The Two Jakes (1990)
August 6, 2022 6:26 AM - Subscribe
This sequel to the classic Chinatown finds private detective Jake Gittes still haunted by the events of the first film. Hired by a man to investigate his wife's infidelities, Jake once again finds himself involved in a complicated plot involving murder, oil, and even some ghosts from his past.
According to imdb it was Nicholson's last directing job.
posted by thedward at 12:34 PM on August 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by thedward at 12:34 PM on August 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Yeah, Goin’ South got a fair bit of attention for being his first directing gig once he became a brand name.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:44 AM on August 7, 2022
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:44 AM on August 7, 2022
That said, I think Joe Queenan (or maybe Ebert) wrote that it is a sequel that is incomprehensible unless you have seen its predecessor multiple times, preferably immediately before watching this. When Jake demands to know, “What the hell is Chuck Newty doing here?!?” the audience is racking their brains trying to recall who Newty might be.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:49 AM on August 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:49 AM on August 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
I remember seeing this movie in the theaters. I don't remember anything about it at all. I do remember reading a story soon after it came out that at one theater, an eagle-eyed viewer noticed that the reels were running out of sequence. He told the camera operator, who confirmed that they were, and said something to the effect of "They've been in this order for at least a day, and you're the only person who said anything."
posted by Etrigan at 8:17 AM on August 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Etrigan at 8:17 AM on August 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
It is too long and there's a few scenes, like Jack Nicholson being blown up, that are a bit much... and an ending that really didn't need to be, but it is a pretty good movie. I'd put it on par with LA Confidential. I think it got a lot of bad press as people were expecting Chinatown, too bad Jack Nicholson didn't take up directing.
posted by geoff. at 10:45 AM on August 7, 2022
posted by geoff. at 10:45 AM on August 7, 2022
I haven't seen this in many, many years, but it has a notorious production history and is famous for having driven wedges between writer Robert Towne (also on the project as director), producer Robert Evans (initially on the project as an actor), and Jack Nicholson (who eventually directed), all who'd had great success with Chinatown in their more traditional roles (writer, producer, actor).
The Wikipedia article has some of the juice in it but there's also a bunch about it in Evans' wonderful biography (though take much of it with a grain of salt) and Towne's spoken on the record about it a few times.
Those who really want to get into the weeds of the original relationship (but not that actual movie), should check out Sam Wasson's The Big Goodbye.
When Jake demands to know, “What the hell is Chuck Newty doing here?!?” the audience is racking their brains trying to recall who Newty might be.
I've seen Chinatown countless times and there's no Newty in it. I assume Newty had scenes earlier in Two Jakes that were cut.
Mostly, it's just unfortunate The Two Jakes was ever made as it was much better to exist in a world knowing Towne had considered writing a sequel rather than actually seeing that sequel. Chinatown is a masterpiece of screenwriting and filmmaking.
I'd put it on par with LA Confidential.
This is insanity.
posted by dobbs at 11:49 AM on August 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
The Wikipedia article has some of the juice in it but there's also a bunch about it in Evans' wonderful biography (though take much of it with a grain of salt) and Towne's spoken on the record about it a few times.
Those who really want to get into the weeds of the original relationship (but not that actual movie), should check out Sam Wasson's The Big Goodbye.
When Jake demands to know, “What the hell is Chuck Newty doing here?!?” the audience is racking their brains trying to recall who Newty might be.
I've seen Chinatown countless times and there's no Newty in it. I assume Newty had scenes earlier in Two Jakes that were cut.
Mostly, it's just unfortunate The Two Jakes was ever made as it was much better to exist in a world knowing Towne had considered writing a sequel rather than actually seeing that sequel. Chinatown is a masterpiece of screenwriting and filmmaking.
I'd put it on par with LA Confidential.
This is insanity.
posted by dobbs at 11:49 AM on August 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
I don't know I'd give it a rewatch. I watched Chinatown, LA Confidential and Two Jakes this weekend as I went on a LA noire thing. I didn't feel as if LA Confidential nearly held up as well as I remembered it, Russell Crowe's dumb ape who just beats people up character was tiring.
It might have helped that I went into Two Jakes expecting it to be horrible and was pleasantly surprised. LA Confidential is definitely the better movie but I think Two Jakes holds its own, it just needed a better editor.
posted by geoff. at 1:16 PM on August 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
It might have helped that I went into Two Jakes expecting it to be horrible and was pleasantly surprised. LA Confidential is definitely the better movie but I think Two Jakes holds its own, it just needed a better editor.
posted by geoff. at 1:16 PM on August 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
I've seen Chinatown countless times and there's no Newty in it. I assume Newty had scenes earlier in Two Jakes that were cut.
