Robert Towne

Born: 1934-11-23

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).


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The Pick-up Artist

as Stan
Released: 1987-09-18

A womanizer meets his match when he falls for the daughter of a gambling addict who is in debt...

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Shampoo

as Party Guest (uncredited)
Released: 1975-02-11

A Beverly Hills hairdresser runs around town on the eve of the 1968 presidential election trying...

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Salinger

as Self - Screenwriter
Released: 2013-09-06

An in-depth investigation into the private world of the American writer J. D. Salinger...

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Suspect Zero

as Professor Dates (uncredited)
Released: 2004-08-27

A killer is on the loose, and an FBI agent sifts through clues and learns that the bloodthirsty...

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What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael

as Self
Released: 2019-03-22

Pauline Kael (1919–2001) was undoubtedly one of the greatest names in film criticism. A...

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The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made

as Agent XK150 (archive footage)
Released: 2004-07-13

There are some movies that are so bad they're good. And there are some movies that are so bad-...

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Last Woman on Earth

as Martin Joyce
Released: 1960-08-05

Harold Gern, a shady businessman from New York, is spending a holiday in Puerto Rico with his...

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Creature from the Haunted Sea

as Sparks Moran / Agent XK150 / Narrator
Released: 1961-06-01

A crook decides to bump off members of his inept crew and blame their deaths on a legendary sea...

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A Decade Under the Influence

as Self
Released: 2003-04-25

A documentary examining the decade of the 1970s as a turning point in American cinema. Some of...

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You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story

as Self
Released: 2008-05-15

Jack L. Warner, Harry Warner, Albert Warner and Sam Warner were siblings who were born in Poland...

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Drive, He Said

as Richard
Released: 1971-06-13

Hector is a star basketball player for the College basketball team he plays for, the Leopards....

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The Zodiac Killer

as Man in Bar #3
Released: 1971-04-07

The San Francisco area is beset by a series of seemingly random murders without motive or...

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Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That

as Self
Released: 2005-12-21

Documentary about filmmaker Budd Boetticher.

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Rescued from the Closet

as Self
Released: 2001-05-29

A collection of interviews recorded for the making of the 1995 documentary "The Celluloid...

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Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy

as Self
Released: 1998-02-04

A profile of writer-director Billy Wilder

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Cadillac Desert: Water and the Transformation of Nature

as Self - Screenwriter, 'Chinatown'
Released: 1997-06-24

Documentary on water usage, money, politics, the transformation of nature, and the growth of the...

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A Sad Flower in the Sand

as Self
Released: 2001-01-01

About a largely unsung writer of the twentieth century: John Fante, the renegade author whose...

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AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies

as Self
First aired: 1998-06-23

To commemorate the first century of American filmmaking, the American Film Institute embarked on...

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The Story of Film: An Odyssey

as Self
First aired: 2011-09-03

A worldwide guided tour of the greatest movies ever made and the story of international cinema...

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