Chinatown Quotes

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Source: Chinatown

Speaker: Lawrence Walsh

Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown.

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Context

This line is spoken by Lawrence Walsh (played by Joe Mantell) in the movie Chinatown, directed by Roman Polanski (1974).

Fugitive director Roman Polanski's last movie filmed on American soil, Chinatown is a film noir classic. The gritty crime thriller stars a young Jack Nicholson as Jake Gittes, a hardboiled LA detective who gets wrapped up in the underhanded dealings of the California Water Wars.

This famous line goes hand-in-hand with an ending that's about as cynical as it gets. The bad guys totally win when (spoiler alert) the LAPD shoots Jake's lover Evelyn (Faye Dunaway) in the head as she's trying to escape with her sister Katherine, who's also her daughter from an incestuous relationship with her father. (It's complicated.) In the end, Katherine is snatched away by her evil millionaire boyfriend, and Jake can't do anything about it. The only comfort he gets is his partner Lawrence reminding him that that's just the way things go down in Chinatown.

Don't forget it, Shmoopers. You can check out the clip here.

Where you've heard it

With a final line this snappy, there have been plenty of spoofs over the years. A recent one was on 30 Rock, when Jenna says "Forget it, Tracy. It's Midtown." Another good one was on the great-but-canceled Flight of the Concords, but this time it's "Forget it, Brian. It's New Zealand town." The shout-outs don't stop there. Versions of the quote also pop up in The Simpsons, Mystery Science Theater 3000, and the greatest of all films, Bloodfist. (Okay, so we just threw that last one in to see if you're paying attention.)

Additional Notable References:

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Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

Chinatown is a classic, so some people might think you're a little snooty. But forget it. It's quote-town—who cares what people think?

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