Robert Towne, screenwriter of Chinatown, Bonnie and Clyde, Mission: Impossible… dies

A famous Hollywood script doctor, he also helped Francis Ford Coppola write a key scene in The Godfather, and directed a handful of films.

“A good screenplay reads like a description of a movie that has already been shot.”

We have just learned of the disappearance of Robert Townelegendary screenwriter, who contributed to the success of many Hollywood works of the 1960s (The Last Woman on Earth, Bonnie and Clyde…) to 2013: that year, he was hired as a consultant on the final season of Mad Men.

Born Robert Bertram Schwartz in 1934, his father changed his name at the time of World War II, taking the surname inscribed on his clothing store. Initially an actor, he helped director and producer Roger Corman rewrite the script for The Last Woman on Earthfrom 1960. He would hire him again several times to rework the stories of his low-budget productions (The Tomb of Ligeiataken from a work by Edgar Allan Poe, Creature From the Haunted Sea…) also appearing sometimes on screen, in supporting roles, under the pseudonym of Edward Wain. A loyalty that would be verified later with other artists, from Roman Polanski to Tom Cruise, including Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway or Jack Nicholson.

In 1967, Robert Towne found himself, at the request of Arthur Penn, rewriting sequences of Bonnie and Clydeincluding a family discussion that is too “flat”which he transforms into an intense warning from Bonnie's mother (Faye Dunaway) to the couple, understanding that their crimes are pushing them straight towards death. Once released in theaters, the director will never stop praising the “rescue” de Towne on this production which became one of the emblematic films of American cinema of the 1960s.

A few years later, he would reunite with his male star, Warren Beatty, on Shampoo (by Hal Ashby), a film they both co-wrote. Towne is careful to respect the actor's rhythm, his speech tics… “I learned to write dialogues according to the actors' pace”he will explain about ShampooAt the turn of the 1970s and 1980s, the star would call on Towne again to refine the script for his productions. Heaven can wait And Reds.

In the heart of the 1970s, at the time of the success of ShampooRobert Towne became Hollywood's most prominent screenwriter, receiving three consecutive Oscar nominations for The Last Detail, Chinatown and this film. Roman Polanski's dark thriller wins the statuette.

Chinatown will have counted enormously in his career, even if Robert Towne would have liked to offer it a more optimistic ending. Giving in to the director's insistence, he would recognize his mistake years later: “I thought it was too melodramatic to end the film that way, but I was wrong. He was right.” The duo would reteam a decade later on Frantic.

Written from the outset for Jack Nicholson, Chinatown is a major critical success of the 70's. Before that, the duo already knew each other, they had notably crossed paths on The Last Choreby Al Ahsby, but after this adventure, Towne will be very regularly hired as a consultant/script doctor on the actor's projects (Missouri Breaksby Arthur Penn, for example). Sometimes he signs these collaborations, sometimes not, and Nicholson also hires him as an actor for Go aheadfrom 1971, offering him a role as professor-mentor to his own character.

They also worked together for a long time on the sequel to Chinatown, The Two Jakeswhich Towne would have liked to direct but which was ultimately directed by Nicholson… and which flopped in 1990. Which did not prevent the screenwriter from continuing to explore this story in depth, until the very end of his career: he confirmed to Variety just one month before his death that David Fincher's series thought of as a prequel to Chinatown was 100% written for Netflix. However, it will be without Jack this time, as the actor officially retired about ten years ago, and the series is supposed to take place before the 1974 film.

Three things to know about… Chinatown

Later in his career, Robert Towne would find this same kind of faithful partnership with Tom Cruise, for whom he co-wrote Days of Thunder, The Firm And Mission: Impossible I And II during the 1990s.

Also co-author of Greystoke, the legend of Tarzana screenplay for which he would have to sell the rights to pay off debts, he was thanked by name at the 1973 Oscars by Francis Ford Coppola for his participation in writing the screenplay for Godfather. Precisely for its touching scene between Al Pacino and Marlon Brando in the garden, which did not exist in the original novel by Mario Puzo.

The Godfather: The Secret History of the Garden Scene Between Vito and Michael Corleone

In addition to writing a lot for cinema and television (we owe him some cult episodes of The Man from UNCLE Or The Outer Limits), Robert Towne wrote and directed four films between 1982 and 2006: Personal Best, Tequila Sunrise, Without Limits And Ask the dustThese received generally good reviews, but did not make as much of an impact on American cinema history as Chinatown Or Bonnie and Clyde.

In 2006, Sarah Morris dedicated a documentary to him, simply titled Robert Towne. Here is an excerpt:

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