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The Two Jakes (1990)
In the mystery film - a sequel to the original film Chinatown
(1974):
- the scene in which post-war LA private detective
J.J. "Jake" Gittes (Jack Nicholson) (specializing in
infidelity cases) was startled (he was awakened from sleep when
a power blackout ended) when he heard the name of Katherine Mulwray
(from a case in his past from the original film Chinatown
(1974)) on a tape recording made during a motel tryst in
Redondo Beach between unfaithful Kitty Berman (Meg Tilly) and Mark
Bodine (John Hackett)
- "Jake" heard her name in a conversation
between the two cheaters just before Bodine was killed by Jake's
client
- the killer - identified as Kitty's jealous husband
and as the second "Jake" Berman (Harvey Keitel) from the
film's title - the victim's real estate development business partner
at B&B Homes!
- Jake's encounter with emotional, crude and widowed femme
fatale Lillian Bodine (Madeleine Stowe) in a pink angora sweater,
who frantically protested at first: "Don't make me do it,
don't make me do it..." then allowed herself to be seduced
in order to hear the tape recording: "Oh, you're gonna make
me do it, aren't ya? You're gonna make me!"
- Jake's tired, bitter response before having sex with
Lillian: "Honestly, I'm tryin' to be a gentleman about this.
Now just, get down on your knees, stick your ass up in the air, and
don't move 'til I tell ya"
- Jake's violent responses to taunting Detective Lt.
Loach (Brian Keith) (the son of the man that had tragically killed
Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway), the mother of Katherine Mulwray and
Jake's former lover in the original film) - when Jake forced him
to perform fellatio on his cocked gun ("Suck it!"), causing
Loach to urinate in his pants
- the two revelations: (1) Bodine was blackmailing
Kitty about her real identity (she was Katherine Mulwray) by forcing
her to sign over mineral rights to the land where B&B Homes was
building tract homes in a San Fernando Valley subdivision, and (2)
Jake was suffering from a terminal illness (of syphilis and cancer)
- causing him to blow himself up by lighting a cigarette in the volatile,
natural gas-filled environment of the subdivision after a shaky earthquake
- the closing dialogue between Kitty and Gittes as
she left his office: "Katherine!... It [the past] never goes
away." (Jake's belated answer to her earlier question: "Does
it ever go away, the past?")
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