I know (Frederic Forrest plays him here). It’s like the university prank of releasing five pigs into a public place and painting a number on the back of each one, but you number them 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6.
The notion that in a movie that requires an unusual level of familiarity with its immediate predecessor from sixteen years earlier but then also has red herrings like this, well, that is just perverse.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:19 PM on August 7, 2022
I know (Frederic Forrest plays him here). It’s like the university prank of releasing five pigs into a public place and painting a number on the back of each one, but you number them 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6.
The notion that in a movie that requires an unusual level of familiarity with its immediate predecessor from sixteen years earlier but then also has red herrings like this, well, that is just perverse.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:19 PM on August 7, 2022
I watched Chinatown, LA Confidential and Two Jakes this weekend as I went on a LA noire thing.
You could've also watched Mulholland Falls (1996). It's not great, but I liked it much better than The Two Jakes, and the scene where Nick Nolte beats the crap out of the FBI agents in the FBI garage and drags Daniel Baldwin onto the sidewalk/Nolte's jurisdiction is totally baller.
You could've also watched Mulholland Falls (1996). It's not great, but I liked it much better than The Two Jakes, and the scene where Nick Nolte beats the crap out of the FBI agents in the FBI garage and drags Daniel Baldwin onto the sidewalk/Nolte's jurisdiction is totally baller.
See, that's federal property. This isn't. This is L.A. This is my town. Out here you're a trespasser. Out here I can pick you up, burn your house, fuck your wife, and kill your dog. And the only thing that'll protect you is if I can't find you. And I already found you.posted by kirkaracha at 4:33 PM on August 9, 2022
You also could have watched "The Long Goodbye". All of these would be a great film festival.
posted by acrasis at 4:45 PM on August 11, 2022
posted by acrasis at 4:45 PM on August 11, 2022
The notion that in a movie that requires an unusual level of familiarity with its immediate predecessor from sixteen years earlier but then also has red herrings like this, well, that is just perverse.
I don't think it's a red herring. I think there was a plotline in Two Jakes involving a character named Newty and it was cut for time or plotting (plodding) and it was too difficult to remove that line without affecting the scene / performance so it remains.
I've read about 4 different drafts of Chinatown's script which feature numerous plotlines and characters that were nixed — many of them are mentioned in Wasson's book — but there is no Newty character to the best of my recollection.
Two Jakes is just a bad film that could have been worse.
Long Goodbye and LA Confidential are masterpieces, imo. Seen them each about a dozen times and they're among the greatest films adapted from novels I know of.
LA Confidential has one of my all-time favorite bits for defining a character trait: Ed realizes that the time on the clock on the wall differs slightly from the time on his wristwatch and, instead of adjusting his watch, he crosses the room to adjust the clock on the wall. Absolutely brilliant bit of character exposition. I can't remember if it's in the novel or not but if it is, the decision to keep it is amazing, and if it's not, and Helgeland and Hanson came up with it, it's even more remarkable.
As for The Long Goodbye — extraordinary in every way. Gould and Hayden give the performances of their lives, Altman's roving camera is without peer, and Leigh Bracket's script is aces. (This woman also wrote the scripts for The Empire Strikes Back, Rio Bravo, and The Big Sleep.)
posted by dobbs at 6:31 PM on August 14, 2022
I don't think it's a red herring. I think there was a plotline in Two Jakes involving a character named Newty and it was cut for time or plotting (plodding) and it was too difficult to remove that line without affecting the scene / performance so it remains.
I've read about 4 different drafts of Chinatown's script which feature numerous plotlines and characters that were nixed — many of them are mentioned in Wasson's book — but there is no Newty character to the best of my recollection.
Two Jakes is just a bad film that could have been worse.
Long Goodbye and LA Confidential are masterpieces, imo. Seen them each about a dozen times and they're among the greatest films adapted from novels I know of.
LA Confidential has one of my all-time favorite bits for defining a character trait: Ed realizes that the time on the clock on the wall differs slightly from the time on his wristwatch and, instead of adjusting his watch, he crosses the room to adjust the clock on the wall. Absolutely brilliant bit of character exposition. I can't remember if it's in the novel or not but if it is, the decision to keep it is amazing, and if it's not, and Helgeland and Hanson came up with it, it's even more remarkable.
As for The Long Goodbye — extraordinary in every way. Gould and Hayden give the performances of their lives, Altman's roving camera is without peer, and Leigh Bracket's script is aces. (This woman also wrote the scripts for The Empire Strikes Back, Rio Bravo, and The Big Sleep.)
posted by dobbs at 6:31 PM on August 14, 2022
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posted by Halloween Jack at 11:53 AM on August 6, 2022