Episode 088: The Two Jakes (1990)

Jack Nicholson directs and stars in the sequel to “Chinatown”.

Directed by Jack Nicholson. Written by Robert Towne. Produced by Robert Evans. Starring Jack Nicholson, Harvey Keitel, Madeline Stowe, Meg Tilly, Ruben Blades, James Hong, Frederic Forrest, Richard Farnsworth & Tracy Walter

How is the world wrong about “The Two Jakes”?

From Andras: You’d think people would be into a Roman Polanski-less “Chinatown” sequel but they were not. Nicholson manages to give us a continuation of Robert Towne’s detective story about the evolution of Los Angeles that is simultaneously sleazier AND more compassionate than the original. If the world had been a little less wrong about this film we might’ve got a third installment, all about pollution and the LA freeway which, as Bryan points out in the episode, is kind of the plot of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”? which may be the closest we’ll get to the completion of the Chinatown series.

Here’s the JJ Gittes site I referenced on the podcast as a resource for the information I shared: http://j-j-gittes.blogspot.com/

This episode gets a little personal and pathetic in the outro. These pictures accompany that: