The real Chinatown was just the trailer—this is where water actually becomes power, blood, and betrayal.
Documentary on water usage, money, politics, the transformation of nature, and the growth of the American west, shown on PBS as a four-part miniseries.
Writing
Marc Reisner's prose adapted with devastating precision.
Cinematography
Aerial desert shots that make engineering look like scar tissue.
Editing
Juxtaposing 1950s propaganda with dried lake beds.
Director
Jon Else
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Robert Towne appears because his Chinatown screenplay was directly inspired by the same water wars this documentary exposes—and he admits the real story is worse than fiction.
The title comes from a boast that Los Angeles would grow so wealthy on stolen water that its citizens would cruise the desert in Cadillacs—essentially what happened, minus the irony.
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