You ever watch a movie where the dialogue just crackles? Where every line feels real, like people actually talk? That was screenwriter Robert Towne's gift. More than anyone else in the 70s, maybe ever, he shaped how Hollywood tells stories. If you're digging into screenwriter Robert Towne, you're probably a film buff, maybe a writer yourself, or just curious about the brains behind classics like Chinatown. Let's get into what made him tick, why his work still matters decades later, and honestly, why some of his later stuff didn't quite hit the same highs.
I remember first seeing Chinatown on a scratchy VHS tape in film school. That ending... it stuck with me for weeks. That was Towne’s power. He didn't just write scripts; he built worlds with words. Born Robert Bertram Schwartz in 1934 (he changed it later, felt Towne had more punch), he started out like many – grinding on TV shows. The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Outer Limits. Solid work, paid the bills, but you could tell he was itching for more.
Robert Towne's Breakthrough: From TV Grind to New Hollywood Royalty
The late 60s and 70s were magic. Studios were scared, TV was eating their lunch, so they took risks. Young guys like Towne, Coppola, Scorsese... they got chances. Towne’s real genius wasn't just writing, it was rewriting. He was the ultimate "script doctor," long before that term was common.
The Uncredited Fixer:
- Bonnie and Clyde (1967): Warren Beatty brought him in. The script was good, but messy. Towne sharpened the characters, especially Clyde’s vulnerability. Added layers. Nobody officially gave him credit, but insiders knew.
- The Godfather (1972): This one’s legendary. Coppola was drowning. Paramount hated his script. Towne came in, specifically for the Sicily scenes and that crucial garden meeting between Michael and Vito. He gave Michael’s arc its tragic weight. Again, no credit on screen, just immense respect within the industry.
That's how he built his rep – fixing other people's messes under the radar. But then came his own masterpiece.
Chinatown: The Screenplay That Changed Everything
Screenwriter Robert Towne wrote Chinatown specifically for his friend Jack Nicholson. It was supposed to be a trilogy exploring the dark side of LA – water (Chinatown), oil (The Two Jakes), and land (Cloverleaf, never made). Only the first truly soared.
| Element | Towne's Approach | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Dialogue | Naturalistic yet razor-sharp ("Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown"). Full of subtext and character revelation. | Became the gold standard. Moved away from theatrical speech to how people actually talk (or wish they talked). |
| Structure | Classic Noir setup twisted into something deeper. Jake's investigation reveals personal AND civic corruption. | Made the private detective story relevant to modern audiences exploring societal rot. |
| Themes | Water as power, the futility of good intentions, the corruption beneath the LA sunshine. Dark, complex. | Elevated the genre beyond mere mystery. Offered a bleak, cynical view of power that resonated post-Watergate. |
| Crucial Change | Towne originally wanted a happier ending! Director Polanski insisted on the devastating, ambiguous finale. | Polanski was right. That ending made the film immortal. Shows the tension between writer and director vision. |
It won Towne the Oscar. Deservedly so. Watching it now, you can still feel its influence everywhere. But here's the thing nobody likes to admit: The Two Jakes (1990), which Towne directed himself... it was a mess. Nicholson directed it first, it fell apart. Towne took over years later. The magic was gone. The dialogue felt forced, the plot convoluted. It proved how hard it is to catch lightning in a bottle twice, even for a genius like screenwriter Robert Towne. Maybe especially for him.
Beyond Chinatown: Towne's Defining Works
While Chinatown towers over everything, screenwriter Robert Towne had other major successes and interesting near-misses.
| Film (Year) | Role | Key Notes & Legacy | Behind the Scenes Tidbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shampoo (1975) | Co-writer (with Warren Beatty) | Sharp satire of LA sexual mores on election day 1968. Won Towne another Oscar nomination. | Loosely based on real Beverly Hills hairdresser Gene Shacove. Beatty and Towne argued constantly about tone – comedy vs. social critique. |
| Personal Best (1982) | Writer/Director | Personal passion project about female Olympic track athletes and complex relationships. Groundbreaking for its time. | Critics were divided. Some found it insightful, others self-indulgent. Towne poured his heart into it. Didn't connect with wide audiences. |
| Tequila Sunrise (1988) | Writer/Director | Stylish neo-noir with Mel Gibson, Kurt Russell, Michelle Pfeiffer. Enjoyable but not deep. | Big studio hit. Proved Towne could deliver commercial fare. Dialogue sparkles, but lacks Chinatown's thematic weight. |
| Mission: Impossible (1996) | Co-writer (Uncredited) | Came in late to rewrite the script, particularly the famous Langley break-in sequence. | Classic Towne script doctoring. Added crucial suspense mechanics and character beats crucial to the film's success. |
You see the pattern? When he focused purely on the writing, especially on rewrites, he often hit home runs (Shampoo, Mission: Impossible). When he took the director's chair (Personal Best, The Two Jakes), the results were more mixed. Directing requires different muscles, and I think Towne sometimes struggled to translate his vivid writing visually without overcomplicating things. Personal Best feels earnest but unfocused.
The Later Years and Teaching Legacy
After the 90s, Towne's output slowed. He wrote the Tom Cruise vehicle The Firm (1993) adaptation, which was competent but forgettable. Ask the Dust (2006), another directorial effort based on a John Fante novel, was a labor of love critically praised but barely seen.
