When Gittes found out that Cross killed Mulwray why didnt he just call Escobar so they could arrest him? Instead he went to the house to confront Noah Cross, gets taken prisoner and ends up in the tragedy in Chinatown.
Gittes was one step ahead of everyone until that happened, then it seems he got dumb all of a sudden. Thoughts?
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DIE, FANBOY, DIE
Jake used to be a cop, so he seems to think that he can confront Cross alone and make a citizen's arrest. Terrible decision based on hubris. In fact, it's one of many mistakes that he makes. Since we see almost everything from Jake's point of view, we're encouraged to believe that he's always a step ahead, the smartest guy in the room, but he's really always a few steps behind. (As Cross helpfully advises him, to no effect, "You may think you know what you're dealing with - but believe me you don't.")
• for most of the film he believes that "the girl" is Mulwray's lover
• he snoops around at the reservoir a bit too conspicuously (parking his car right at the gate) and almost loses his nose
• he tells Cross he's going to "check out some orange groves," effectively informing Cross that he is sniffing around the water plot
• he gets beaten up by "dumb Okies" and is rescued by Evelyn
• his manner causes suspicion at the Mar Vista Inn, leading the Director to call in Cross's goons - who likely would have killed Jake, but he is again rescued by Evelyn (she later says to him, "If that's how you go about your work, I'd say you're lucky to get through a whole day")
• he concludes that Evelyn killed her husband and calls Escobar to come and arrest her
• he gives the slip to the cops, diverting them to Curly's house, and then promptly forgets about them
• he drives everyone (literally and figuratively) to Chinatown
So Jake clearly holds some culpability for the tragedy that unfolds, even down to the final action, where he thinks he's helping matters by pulling down Escobar - who appears to be aiming at the tires to stop the car - leading Loach to shoot in his place.
Agree with klein, on first viewing Jake might seem to be one step ahead but as you become more familiar with the film you realise that, from almost the first moment when he is duped by a woman pretending to be Evelyn Mulwray, he actually has virtually no idea what's going on throughout the entire movie.
Reality is the new fiction they say, truth is truer these days, truth is man-madeshare
Also, Gittes clearly mislead Escobar and Loach, basically an obstruction of justice, in order to get to the Mulwray home; the cops would obviously not give any credence to what Gittes would have to say and would likely would have to take him into custody.
shareThat's a good point. Bringing his evidence to Escobar might seem the prudent course under other circumstances, but Jake had put himself into a position where doing so was no longer really an option.
Poe! You are...avenged!
Exactly. That's why as far as the main character is concerned, the audience should pay much more attention to Gittes' last words of the film rather than Walsh's 'Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown.'
shareAnother reason that Jake meets with Cross is to check on the glasses. That's why he hands him a newspaper clipping, to see if Cross pulls out bifocals to read it. But he shouldn't have gone alone and unarmed, knowing how dangerous Cross is.
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I think it's worth noting that Jake is as motivated by money as anyone else, but we may not notice it because he's the "hero." He takes on the fake Mrs. Mulwray's case because he thinks she's rich. He gets into a fight at the barber shop when a customer equates him with money-grubbing paparazzi. Eyeing his stylish suit, Escobar tells him, "You've done well for yourself." In an obvious conflict of interest, he takes on competing clients, Evelyn and Cross, because they pay well. He wants to find "the big boys making the payoffs" so that he can "sue the *beep* out of them." And he turns in Evelyn because "I don't want to lose my license."
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