WHEN FILMS WERE KINGS

A ROBERT EVANS production of a ROMAN POLANSKI film

Starring

JACK NICHOLSON • FAYE DUNAWAY

Costarring

JOHN HILLERMAN • PERRY LOPEZ • BURT YOUNG and JOHN HUSTON

Production designer

RICHARD SYLBERT

Associate producer

C.O. ERICKSON

Music scored by

JERRY GOLDSMITH

Written by

ROBERT TOWNE

Produced by

ROBERT EVANS

Directed by

ROMAN POLANSKI

TECHNICOLOR • PANAVISION • A PARAMOUNT PRESENTATION

Sam Wasson’s latest book, , describes the conception, production, and aftermath of the 1974 film many critics and film historians judge as one of the best of all time. The mere mention of the title recalls its musical theme, Jack Nicholson’s elegant bone structure and his marvelous hats, the dusty orange groves he races his Ford Phaeton through, the body drowned in a drought, Faye Dunaway’s alabaster complexion and mysterious standoffishness, John Huston as her incestuous millionaire father presiding over lunch at the Albacore Club. The nasty gangster played by the film’s director, Roman Polanski, slashing Nicholson’s nostril open with a stiletto. And of course, three snippets of dialogue: “Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.” “She’s my sister my daughter.” And above all, “Forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown.” All of them have become part