Where screenwriter Robert Towne made a quieter, perhaps equally important impact was teaching. He became a revered mentor at USC's School of Cinematic Arts. Imagine learning structure from the guy who wrote Chinatown! He emphasized character motivation above all else – "What does the character want, and what are they willing to do to get it?" – and the importance of specific, evocative detail over generalities. His students often talk about his razor-sharp critiques and his insistence that good writing is rewriting. That relentless perfectionism was his hallmark, whether it served him well or paralyzed projects.
"Screenwriters are like anonymous skilled laborers in the film industry... until they write Chinatown. Then they become Robert Towne." - Anonymous Industry Veteran
Robert Towne's Signature Style and Lasting Influence
So what makes a Robert Towne script instantly recognizable? Let's break it down:
- Dialogue that Dances: Not just quotable ("Forget it Jake..."), but layered. Characters talk around things, reveal themselves through what they avoid saying. It sounds real, but heightened. Nobody just delivers information; it always shows character or conflict.
- Los Angeles as Character: From Chinatown's deceptive sunshine hiding corruption to Shampoo's superficial Beverly Hills, Towne understood LA's dark soul. He captured its textures, its light, its underlying rot better than almost anyone.
- Flawed, Driven Protagonists: Jake Gittes, George Roundy (Shampoo), even Cruise's character in his M:I sequence. They're talented but compromised, trying to navigate corrupt systems, often failing. Towne loved morally ambiguous heroes.
- Complex Corruption: Evil wasn't cartoonish in Towne's world. It was systemic, bureaucratic, often personified by charismatic monsters like Noah Cross (John Huston in Chinatown). Power corrupts, and the little guy usually loses.
- Structure as Foundation: Even at his most experimental (Personal Best), Towne built on solid structural bones. His mastery of classic three-act structure, peppered with surprising reversals, made the complex feel inevitable.
His influence? It's massive. You hear it in the whip-smart, character-driven dialogue of Aaron Sorkin or David Mamet (though their rhythms are different). You see it in the LA-set noirs of Michael Mann or the Coen Brothers' intricate plots. The idea that a screenplay could be literary art, studied and celebrated, owes a huge debt to Towne's achievements. Where does screenwriter Robert Towne rank? Many, myself included, put him in the absolute top tier, maybe second only to someone like Billy Wilder for sheer impact and sustained quality. That Oscar for Chinatown was no fluke.
Robert Towne FAQ: Your Burning Questions Answered
Did Robert Towne write sequels to Chinatown?
He planned a trilogy: Chinatown (water), The Two Jakes (oil), and Cloverleaf (land/airports). Only The Two Jakes got made, decades later (1990). Towne directed it, but it was plagued by production issues and critical disappointment. Cloverleaf never materialized. The magic of the first proved impossible to recapture.
Why is Robert Towne called a "script doctor"?
Because he was the secret weapon. Studios hired him (often uncredited) to fix troubled scripts. His work on Bonnie and Clyde, The Godfather, and Mission: Impossible are legendary examples. He could diagnose structural problems and sharpen dialogue like nobody else. Screenwriter Robert Towne commanded huge fees for this unseen work.
What awards did Robert Towne win for Chinatown?
He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (1975). He also won the Golden Globe, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) Award, and several critics' circle awards. It's considered one of the greatest screenplay wins in Oscar history.
Did Robert Towne dislike how Chinatown turned out?
He famously clashed with director Roman Polanski on the ending. Towne envisioned a slightly more hopeful resolution (though still dark). Polanski insisted on the devastating, ambiguous finale we know. History proved Polanski right, though Towne later acknowledged its power. He reportedly wasn't thrilled with all of Jack Nicholson's acting choices either, feeling Jake was too cool at times, lacking the intended vulnerability.
Where can I learn more about Robert Towne's screenwriting techniques?
His actual screenplay for Chinatown is published and widely available – reading it is a masterclass. Books like Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman mention him. Interviews he gave (though he was famously private) to publications like The Paris Review ("The Art of Screenwriting") are insightful. USC sometimes offers insights from his teaching methods.
The Legacy of Screenwriter Robert Towne
Robert Towne passed away in July 2024, leaving behind a legacy that fundamentally shaped modern screenwriting. Was he perfect? No. The Two Jakes still stings as a missed opportunity, and some late-career projects felt like echoes. But his peak work? Unmatched.
Think about it. How many writers create a single piece like Chinatown that defines a genre for generations? How many influence the very craft of writing for film through both their work and their teaching? Screenwriter Robert Towne did that. He showed that dialogue could be both poetic and brutally real. He proved structure serves the story, not the other way around. He made Los Angeles a living, breathing character full of sunshine and shadows.
Walking around LA now, especially near those old water channels or in Echo Park, you can still feel the ghost of Jake Gittes, of the world Towne created. That’s immortality for a writer. He showed generations that screenwriting isn't just mechanics – it's architecture, psychology, and damn good storytelling rolled into one. Want to be a better writer? Study Towne. Start with Chinatown. Then read it again. You'll find something new every time. That’s the mark of a true master craftsman. Forget it, Jake? No, Robert Towne, we won't forget.
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