SOURCE: Iorio, Paul. “Sleuthing Chinatown.” Los Angeles Times (8 July 1999): 6, 8, 10, 12-13.

In the following essay, Iorio discusses Chinatown on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the film's original release, including quotations from both Polanski and screenwriter Robert Towne regarding the development of the film's script.

Hollywood may be obsessed with youth, but some films improve with age. On the 25th anniversary of Chinatown, the film's creators have revisited the movie and are somewhat surprised to find that it holds up better than they ever could have imagined.

One evening not long ago, Chinatown director Roman Polanski happened upon the movie while channel-surfing with his wife, actress Emmanuelle Seigner, at their Paris home. At first, he says, he didn't even recognize his film because it was a bad print dubbed in French. It was so chopped up with commercials that Polanski dug out a laserdisc just to check out the first half...