50 Greatest Jack Nicholson Movies Ranked Worst To Best

Jack Nicholson is undoubtedly one of the most iconic American actors to have ever lived. With an acting career that began in the late 1950s and soared to unfound heights in the 1970s, Nicholson was an instrumental figure in the shift from Old Hollywood to New Hollywood. Through his exceptional acting talents and his frequent counter-culture screen persona, Nicholson embodied the rebellious spirit on-screen better than perhaps anybody.

Throughout his 54-year-long acting career, Nicholson has racked up numerous accolades for his performances. He was a seven-time nominee and three-time winner at the BAFTAs, a 12-time nominee and three-time winner at the Academy Awards, and even took home the best actor award at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in 1974. Though Nicholson retired in 2010 and hasn't acted in over a decade, he has left behind a long legacy of incredible performances. Let's take a look at his best movies ranked according to their aggregated critic scores on Rotten Tomatoes.

"A Safe Place" is a bizarre film that defies categorization. The film's poster declares itself "a rare and unique experience" and a "new dimension in filmmaking." This 1971 trip of a movie was the feature-film debut of writer and director Henry Jaglom and stars the trio of Tuesday Weld, Orson Welles, and Jack Nicholson. The film treats time as a nebulous factor by allowing past, present, and future to mix and mingle in something akin to a fantasy world from the perspective of Tuesday Weld's fragile character.

The experimental elements of the story of "A Safe Place" made it a polarizing piece of filmmaking. Though audiences wrote it off as pretentious, meaningless nonsense, there are some defenders of the film. Time Out gave the film a moderately positive review and found much to appreciate within the subtext of the film, calling it "sometimes indulgent, often fragile, and occasionally enchanting." There was enough artistic merit within "A Safe Place" to warrant inclusion in the Criterion Collection.

"The Evening Star" is a drama from 1996 that you might be surprised to learn is a sequel to the critically acclaimed James L. Brooks film "Terms of Endearment" from 1983. This 13-years-later follow-up features the same group of characters and checks in on how their lives have changed over time and their various dramatic and romantic travails. Original writer and director James L. Brooks did not return, but the story was again adapted from the Larry McMurtry "Houston" series. "The Evening Star" is the final installment of the series, though the other four books have never been adapted for the big screen.

Jack Nicholson reprises his role from "Terms of Endearment" as Garrett Breedlove, and other cast members include Bill Paxton, Juliette Lewis, and Miranda Richardson, with Shirley MacLaine once again in the lead role. Iconic film critic Roger Ebert gave the film a 1.5-star review and called it, "a completely unconvincing sequel," and said that it was "thin and contrived."

One of the most important films early on in Jack Nicholson's acting career was the counter-culture motorcycle movie "Easy Rider," so it is interesting to note that just two years earlier, Nicholson starred in a different motorcycle movie that was received in a less favorable light. Nicholson stars as a gas station attendant who is eager to join up with the Hell's Angels biker gang. He finds their willingness to indulge in violence and murder shocking and gets himself into trouble when a romance begins to form between him and the girlfriend of the gang leader.

As one might guess from the title, "Hell's Angels on Wheels" centers around the real-life biker gang, the Hell's Angels. Though there were numerous biker films released in the 1960s, this one has the distinction of including the participation of many real-life Hell's Angels bikers, including the gang's president, Sonny Barger.

"Hell's Angels on Wheels" was another Roger Corman-produced film, but it featured the cinematography talents of László Kovács, who would go on to shoot dozens of critically acclaimed films over the next couple of decades, including "Easy Rider." Roger Ebert gave "Hell's Angels on Wheels" a 2.5-star review and said "the plot has holes big enough to drive a Harley-Davidson through. But the film is better than it might have been."

Released in 1963, "The Terror" is another collaboration between Roger Corman and Jack Nicholson early in his career. Nicholson stars as a stranded French soldier who takes refuge in the seemingly haunted castle of Baron von Lepp, played by horror icon Boris Karloff. "The Terror" had a notoriously messy production, and the end product reflects that messiness. Production began without a finished script, and different directors were constantly rotating throughout the production. As many as seven people each took a turn in the director's chair before they were either fired, quit, or were otherwise replaced. This list of directors included Roger Corman himself and directors who would become big names in the future: Jack Hill, Monte Hellman, and Francis Ford Coppola — even Nicholson himself spent a day in the director's chair.

