Robert Towne
Known for: Writing
Born: November 23, 1934
Died: July 1, 2024
Place of birth: San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, USA
Robert Towne (born Robert Bertram Schwartz; November 23, 1934 - July 1, 2024) was an American screenwriter, producer, director and actor. He was part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning original screenplay for Roman Polanski's Chinatown (1974), which is widely considered one of the greatest screenplays ever written. He later said it was inspired by a chapter in Carey McWilliams's Southern California Country: An Island on the Land (1946) and a West magazine article on Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles. Towne also wrote the sequel, The Two Jakes (1990); the Hal Ashby comedy-dramas The Last Detail (1973) and Shampoo (1975); and the first two Mission: Impossible films. Towne directed the sports dramas Personal Best (1982) and Without Limits (1998), the crime thriller Tequila Sunrise (1988), and the romantic crime drama Ask the Dust (2006). Description above from the Wikipedia article Robert Towne, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Advertisement
Filmography
50 movies · 7 TV shows, newest first
6.7
What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael
2019
6.4
Salinger
2013
NR
Welcome to the Basement
2012
7.7
The Story of Film: An Odyssey
2011NR
Mission: Remarkable - 40 Years of Creating the Impossible
2010
8.5
You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story
2008
4.6
Revolution! The Making of 'Bonnie and Clyde'
2008
NR
Making of Chinatown
2007
8.1
Mad Men
2007
5.5
Ask the Dust
2006
7.0
Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That
2005
5.5
Suspect Zero
2004
7.9
A Decade Under the Influence
20038.0
Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film
2002
6.5
Rescued from the Closet
2001
NR
A Sad Flower in the Sand
2001
6.1
Mission: Impossible II
2000
6.6
Without Limits
1998
6.0
Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy
1998
NR
Cadillac Desert
1997
7.0
Mission: Impossible
1996
5.5
Love Affair
1994
6.7
The Firm
1993
NR
Halloween Monster Bash
1991
6.0
The Two Jakes
1990
6.4
Days of Thunder
1990
6.1
Tequila Sunrise
1988
6.7
Frantic
1988
5.7
The Pick-up Artist
1987
4.7
Tough Guys Don't Dance
1987
6.3
The Bedroom Window
1987
5.5
8 Million Ways to Die
1986
6.4
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes
1984
4.6
Deal of the Century
1983
5.9
Personal Best
1982
6.7
Heaven Can Wait
1978
6.0
Shampoo
1975
7.1
The Yakuza
1974
7.9
Chinatown
1974
6.8
The Parallax View
1974
7.0
The Last Detail
1973
6.6
The New Centurions
1972
8.7
The Godfather
1972
5.6
Cisco Pike
1972
7.2
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
1971
5.6
Drive, He Said
1971
4.8
The Zodiac Killer
1971
6.2
Villa Rides
1968
7.5
Bonnie and Clyde
1967
6.4
The Tomb of Ligeia
1964
7.2
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
1964
7.8
The Outer Limits
1963
6.0
The Lloyd Bridges Show
1962
3.6
Creature from the Haunted Sea
1961
4.4
Last Woman on Earth
1960
NR
Robert Towne
—NR
Battle of Britain
—