About this episode
The episode discusses the enduring fascination of the film Chinatown and its iconic villain Noah Cross.
“Forget it, Jake—it’s Chinatown.” This piece of advice is as famous as it is useless: Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) will never be able to forget what he’s seen. Chinatown (1974) is also impossible to forget: whether it’s the perfect nod to noir or the best noir of all time, it’s endlessly fascinating, compelling, and disturbing. Join us for an improvised conversation about why the film still fascinates and why Noah Cross (John Huston) might be the best movie villain of all time. Incredible bumper music by John Deley. If you want to read a great in-depth book about the making of Chinatown, check out Sam Wasson’s The Big Goodbye. Please subscribe to the show and consider leaving us a rating or review. You can find over three hundred episodes wherever you get your podcasts. Follow the show on Letterboxd and email us any time at fifteenminutefilm@gmail.com with requests and recommendations. Check out Dan Moran’s substack, Pages and Frames, where he writes about books and movies, as well as his many film-related author interviews on The New Books Network. Read Mike Takla’s substack, The Grumbler’s Almanac, for commentary on offbeat topics of the day. Learn more about your ad choices…
People in this episode
Host: Marshall Poe
Topics covered
- film analysis
- noir cinema
- Chinatown
- movie villains
- cinematic history
Keywords
- Chinatown
- noir
- Jack Nicholson
- John Huston
- film analysis
- movie villains
- 1974 film
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: New Books Network
Books & works: Chinatown, The Big Goodbye
More episodes of New Books in Film
- Shikha Jhingan, "The Female Playback in Bombay Cinema: Voice, Body, Technology" (Wayne State UP, 2025) · June 9, 2026 · 46 min
- Allyson Nadia Field, "Acts of Love: Black Performance and the Kiss That Changed Film History" (U California Press, 2026) · June 6, 2026 · 49 min
- Mackenzi Lee, "Masters of the Universe: Teela: Daughter of Eternos" (Mattel, 2026) · June 1, 2026 · 43 min
- Robin R. Means Coleman and Novotny Lawrence eds., "The Oxford Handbook of Black Horror Film" (Oxford UP, 2024) · May 29, 2026 · 1h 12m
- Oscar Winberg, "Archie Bunker for President: How One Television Show Remade American Politics" (UNC Press, 2025) · May 25, 2026 · 51 min
- Tony Lee Moral, "A Century of Hitchcock: The Man, the Myths, the Legacy" (UP of Kentucky, 2026) · May 22, 2026 · 36 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the New Books in Film podcast page.