"The Terror" is somewhat of an infamous film owing to its inclusion in the public domain, which meant it could be re-released, mashed up, and incorporated into other projects ad nauseam. Even if you have never watched "The Terror," there is still a chance that you may have seen footage from it used in other projects. Along with various other films, clips from "The Terror" can be seen in the Peter Bogdanovich film "Targets" released five years later, and also starring Boris Karloff, this time as a character based on himself, a horror star named Byron Orlok. 

"The Last Tycoon" is set in Hollywood in the 1930s and follows a movie producer who is hailed as a genius while working himself to the bone. The story had a strong foundation as it was adapted from the final, unfinished novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of "The Great Gatsby."

Similar to "Man Trouble" and "The Fortune," "The Last Tycoon" is another film that features an incredible gathering of talent both in front of and behind the camera but for whatever reason sadly fell short in execution. The impressive cast also features the likes of Robert De Niro, Donald Pleasance, Anjelica Huston, John Carradine, Tony Curtis, and Robert Mitchum.

"The Last Tycoon" undeniably had a wealth of talent behind the camera, with a script by Harold Pinter, the three-time BAFTA winner and two-time Oscar-nominated screenwriter of movies like "The Go-Between," "The Pumpkin Eater," "The Betrayal," and "The French Lieutenant's Woman." Meanwhile in the director's chair was the two-time Oscar-winning director Elia Kazan, the man behind classics like "On the Waterfront," "A Streetcar Named Desire," and "East of Eden," amongst others. However, despite having all the ingredients of a great film, it still wound up as a misfire with most Rotten Tomatoes critics considering it dull and lifeless.

"Heartburn" is a romantic drama from 1986 that left Rotten Tomatoes critics and audiences alike a little cold, but the project had a lot of promise. A romance between the powerhouse leads of Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep already sounds like a winning combo on paper, and the film's potential skyrockets even higher with Mike Nichols in the director's chair and a screenplay from Nora Ephron, adapted from her novel of the same name.

The impressive supporting cast also includes the likes of Jeff Daniels, Stockard Channing, Mamie Gummer, (Meryl Streep's real-life daughter), and even acclaimed filmmaker Milos Forman in one of the only substantial acting roles of his career. Forman previously directed Nicholson in one of his most highly acclaimed films, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." "Heartburn" had a lot of hype around it ahead of its release but, unfortunately, left most people disappointed. This was a sentiment shared by famed film critic duo Siskel & Ebert on their television show, where they both came down hard on the film, calling it flimsy, unfunny, lacking in conflict, and having nothing to say. They criticized both Nora Ephron's script and Mike Nichols' direction, suggesting that Streep and Nicholson were wasted on weak material, and labeling the project a regrettable failure.

After working together for the first time on 1989's "Batman," Jack Nicholson and director Tim Burton reunited seven years later for the gonzo alien invasion movie "Mars Attacks!" This intentionally cheesy sci-fi comedy was a throwback to older sci-fi films from the 1950s, serving as both a spoof and a homage. Nicholson plays the president of the United States, who is thrust into a tense and dangerous situation with the arrival of deadly invaders from Mars. Playing a dual role, Nicholson also took on the supporting character of a sleazy land baron who gets killed during the invasion.

Far from being the only big name on the cast, Nicholson was joined by a cavalcade of stars, including Natalie Portman, Pierce Brosnan, Michael J. Fox, Annette Bening, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Glenn Close, Pam Grier, and more. The massive, star-studded cast was the major audience draw for "Mars Attacks!," but the reception to the film was far from unanimous. Some connected with the particular brand of humor employed by "Mars Attacks!" while many were not on the film's wavelength. The New York Times gave the movie a negative review, calling it "just a parade of scattershot gags, more often weird than funny and most often just flat."

"Studs Lonigan" is a 1960 drama set in Chicago in the 1920s. The titular character of Studs Lonigan is a young man who attempts to break free from the environment he was born into, which is full of squalor and violence, conditioning him to turn toward violence as well. The lead was portrayed by Christopher Knight in one of the only two film roles of his career. Jack Nicholson plays the supporting role of Weary Reilly, a bully that Studs takes on in a fistfight. Though it only has a handful of critic reviews counted, "Studs Lonigan" is the first of Nicholson's films to land a fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The story was adapted from the novel "Young Lonigan" by James T. Farrell and first published in the early 1930s. As opposed to the 1920s setting of the film, the book takes place in the 1910s. The "Young Lonigan" novel was the first installment in a trilogy of books following the Studs Lonigan character throughout his life. The other two books were never adapted for the big screen, though the complete trilogy was filmed as a television mini-series in 1979.

