JJ 'Jake' Gittes is a private detective who seems to specialize in matrimonial cases. He is hired by Evelyn Mulwray when she suspects her husband Hollis, builder of the city's water supply system, of having an affair. Gittes does what he does best and photographs him with a young girl but in the ensuing scandal, it seems he was hired by an impersonator and not the real Mrs. Mulwray. When Mr. Mulwray is found dead, Jake is plunged into a complex web of deceit involving murder, incest and municipal corruption all related to the city's water supply.
Written by garykmcd
At the time of filming, Jack Nicholson had just embarked on his longstanding relationship with Anjelica Huston. This made his scenes with her father, John Huston, rather uncomfortable, especially as the only time Anjelica was on set was the day they were filming the scene where Noah Cross interrogates Nicholson's character with "Mr Gittes...do you sleep with my daughter?"
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Goofs
Boom mic visible:
When Jake is in the barbershop and has an argument with a banker he gets out of his chair to get in the banker's face. When he returns to his chair you can clearly see a reflection of a boom mic in the window in the background.
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Quotes
[first lines]
Jake Gittes:
All right, Curly. Enough's enough. You can't eat the Venetian blinds. I just had them installed on Wednesday. See more »