Question
What part of Jake’s body gets slashed in "Chinatown"?

What part of Jake’s body gets slashed in "Chinatown"?

Last updated: May 27, 2025

Jack Nicholson's Jake Gittes thinks he's a pretty smooth operator in "Chinatown," strutting around 1930s Los Angeles like he owns the place. He's got the slicked-back hair, the wise-guy attitude, and zero respect for anyone telling him to mind his own business. But when Jake starts poking around a conspiracy involving water rights and murder, the bad guys decide to send him a message that's way more personal than a strongly worded letter. Where exactly does Jake get carved up as their not-so-subtle hint to back off?

Correct Answer: His nose

(Source)

Poor Jake gets his nostril sliced open by a knife-wielding thug, leaving Jack Nicholson to spend the rest of the movie looking like he lost a fight with a particularly aggressive tissue box. The injury comes during one of the many moments when Jake finds himself sticking his nose where it doesn't belong (how's that for a movie metaphor?). In Jake's defense, if I were willing to sneak onto public land at night to investigate a mysterious death (which I'm not) and some goon cut my nose and threatened to take the rest of it next time, I'd probably keep looking for answers too. For most of the film thereafter, Nicholson's bandage served as a constant reminder that no matter how smooth his character talked, he was way, way out of his league.

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