In "Wolf," Jack Nicholson plays a book publisher who gradually turns into a werewolf after being bitten by one. Contrary to most werewolf movies where the transformation is a damnable curse, Nicholson instead finds his life drastically improving in the immediate aftermath of the werewolf bite. His lust for life is reinvigorated and he improves his standing at his job, all while winning the heart of his boss' daughter, played by Michelle Pfeiffer. Also appearing in the cast are Christopher Plummer, David Hyde Pierce, and James Spader.

Following the unfortunate reception of "The Fortune" and "Heartburn," "Wolf" Nicholson's final collaboration with director Mike Nichols proved much more popular with critics and audiences alike, receiving a fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. In his review for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers called the movie "a rapturous romantic thriller with a darkly comic subtext" and praised the work done by both Nichols behind the camera and Nicholson in the lead role.

While certainly not one of the best films of Jack Nicholson's career, "The Two Jakes" is arguably one of the most interesting. In addition to acting, Nicholson also stepped behind the camera on rare occasions, and "The Two Jakes" is one of just a handful of films Nicholson directed throughout his career. Nicholson wasn't originally supposed to direct the movie but wound up stepping in after behind-the-scenes conflicts threatened the future of the production.

Released in the 1990s, "The Two Jakes" was a long-belated sequel to "Chinatown," one of Nicholson's most highly acclaimed films, made in 1974. Nicholson reprised his role as private detective J.J. Gittes and replaced Roman Polanski in the director's chair, while the screenwriter of the original, Robert Towne, returned for the sequel. "Chinatown" was initially intended to be the start of a trilogy, but the full series never came to fruition.

Similar to the first film, "The Two Jakes" finds the private eye protagonist getting caught up in another complex crime, mystery plot, this time involving murder, adultery, and oil mining. Though the film was moderately well received, fans of the original "Chinatown" were in for a bit of a disappointment as most critics agreed that "The Two Jakes" didn't come close to living up to the legacy of the original film. Even still, plenty of critics found it worth watching as long as you went in with lowered expectations. Critic Philip French of The Observer summed up the reaction in his review, writing "The verve, dramatic propulsion and sense of evil that informed Polanski's 'Chinatown' is largely missing from 'The Two Jakes.' But it is, for all its murkiness, an intelligent, enjoyable noir thriller." Whether the film's lukewarm reception was to blame or not, "The Two Jakes" wound up being the last film that Nicholson helmed from the director's chair.

When "Five Easy Pieces" hit theaters in 1970, it put Jack Nicholson and director Bob Rafelson on the map as major talents to keep an eye on. Their follow-up film, released two years later, was "The King of Marvin Gardens." This second drama didn't leave the same monumental impression as their prior collaboration, but it was still well-received by most critics.

Jack Nicholson plays a radio host, Bruce Dern plays his con-man brother, Ellen Burstyn plays his partner in crime, and Julia Anne Robinson plays her stepdaughter. Nicholson is the mark in this con-man scheme involving a land deal on a tropical island, but he isn't quite as gullible as his brother thought. Also notable on the cast is Scatman Crothers, who would go on to act alongside Nicholson again in "The Shining." Some critics, like Roger Ebert, found "The King of Marvin Gardens" to be a mostly worthy follow-up to "Five Easy Pieces," while others, like Roger Greenspun of The New York Times, found it to be a major letdown that went as far as to hurt the perception of that earlier collaboration. Greenspun elaborated further, writing that what "looked like quality to some in 'Five Easy Pieces' two years back [now] looks like the most pretentious of tired clichés, a low‐keyed but very empty bombast exploiting rather than exploring its themes."

"Something's Gotta Give" is a 2003 rom-com from writer and director Nancy Meyers, who had worked in similar territory with the likes of "What Women Want," "The Holiday," "Father of the Bride," and "It's Complicated." Nicholson stars as a record producer with a penchant for dating younger women, and Diane Keaton plays the one appropriately aged woman who wins his heart. Fleshing out the supporting cast are Frances McDormand, Amanda Peet, and Keanu Reeves.

