The producer Robert Evans and the composer Bronislau Kaper lead the effort to get the previous and terrible score changed despite Polanski's reservations that there wasn't enough time. (Confirmed by the Chinatown Blu-ray featurettes) So Polanski had little to nothing to do with Goldsmith's score.
But yes, Chinatown is the most ingeniously spotted score in cinema and it happens to be both elegant and alien/unease. The scene where Jake Gittes surveys Ida Sessions' apartment is literally scored like a sci-fi/horror film and is apposite and superb.
The avant-garde piano and string effects juxtaposed with a jazzy/bluesy trumpet melody in a 23 minute score (17.6% of the film scored) gives the film a distinctive atmosphere, makes it one of Goldsmith's most innovative scores as well as one of the most versatile scores in general.
A demonstration of how matchless this score is in its spotting and as brilliant as anything in the much-lauded Towne screenplay or Polanski direction is Goldsmith's first reprise of the trumpet theme.
After the opening credits, the famous trumpet theme is held back a staggering 83 minutes and only first reappearing after Jake Gittes is saved by Evelyn Mulwray for a second time, indicating that he's enamored with the woman who has now twice rescued him. That is as ingenious timing as you'll ever perceive in a film.
The fact that every single cue is specific to the dramatic elements in a sparse 23 minute score, composed in 10 days nonetheless, means that no score is more brilliantly economical or brilliant. (It also runs circles around classic film noir scores)
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