The Two Jakes

Director: Jack Nicholson Jack Nicholson

Overview

The Two Jakes, Jack Nicholson's sequel to Roman Polanski's Chinatown, picks up 10 years after its predecessor, finding Jake Gittes (Nicholson) still mourning the death of Katherine Mulwray. Gittes becomes involved in another complicated case in The Two Jakes, with oil replacing water as the coveted natural resource. Jake becomes embroiled in a complex real estate scam through another man named Jake (Harvey Keitel), who believes that his wife (Jennifer Tilly) is cheating on him. Like Chinatown, this simple task unlocks to reveal an impossibly convoluted--but logical--plot.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/22/2019
UPC:	0032429333278
Original Release:	1990
Rating:	R
Source:	ALLIED VAUGHN
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	2:17:00
Sales rank:	627

Special Features

Closed Caption; Theatrical trailer; Featurette: Jack on Jakes

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jack Nicholson	Jake Gittes
Harvey Keitel	Jake Berman
Meg Tilly	Kitty Berman
Madeleine Stowe	Lillian Bodine,Actor
Eli Wallach	Cotton Weinberger
Ruben Blades	Mickey Nice
Frederic Forrest	Newty
David Keith	Loach
Richard Farnsworth	Earl Rawley
Tracey Walter	Tyrone Otley
Joe Mantell	Walsh
James Hong	Khan
Perry Lopez	Capt. Escobar
Jeff Morris	Tilton
Rebecca Broussard	Gladys
Paul A. DiCocco Jr.	Liberty Levine
John Hackett	Mark Bodine,Actor
Rosie Vela	Linda
Allan Warnick	Manfred P. Rippey
Susan Forristal	Delores
Will Tynan	Judge Alexander K. Dettmer
Van Dyke Parks	Francis Hannah,Composer
William Duffy	Desk Sergeant
Sue Carlton	Mattie Rawley
Don McGovern	Bartender
Luana Anders	Florist
Dean Hill	Cop with Parrot
John Shaner	Saul,Benny
Lee Weaver	Caddy #1
Randi Ingerman	Lana
Bob George	Bar Maitre d'
Jessica Diamond	Receptionist
Tom Waits	Plainclothes Policeman
Faye Dunaway	Evelyn Mulwray

Technical Credits

Robert Towne

Jack Nicholson	Director
Robert Towne	Screenwriter
Robert Evans	Producer
Harold Schneider	Producer
R.J. Hohman	Special Effects

Editorial Reviews

The battles between the extraordinary screenwriter Robert Towne and the equally brilliant director Roman Polanski over Chinatown are legendary and best documented by Peter Biskind's wonderful book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls. The Two Jakes is the kind of movie that Chinatown might have been, had those battles not occurred. It's a fascinating movie, a sequel to Chinatown that puts Towne's brilliant dialogue and prodigious research abilities on full display. It's also overlong and slackly paced. This is probably because star Jack Nicholson is no Polanski. He lacks the latter's ability to delve incisively into Towne's sprawling screenplay, giving The Two Jakes an unfocused feel. Directing the movie also put a strain on Nicholson's acting. He put on 40 pounds for the role to help convey one of the movie's themes, the sluggishness of middle age, but whose idea was it that he tramp through much of the movie with a big blocky gray hat and dark sunglasses? He looks like a stooge. Still, the movie has some rich compensations. Nicholson and director of photography Vilmos Zsigmond fill The Two Jakes with the amber tones of the setting sun, suggesting the antiquity of the late '40s and the echo of painful memories. The movie is a meditation on middle age, suffused with regrets and dying ideals, and it has some of the best writing Towne has ever done. You can really enjoy it for that, if you have the patience to sit through it.