Chinatown

Chinatown

The bloody story of an assassin who silently weeps for his victims, Crying Freeman began as a 1986 manga by Kazuo Koike and Ryoichi Ikegami. In addition to this six-part OVA, the story has been filmed twice in live action. The leaders of the Chinese Mafia known as the 108 Dragons brainwash ceramicist Yoh Hinamura and transform him into the ultimate assassin. Virginal artist Emu Hino witnesses a killing by Yoh, but when he comes to murder her, she seduces him and wins his heart. Defying the syndicate, he refuses to give her up. Emu and Yoh subsequently become the bosses of the 108 Dragons. They run the organization--whose illegal activities are tactfully glossed over--on the principles of honor and absolute loyalty extolled in live-action Yakuza movies. Like true love, the course of mob business seldom runs smoothly, and the body count for the entire series runs into the thousands. Hit men and women are dispatched with knives, throwing knives, swords, karate chops, pistols, machine guns, grenades, missiles, and electricity. As the plot grows more baroque, the animation grows more limited. After a certain point, the images of knives penetrating skulls, full-body tattoos, bare breasts, and awkwardly animated sexual encounters become monotonous, but Crying Freeman is definitely not for the squeamish or prudish. (Rated 17 and older, but more appropriate for 18 and older: graphic violence, violence against women, rape, torture, ethnic stereotypes, extensive nudity, explicit sexual situations) --Charles Solomon

Director(s): Roman Polanski
Production: Paramount Pictures
  Won 1 Oscar. Another 20 wins & 24 nominations.
 
IMDB:
8.2
Metacritic:
86
Rotten Tomatoes:
98%
R (Restricted)
Year:
1974
130
9,576 Views

Gittes:
Something else besides the death of your husband was bothering you. You were upset, but not that upset.

Mrs. Mulwray:
Mr. Gittes. Don't tell me how I feel.

Gittes:
Sorry. Look. You sue me. Your husband dies. You drop the lawsuit like a hot potato all of it quicker than the wind from a duck's ass. Excuse me, uh. Then you ask me to lie to the police.

Mrs. Mulwray:
It wasn't much of a lie.

Gittes:
If your husband was killed, it was. This could look like you paid me off to withhold evidence.

Mrs. Mulwray:
But he wasn't killed.

Gittes:
Mrs. Mulwray. I think you're hiding something.

Mrs. Mulwray:
Well, I suppose I am. Actually, I knew about the affair.

Gittes:
How did you find out?

Mrs. Mulwray:
My husband.

Gittes:
He told you? [She nods yes] And you weren't the least bit upset?

Mrs. Mulwray:
I was grateful.

Gittes:
Mrs. Mulwray, you'll have to explain that.

Mrs. Mulwray:
Why?

Gittes:
Look. I do matrimonial work. It's my métier. When a wife tells me that she's happy that her husband is cheating on her, it runs contrary to my experience.

Mrs. Mulwray:
Unless what?

Gittes:
She was cheating on him. Were you?

Mrs. Mulwray:
I dislike the word cheat.

Gittes:
Did you have affairs?

Mrs. Mulwray:
Mr. Gittes.

Gittes:
Did he know about it?

Mrs. Mulwray:
Well, I wouldn't run home and tell him every time I went to bed with someone, if that's what you mean. Is there anything else you want to know about me?

Gittes:
Where were you when your husband died?

Mrs. Mulwray:
I can't tell you.

Gittes:
You mean you don't know where you were?

Mrs. Mulwray:
I mean I can't tell you.

Gittes:
You were seeing someone too. For very long?

Mrs. Mulwray:
I don't see anyone for very long, Mr. Gittes. It's difficult for me. Now, I think you know all you need know about me. I didn't want publicity. I didn't want to go into any of this then or now. Is that all?

Gittes:
[After nodding yes, he remembers to ask one final question, holding up the envelope with initials "E C" for a return address] Oh, by the way, uh, what does this C stand for?

Mrs. Mulwray:
Cr...Cross.

Gittes:
That's your maiden name?

Mrs. Mulwray:
Yes. Why?

Gittes:
No reason.

Mrs. Mulwray:
You must have had a reason to ask me that.

Gittes:
No. I'm just a snoop.

...

Gittes:
OK, go home, but in case you're interested, your husband was murdered. Somebody's been dumping thousands of tons of water from the city's reservoirs and we're supposed to be in the middle of a drought. He found out about it and he was killed. There's a waterlogged drunk in the morgue, involuntary manslaughter if anybody wants to take the trouble - which they don't. It seems like half the city is trying to cover it all up, which is fine by me. But Mrs. Mulwray, I goddamned near lost my nose. And I like it. I like breathing through it. And I still think that you're hiding something.

Cross:
What does it mean?

Gittes:
That you killed Hollis Mulwray - right here - in that pond. You drowned him, and you left these [the bifocals]. Coroner's report shows Mulwray had saltwater in his lungs.

Cross:
Hollis was always fascinated by tidepools. You know what he used to say?...That's where life begins. Sloughs, tidepools. When he first come out here, he figured if you dumped water into the desert sand and let it percolate down to the bedrock, it would stay there instead of evaporate the way it does in most reservoirs. You only lose 20% instead of 70 or 80. He made this city.

Gittes:
That's what you were going to do in the valley.

Cross:
That's what I am doing. If the bond issue passes Tuesday, there'll be eight million dollars to build an aqueduct and reservoir. I'm doing it.

Gittes:
Gonna be a lot of irate citizens when they find out that they're paying for water that they're not gonna get.

Cross:
Oh, that's all taken care of. You see, Mr. Gits. Either you bring the water to LA or you bring LA to the water.

Gittes:
How you gonna do that?

Cross:
By incorporating the valley into the city. Simple as that.

Gittes:
How much are you worth?

Cross:
I've no idea. How much do you want?

Gittes:
I just want to know what you're worth. Over ten million?

Cross:
Oh my, yes!

Gittes:
Why are you doing it? How much better can you eat? What can you buy that you can't already afford?

Cross:
The future, Mr. Gits - the future! Now where's the girl? I want the only daughter I've got left. As you found out, Evelyn was lost to me a long time ago.

Gittes:
Who do you blame for that - her?

Cross:
I don't blame myself. You see, Mr. Gits, most people never have to face the fact that at the right time, the right place, they're capable of anything.


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1 Comment
  • Jamie Spencer
    Jamie Spencer
    Thanks for this big list. I'd forgotten how many great lines are in that script.. (btw, I think Evelyn says about publicity, "Well, you ARE going to get it." Very firm.
    LikeReply4 years ago

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