Arriving as one of the final films of Nicholson's acting career before his retirement, "Something's Gotta Give" is one of his most acclaimed later films. The advanced age of the leads was integral to the plot and helped to make an indelible impression and set the film apart from similar romantic comedies. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone recommended the film, calling Nicholson "hilarious" and writing that "Keaton nails every laugh and nuance ... She steals your heart and the movie."

"The Crossing Guard" is a crime thriller with heavy dramatic elements from 1995 that finds Jack Nicholson obsessing over revenge. After his daughter was killed by a drunk driver, played by David Morse, Nicholson's character has spent the following six years planning and fantasizing about taking deadly revenge while waiting for the driver to be released from prison. Rather than killing the drunk driver immediately, he gives him a heads up; he will be murdered in one week. "The Crossing Guard" explores this week as Nicholson's character spirals deeper into his unhealthy obsession and Morse's character tries to come to terms with his imminent death.

Robin Wright, Piper Laurie, Anjelica Huston, and John Savage fill out the supporting cast amongst others. The film had one other notable actor in the mix, but rather than appearing on screen, he operated behind the scenes. "The Crossing Guard" was written and directed by actor Sean Penn; his second film after "The Indian Runner" in 1991, which also starred David Morse. Penn's direction drew both acclaim and criticism from Rotten Tomatoes critics with some suggesting he seemed to lack a firm grasp of the story, while others applauded him for bringing strong performances out of his leads.

After working together on "The Crossing Guard" in 1995 and finding favorable results, Jack Nicholson returned to star in Sean Penn's next film in the director's chair, "The Pledge." This time around, Nicholson plays a detective who — on the day he was due to retire — makes a promise to a grieving mother that he will find her daughter's killer. When the police get a confession out of an innocent, intellectually disabled man, they consider the case closed, but Nicholson's character is convinced they got the wrong man, and he won't let retirement stop him from finding the real killer by any means necessary.

With Sean Penn's credentials, he was able to cast a large number of great actors who all give memorable performances in roles both big and small. Patricia Clarkson, Aaron Eckhart, Tom Noonan, Robin Wright, Vanessa Redgrave, Helen Mirren, Mickey Rourke, and Benicio Del Toro fill out the impressive cast. "The Pledge" is quite bleak in its subject matter, which was a criticism leveled by some Rotten Tomatoes critics, but the consensus was glowing regardless.

"The Missouri Breaks" is a Western from 1976 that pits two acting titans against each other: Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando. Nicholson plays the leader of a gang of horse thieves, and Brando plays the notorious sharpshooter hired to gun him and his gang down. The film was directed by triple Oscar-nominated filmmaker Arthur Penn, known for films like "Night Moves," "Alice's Restaurant," and "Bonnie and Clyde." Penn was no stranger to the genre having earlier made the films "The Left-Handed Gun" starring Paul Newman and "Little Big Man" starring Dustin Hoffman.

In a modern review looking back at this 1970s Western, The Guardian found that "The Missouri Breaks" was a film that had gotten significantly better with age. Critic Xan Brooks reflected on how the film was poorly received in its day but had turned around its reputation over the years. He suggested that it contains perhaps the final great performance from Marlon Brando, who spent the production disregarding the script and Arthur Penn's direction and instead did whatever he wanted.

As the 1960s were nearing an end, Jack Nicholson had already been acting for several years, but his career hadn't yet taken off and brought him to superstardom. Toward the end of the decade, Nicholson had been so beaten down by the trajectory of his acting career, that he was considering giving up acting in exchange for a career behind the scenes in movie making. "Easy Rider" changed everything. Though he only played a side character rather than one of the lead bikers, Nicholson drew much attention and acclaim for his supporting performance, earning him his first Oscar and BAFTA nominations. The success of "Easy Rider" revitalized and supercharged his career.

Beyond being one of the most crucial films in the trajectory of Jack Nicholson's career, "Easy Rider" was also one of the most important in the changing tides of the film industry between the '60s and the '70s and was instrumental in ushering in the New Hollywood movement that changed filmmaking forever moving forward.

"As Good as It Gets" provided Jack Nicholson with the role that earned him his third and final Academy Award, and the second he won while collaborating with director James L. Brooks after "Terms of Endearment" 14 years earlier. Rotten Tomatoes critics widely praised Brooks' work on the script and behind the camera while paying special commendation to the lead performances of Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt.

