Forget It, Jake

Though a noir homage that deals with the pulse-pounding topic of water rights in Los Angeles may not sound like much on paper, the execution is something else. Starring Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway and John Huston, Roman Polanski's examination of corruption and depravity in Los Angeles during the '40s is consistently ranked as one of the greatest American pictures ever made. Certainly one of the finest films of the '70s, featuring a screenplay by Robert Towne, Chinatown reeks of period authenticity and constructs a story so riveting it can get you to care about where the hell we get our water.
Wed., Jan. 23, 7:30 p.m., 2008