MovieChat Forums > The Long Goodbye (1973) Discussion > Much better than Chinatown.

Much better than Chinatown.

posted 13 years ago by pcddpj
40 replies | jump to latest

Anyone else agree?

[–] Zamolxe 9 years ago

Definitely. A more unique movie formally and structurally, and the ending of Chinatown feels really forced, whereas here the ending seems perfectly natural and ties the movie together a lot better.

[–] chninlp 9 years ago

Chinatown's ending ties the movie together perfectly and no less than The Long Goodbeye. It's real funny that you guys are all acting as if the ending doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the story when the main character says that it does, proving you all dead wrong.

[–] tightspotkilo 9 years ago

Why take two great films and pit one against the other? This in't a contest. Enjoy them both!

Get the facts first - you can distort them later!

[–] wsucougarl1 8 years ago

Sacrilege! TLG is a roughly drawn, but well done practical joke. Chinatown is a finely structured film played against a background based somewhat on some L.A. history that actually occurred about thirty years before the time portrayed; (Check the history of the Owens Valley). As Noah Cross exclaims: "If you can't bring the desert to the water, Mr. Gittes, you bring the water to the desert".

The only point common to both films is the illusion that the principals think that they control their own destinies; which, of course, in the end they pointedly discover that they do not.

[–] chninlp 8 years ago

Both of these films, along with Night Moves, subvert the classic hard-boiled noir detective.