Nicholson stars as an obsessive-compulsive writer who drives everyone away with his abrasive personality. Helen Hunt, who also won an Oscar for her role, co-stars as the single mother and waitress who works in the writer's go-to diner where all of the other employees refuse to serve him. Greg Kinnear rounds out the trio of main characters as the writer's neighbor, a gay artist who is hospitalized following an assault, leaving his dog in the writer's care. Kinnear was also Oscar-nominated for his performance for best actor in a supporting role, though he lost out to Robin Williams for "Good Will Hunting." The film also earned Oscar nominations in the writing, editing, music, and best picture categories.

"The Raven" was surprisingly well received as a low-budget film from 1963 in the early stages of Nicholson's career before he found his voice and his career took off. The film was an adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's famous narrative poem of the same name, though many liberties needed to be taken when expanding a poem of just over 1,000 words into a feature-length film. Nicholson is in a supporting role while horror veterans Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, and Vincent Price play the leads.

Arguably Nicholson's most important early-career collaborator, Roger Corman was in the director's chair for "The Raven." Corman's reputation for shooting cheap and fast is perhaps best exemplified by this double-production. After wrapping "The Raven" early and having a few extra days with the cast, crew, and castle location, Corman immediately began production on one of Nicholson's lowest-rated films, "The Terror," without a plan, just to maximize the available resources. It's safe to say that "The Terror" wouldn't exist at all if not for "The Raven."

"The Little Shop of Horrors" is the highest-rated and highest-profile collaboration between Jack Nicholson and Roger Corman, despite its humble origins. In typical scrappy Corman fashion, "The Little Shop of Horrors" was made extremely cheaply and quickly. The film was shot in just two days and a night as what the director described as something halfway between an experiment and a joke. This quick, low-stakes production about a man-eating plant wound up taking on a far greater legacy than anyone involved could have ever anticipated.

Though Jack Nicholson's role was small, he stood out and left a major impression as the pain-loving dental patient Wilbur Force. These days, the title "Little Shop of Horrors" might be more likely to bring the 1986 remake to mind rather than the 1960 original. The Frank Oz-directed remake kept the basic premise intact but amped up the comedy, added color, expanded the cast, and turned the whole thing into a bonkers musical, while the original is a low-key horror comedy with low aspirations.

"The Shooting" is the second of two Westerns directed by Monte Hellman and starring Jack Nicholson released in 1966. Whereas in "Ride the Whirlwind" Nicholson was cast in the likable protagonist role, "The Shooting" finds him playing the cold and merciless villain role of Billy Spear, a hired gun at odds with the film's hero, played by Warren Oates, a former bounty hunter attempting to leave his life of violence behind.

The straightforward story follows the journey of a group of distrusting characters as they pursue an unseen and unknown target across the desert landscape. In the mix with Nicholson and Oates are Will Hutchins as the ex-bounty hunter's innocent friend and Millie Perkins as the rich and mysterious woman who hires them to protect her along her journey. The screenplay was the first film written by Carole Eastman, who would go on to write one of the defining films of Nicholson's career, "Five Easy Pieces." Eastman used the pseudonym Adrien Joyce for both scripts.

The final Oscar nomination of Jack Nicholson's career before retirement arrived within Alexander Payne's "About Schmidt." Co-star Kathy Bates was also Oscar-nominated for her role in the film, while Hope Davis, June Squibb, and Dermot Mulroney rounded out the rest of the cast.

"About Schmidt" follows Nicholson as the titular Warren Schmidt, a recently retired man endeavoring an RV road trip to reach his daughter's wedding. The film is a dramedy of the style that writer/director Alexander Payne has often explored throughout his career in the likes of "Nebraska," "Election," and "Sideways."

Alexander Payne's adapted screenplay was based on the novel of the same name written by Louis Begley. Begley wrote two sequels to the book following the same character called "Schmidt Delivered" and "Schmidt Steps Back" but these have not yet been adapted for the big screen. Rotten Tomatoes critics widely recommended the film, calling it as funny as it was heartfelt.

"Easy Rider" may have kickstarted Jack Nicholson's meteoric ascent, but it was "Five Easy Pieces," released the following year, that fully established him as a superstar and helped usher in the burgeoning New Hollywood era. Nicholson stars as Robert Dupea, a blue-collar oil rig worker who spends his days bumming around bars and womanizing. When he learns that his father is terminally ill, he sets off on a journey back home and back to his roots, which he has fallen far away from.

