A film noir tale of power, corruption, deception and the socio-political stratas that built Los Angeles, Roman Polanski’s Chinatown is rooted in the the works of Raymond Chandler but found its own voice as a great work of cinema. This new Special Edition is rich in visual depth and greater sound to evoke an era gone by, though the machinations of the rich and those in office are surely still happening today.

Jack Nicholson’s J.J. Gittes is a variation on your wise-cracking, hard-boiled P.I. of the 1930s, who finds himself embroiled in much more than a simple investigation, of course. Faye Dunaway as femme deadly Evelyn Mulwray and John Huston as power broker Noah Cross are also riveting, and the crisp, gripping script from Robert Towne won him an Oscar. Polanski also delivers a memorable cameo that’s…uh, let’s say “on the nose,” if you’ve actually never seen the movie or can’t recall things from it.

The sequel, The Two Jakes, came a little later than many hoped for–more than 15 years after Chinatown, in 1990. But watching the films back-to-back (well, one night after another, really), it all works together well.

Set more than a decade later, Nicholson’s Gittes, still in the peeper game, is older, tubby, more frayed around all edges in 1949 L.A., with surburban expansion looming and one of the key plot points. Harvey Keitel is the other Jake, either a visionary or just another big-money manipulator, as Gittes looks into adultery and shady land deals only to find more convoluted connections that can be traced back to the original film.

Though not as crime thriller iconic as Chinatown, The Two Jakes holds its own, and these two reissues are both welcome in these editions of full restorations. Also, the interview with Nicholson about the film and returning to the role so many years later is also revealing.