Chinatown

CHINATOWN is many things at once, and all of them in perfection: a portrait of manners of 1930s California, a political thriller, an unfathomable family epic – and, first and foremost, the best neo-noir in film history. Even at the heyday of film noir, few films featured a comparably nightmarish ending: private eye J.J. Gites uncovers the racketeering of real estate shark Noah Cross as well as Cross's incestuous relationship with his own daughter, but must look on powerlessly as that Über-father goes scot-free. While the screenplay had a happy ending, Polanski gave the story a conclusion that turned a masterpiece into a classic.