Movie Trivia Tuesday: Chinatown

Chinatown, in which Jack Nicholson plays one of his greatest roles as detective Jake Gittes, will be celebrating its 40th anniversary next year, and even after all that time has passed, it still holds up as a fantastic neo-noir story. In addition to Nicholson's stellar performance, it also features excellent direction from Roman Polanski and award-winning writing from Robert Towne. Let's learn some more about this gem in this week's Tuesday Movie Trivia.

• In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked Chinatown as the #21 Greatest Movie of All Time.

• The movie's line "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown." was voted as the #74 movie quote by the American Film Institute

• After several takes that never looked quite right, Faye Dunaway told Jack Nicholson to actually slap her. He did, and the scene made it into the movie.

• Jake Gittes was named after Jack Nicholson's friend, producer Harry Gittes.

• Chinatown was the first part of a planned trilogy written by Robert Towne about J.J. Gittes and L.A. The second part, The Two Jakes, was directed by Jack Nicholson in 1990. No third movie was ever made.

• The original script for Chinatown was over 180 pages.

• Chinatown was the last movie Roman Polanski filmed in the United States.

• Chinatown was nominated for 11 Academy Awards: Best Writing, Original Screenplay; Best Actor in a Leading Role, Jack Nicholson; Best Actress in a Leading Role, Faye Dunaway; Best Art Direction-Set Direction; Best Cinematography; Best Costume Design; Best Director, Roman Polanski; Best Film Editing; Best Music, Original Dramatic Score; Best Sound; Best Picture. It only won Best Writing, Original Screenplay.