As the film progresses, Carole Eastman's script peels back the layers of Dupea, revealing that beneath his low aspirations and callous exterior is a man who came from a wealthy, upper-class family with the talent to be a classical pianist before he threw it all away. Dupea is one of the most complex characters of Nicholson's filmography, and under the direction of frequent collaborator Bob Rafelson, Nicholson delivers one of his finest performances. Rotten Tomatoes critics nearly unanimously praised Nicholson's performance and the overall film for the way that it captured the zeitgeist of the moment. The Guardian gave the film a five-out-of-five stars review and called it "as close to perfection as it gets."

Despite a notoriously tense and nearly disastrous production, "Reds" went on to become one of the most highly acclaimed films of the 1980s, and its stature has only continued to grow with time. With a budget of nearly $100 million when adjusted for inflation and a runtime of well over three hours long, "Reds" was a massive production that was epic in scope but didn't fare too well at the box office despite the eventual critical acclaim. The idea of "Reds" presenting a docu-drama approach examining Russia's Bolshevik revolution with a favorable light shined on radical left-wing ideals was considered either valiant and groundbreaking or misguided and unacceptable by different segments of the American public of the time.

Though he isn't in the starring role this time around, Nicholson plays the third lead as Eugene O'Neil, a playwright, opposite Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton. All three earned heaps of praise for their performances, including major awards attention. The film's polarizing subject matter and overt political stance may have hurt its box office performance, but critical acclaim and accolades were in no short supply. "Reds" was one of the top films at the 1982 Academy Awards, racking up an incredible 12 Oscar nominations and taking home three wins. The film earned accolades in all four of the Oscars' acting categories, with Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, and Diane Keaton all receiving nominations, and Maureen Stapleton winning in the supporting actress category. In addition to starring in the lead role, Warren Beatty also produced, co-wrote, and directed "Reds," winning the sole Oscar of his illustrious career in the best director category.

Adapted from the novel of the same name written by Ken Kesey, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" tells the story of a common criminal (Nicholson) facing time in prison who decides to fake insanity so that he can serve out his sentence in a mental hospital instead of the big house, expecting the experience to be much easier. In the face of tyrannical Nurse Ratched (played by Louise Fletcher) who rules the patients' lives with an iron fist, Nicholson's character becomes a voice for rebellion against the institution amongst the other patients.

Nicholson won his first Oscar for this role, which perfectly encapsulated the rebellious energy and counterculture streak that he often embodied throughout this stage of his filmography. Nicholson's Oscar was one of nine overall nominations and five wins for the film. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" joined the elite club of movies to win in all five of the major Oscars categories, which are considered the two lead acting, screenplay, directing, and best picture categories. Beyond Nicholson and Fletcher winning Academy Awards for their incredible performances, Brad Dourif was also Oscar-nominated for his first-ever film role, and the entire cast of mental hospital patients, (played by the likes of Christopher Lloyd, Danny DeVito, William Redfield, and Will Sampson) turned in sensitive, touching performances.

The highest-rated film of Jack Nicholson's impressive filmography is the neo-noir masterpiece "Chinatown." In one of his most iconic roles, Nicholson plays private eye J.J. Gittes in 1937 Los Angeles. In the tradition of the film noir greats, Gittes takes on a case that is far more complex and dangerous than he could ever have guessed from the outset involving gangsters, murder, corrupt officials, familial conflict, and even the LA department of water and power.

Robert Towne's screenplay is full of complexity and depth, packed with compelling characters, and loaded front to back with hardboiled dialogue that would serve all of the noir masters proud. Towne walked away as the sole Oscar winner out of the film's 11 nominations, and many screenwriters and outlets consider "Chinatown" to be one of the best if not the flat-out best screenplay ever written. Roman Polanski drew tidal waves of praise for his work in the director's chair, including an Oscar nomination and a BAFTA win. Faye Dunaway and John Huston turned in excellent performances as well, rounding out the core cast. "Chinatown" was a strong contender in every eligible Oscars category and earned Nicholson his fourth Academy Award nomination and his first BAFTA win, which was awarded jointly for "Chinatown" and "The Last Detail," both written by Robert Towne.

Jack Nicholson said openly that he was not a fan of playing parts that were written with him in mind, but "Chinatown" marked a notable exception from that rule. Towne wrote the character of J.J. Gittes specifically for Nicholson, and the part wound up being one of the actor's most iconic roles.