Screenwriter Robert Towne died at 89 having written some of the best screenplays Hollywood has ever produced. Chinatown, for instance, will never be topped. I don’t care how many screeching banshees try to obliterate it from the canon of great films, it will always be great and nothing will ever change that.
Chinatown is about corruption. It’s about fate. It’s about believing you are doing everything right until the last minute when you realize you’ve done everything wrong. No one has or will ever make a movie that good again. That era of filmmaking might as well have died, along with Towne.
He also wrote one of my favorite films, Tequila Sunrise with Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell. I think it’s a perfect film, even if it never got the credit deserved. I’ve seen it countless times and I’ve yet to find a flaw.
One of the best Oscar wins in all of Oscar history…
From the AP:
Towne’s contributions were uncredited for “Bonnie and Clyde,” the landmark crime film released in 1967, and for years he was a favorite ghost writer. He helped out on “The Godfather,” “The Parallax View” and “Heaven Can Wait” among others and referred to himself as a “relief pitcher who could come in for an inning, not pitch the whole game.” But Towne was credited by name for Nicholson’s macho “The Last Detail” and Beatty’s sex comedy “Shampoo” and was immortalized by “Chinatown,” the 1974 thriller set during the Great Depression.
I’m sure David Phillips will write a proper obit but for now, sending a crisp salute to one of the all time greats. Thanks for all the fish.
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