What If...

"What I do for a living may not be very reputable. But I am. In this town I'm the leper with the most fingers."
-- Jake Gittes from The Two Jakes

What if Roman Polanski had directed The Two Jakes? I like Jack Nicholson's under appreciated sequel to Chinatown, but what if Polanski had done it instead. Maybe the whole trilogy that Robert Towne had envisioned would have been completed. I thought that while walking out of The Two Jakes nearly eighteen years ago. I was thinking it again while watching Marina Zenovich's Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired the other night on HBO. Chinatown is a perfect film. I cannot think of a thing wrong with it. It is one of my favorite Nicholson films. He is and always will be Jake Gittes. After watching Robert Towne's Ask The Dust, it becomes apparent that no one knows old Los Angeles like Robert Towne-- although James Ellroy comes pretty close. It is one of those great what ifs. I know there will never be another third Jakes Gittes film, but I would much rather see that than another film like The Bucket List.

I also watched The Children Of Huang Shi this week. As much as I like Chow Yun Fat, I just could not get into this film. It reminded me way too much of The Left Hand Of God and The Inn Of The Sixth Happiness. Roger Spottiswoode's film has good intentions, but not enough to fuel an engaging story. Chow Yun Fat has screen presence-- there is no doubt about that. Still, I could not stop thinking of Iris Chang's book, The Rape Of Nanking during the first half hour. The Shanghai sequences make you think of Empire Of The Sun and Lost Horizon.

After watching Cujo again for the first time in many years, I really cannot wait to see The Incredible Hulk this weekend. I watched Cujo because we are interviewing Dee Wallace on our radio show, Movie Geeks United next Wednesday night for our "Summer of 1983" retrospective. As for Cujo, I kept wanting to watch Tentacles instead. I do not know what that says about me. I will say this, a Pinto never got a better advertisement than that film. I did think Dee Wallace was good in it, but she will always be Elliott's mom in E.T. to me. She was top notch in The Howling too. What if Roman Polanski had directed Cujo? We would still be talking about it. I have a feeling I would have lost many nights of sleep. Still, I like Cujo. There is something to be said about a horror film that still can give you chills after 25 years.