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Working within the well-established film noir/detective genre, director Roman Polanski pays homage to such earlier classics as The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep while, at the same time, expanding and deepening the levels of thematic meaning. Based on the 1908 Owne River Valley scandal in Los Angeles, this dark, nihilistic tale reflects the mood of an America still trying to comprehend the war in Vietnam and the Watergate scandal. Deftly interweaving Evelyn Mulwray's family tragedy with the water-rights scandal, the film can be seen as a metaphor for how corporate corruption and greed have led to the ecological rape of our natural resources.

Chinatown has garnered many awards including the American Film Institute's listing as number 19 on its list of greatest films. The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Director, Actor (Nicholson), Actress (Dunaway), Original Screenplay, Original Score, Art Direction-Set Direction, Costume Design, Cinematography, and Sound. Robert Towne took home the film's only Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The British Academy Awards recognized Roman Polanski for Best Direction, Jack Nicholson for Best Actor, and Robert Towne for Best Screenplay. They also awarded the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music to Jerry Goldsmith's extraordinary score. The Golden Globes awarded Chinatown Best Motion Picture-Drama, Best Director, Best Actor-Drama, and Best Screenplay-Motion Picture. In 1991 the National Film Preservation Board placed the movie on its National Film Registry.