatening to sue if he doesn't drop the case immediately. Gittes pursues the case anyway, slowly uncovering a vast conspiracy centering on water management, state and municipal corruption, land use, and real estate; and involving at least one murder.—filmfactsman
A woman identifying herself as Evelyn Mulwray hires private investigator J. J. "Jake" Gittes (Jack Nicholson) to spy on her husband, Hollis Mulwray (Darrell Zwerling), chief engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Gittes tails him, hears him publicly oppose the creation of a new reservoir, and shoots photographs of him with a young woman, which are published on the front page of the following day's paper. Back at his office, Gittes is confronted by a woman who informs him she is the real Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway), and that he can expect a lawsuit.
Realizing he was set up, Gittes assumes that Mulwray's husband is the real target. Before he can question him, Lieutenant Lou Escobar (Perry Lopez) fishes Mulwray, drowned, from a freshwater reservoir. Under retainer to Mrs. Mulwray, Gittes investigates his suspicions of murder and notices that, although huge quantities of water are released from the reservoir every night, the farming land is almost dry. Gittes is warned off by Water Department Security Chief Claude Mulvihill (Roy Jenson) and a henchman, who slashes Gittes's nose. Back at his office, Gittes receives a call from Ida Sessions (Diane Ladd), who identifies herself as the Imposter Mrs. Mulwray. She is afraid to identify her employer, but tells Gittes to check the day's obituaries.
Gittes learns that Mulwray was once the business partner of his wife's wealthy father, Noah Cross (John Huston). Noah and Mulray together owned the entire city's water supply back in 1925, but Mulray felt that the public should own the water and hence the company was nationalized. Gittes meets the new chief of the Water department and accuses him of wasting the city's water supply in the middle of a drought and murdering Mulray, so that he himself could become chief. Gittes threatens to go to the press with the story. The new chief admits that water is being released daily for the orange farmers of the Northwest Valley, but wont tell Gittes exactly which part of the valley is profiting from the largess as the valley as no legal right over LA's water supply.
Evelyn is shaken when Gittes tells her that he knows Mulray was in business with Noah. She tells Gittes that she married Mulray after they ended their partnership (which intrigues Gittes that Evelyn would marry Noah's ex-partner after they had a falling out over business)Over lunch at his personal club, Cross warns Gittes that he does not understand the forces at work, and offers to double Gittes's fee to search for Mulwray's missing mistress. At the hall of records, Gittes discovers that much of the Northwest Valley has recently changed ownership. Investigating the valley, he is attacked by angry landowners, who believe he is an agent of the water department attempting to force them out by sabotaging their water supply. Gittes deduces that the new proposed dam that Mulray opposed was not for LA, but for irrigating Nortwest Valley and that most the valley has recently changed hands.
Gittes deduces that the water department is drying up select areas of the Northwest Valley land so it can be bought at a reduced price, and that Mulwray was murdered when he discovered the plan. He discovers that a former retirement home resident is one of the valley's new landowners, and seemingly purchased the property a week after his death. Gittes and Evelyn bluff their way into the home and confirm that the real estate deals were surreptitiously completed in the names of several of the home's residents. Their visit is interrupted by the suspicious retirement home director, who has called Mulvihill.
After fleeing Mulvihill and his thugs, Gittes and Evelyn hide at Evelyn's house and sleep together. Early in the morning, Evelyn gets a phone call and has to leave suddenly; she warns Gittes that her father is dangerous. Gittes follows her car to a house, where he spies her through the windows comforting Mulwray's mistress. He accuses Evelyn of holding the woman against her will, but she confesses that the woman is her sister.The next day, an anonymous call draws Gittes to Ida Sessions's apartment; he finds her murdered and Escobar waiting for his arrival. Escobar tells him the coroner's report found salt water in Mulwray's lungs, indicating that he did not drown in the freshwater reservoir where his body was found. Escobar suspects Evelyn of the murder and tells Gittes to produce her quickly. At Evelyn's mansion, Gittes finds her servants packing her things. He realizes her garden pond is salt water and discovers a pair of bifocals in it. He confronts Evelyn about her "sister", whom Evelyn now claims is her daughter. After Gittes slaps her, she admits that the woman, Katherine (Belinda Palmer), is her sister and her daughter: her father raped her when she was fifteen. She says that the eyeglasses are not Mulwray's, as he did not wear bifocals.
Gittes arranges for the women to flee to Mexico and instructs Evelyn to meet him at her butler's home in Chinatown. He summons Cross to the Mulwray home to settle their deal. Cross admits his intention to annex the Northwest Valley into the City of Los Angeles, then irrigate and develop it. Gittes accuses Cross of murdering Mulwray in Evelyn's salt water pond and then dropping his bifocals there in the scuffle. Cross takes the bifocals at gunpoint, and he and Mulvihill force Gittes to drive them to the women. When they reach the Chinatown address, the police are already there and detain Gittes. When Cross approaches Katherine, Evelyn shoots him in the arm and drives away with Katherine. The police open fire, killing Evelyn.Cross clutches Katherine and leads her away, while Escobar orders Gittes released. Lawrence Walsh, one of Gittes's associates, tells him: "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."
