Roman Polanski's ode to classic American film noir catapulted Jack Nicholson from promising actor to one of Hollywood's top leading men. Robert Towne's Oscar-winning masterful screenplay allows Nicholson plenty of room to shine as J.J. Gittes, a private eye specialising in cases of marital infidelity.
Suspecting her husband Hollis, chief engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, of adultery, femme fatale Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) hires Gittes. As it turns out, Hollis really is cheating on his wife with a young blonde, and Gittes has photographic proof. Soon after Hollis turns up dead, drowned. Now Evelyn asks Gittes to investigate the cause of her husband's death. During his investigations, he uncovers a large-scale corruption scandal concerning water rights in Los Angeles' Chinatown.
Polanski himself has a cameo role as "Man with Knife" in the now classic scene of the slicing of Nicholson's nose.