Jake

           I was trying to keep someone from being hurt. I ended up making sure she was hurt.

J.J Gittes -
Chinatown
1974

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Marco Diaz

More Poster Noir

Face the Fact

     
        " I don't blame myself. You see, Mr Gittes, most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and right place, they're capable of anything. "

Noah Cross -
Chinatown
1974

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Sunday Dog Parade

Strange Friends

        Jake is isolated, and as such has the power to root out causes and see things as they are, but it limits his power. Only an organized force like the police could take apart Cross's empire, but of course that force is constructed to defend Cross and others like him - to protect property. The small everyday justices are undermined by their selective worldview. Jake and Lou Escobar are set up as doubles and opposites. They worked together in Chinatown, are almost strange friends, but are vitally divergent.

RD Heath (on Chinatown)
New York Times
2002

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Daniel Baxter

Downpour of Shadows #34

Sopranos

In Cold Blood

End of the Affair

Rififi

Postman Always Rings Twice

La Bete Humaine

Deep Cover

Out of the Past

Last Wave

Big Sleep

After Hours

La Notte

Last Seduction

The Housemaid (1960)

Identity (2003)

Dragonwyck

In the Electric Mist

On Noir Set #55

Brighton Rock

Mystic River

Pickpocket

Killing of a Chinese Bookie

Scarlet Street

Carol

Fallen Idol

Chinatown

Bullitt

Jackie Brown

Tragedy of Macbeth

Dead Man Walking

On the Waterfront