The Two Jakes | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Jack Nicholson |
Produced by | |
Screenplay by | Robert Towne |
Starring | |
Music by | Van Dyke Parks |
Cinematography | Vilmos Zsigmond |
Edited by | Anne Goursaud |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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138 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $19 million |
Box office | $10 million |
The Two Jakes is a 1990 American neo-noir mystery film, and the sequel to the 1974 film Chinatown.
Directed by and starring Jack Nicholson, it also features Harvey Keitel, Meg Tilly, Madeleine Stowe, Richard Farnsworth, Frederic Forrest, David Keith, Rubén Blades, Tracey Walter and Eli Wallach. Reprising their roles from Chinatown are Joe Mantell, Perry Lopez, James Hong, Allan Warnick and, in a brief voice-over, Faye Dunaway. The character of Katherine Mulwray returns as well, played by Tilly. The musical score for the film is by Van Dyke Parks, who also appears as a prosecuting attorney. The screenplay is by Robert Towne, whose script for Chinatown won an Academy Award.
It was released by Paramount Pictures on August 10, 1990. The film was not a box office success and plans for a third film about J. J. Gittes, with him near the end of his life, were abandoned.
In Los Angeles in 1948, Julius "Jake" Berman (Keitel) hires private investigator J. J. "Jake" Gittes (Nicholson) to catch his wife, Kitty, in the act of committing adultery. During the sting, Berman kills his rival, who also happens to be his business partner in a real estate development company. Gittes, not having known this, suddenly finds himself under scrutiny for his role in the possible crime, all of which centers around a wire recording that captured the illicit love meeting, the confrontation, and the killing of Mark Bodine. It calls into question if Berman knew and killed his partner to wrest control of the partnership, making it murder, or was an act of jealousy, which may qualify as "temporary insanity" and be permitted as a defense to a charge of murder.