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Title: Chinatown and the Last Detail: Two Screenplays
ISBN: 0802134017
Author:
Robert Towne
Publicate Date: 1997-12-08
Publish: 1997-12-08
List Price: $14.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $3.98
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $3.89
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Excellent Reference
Two top-notch screenplays, with an insightful introduction, all by screenwriting master Robert Towne. These scripts are a great reference for aspiring screenwriters, showing you what works, how to build strong characters and situation quickly, and how to keep the action tight and always moving forward. I can't give this five-stars because why read the script when you can watch the movie? As stand alone literature, screenplays leave much to be desired. It's the collaborative effort of moviemaking that leads to the magic. But, like Towne says, nobody can start working until somebody writes something. These are two of the best.
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2: Two great screenplays, worth reading and re-reading
Among American screenwriters, Towne is one of the greats, and if you're interested in the craft of writing for the movies (as I am), you have to read his stuff. He worked on BONNIE AND CLYDE and THE GODFATHER, got nominated for an Academy Award for THE LAST DETAIL and finally won for CHINATOWN -- one of the truly great screenplays of the century. Reading a screenplay is different from watching the film, though if you know the film -- and who hasn't seen CHINATOWN? -- it can be difficult to keep the images out of your head while you're reading. But the point is to follow the way the narrative structure moves the story. THE LAST DETAIL doesn't really have a big plot, being just the story of a lost weekend, of two career sailors escorting a third guy, much younger, from Norfolk to the brig at Portsmouth. Meadows is a nice kid, almost an innocent, a kleptomaniac who received a very stiff sentence for a very minor attempted crime. Billy Buddusky (a name remarkably similar to "Billy Budd") and Mulhill (known as "Mule") try to take him through a few life experiences on the way, including getting drunk, getting laid, and almost getting a tattoo. And the story ends quietly when they deliver him to jail and go their separate ways. A very nicely rendered slice-of-life story. CHINATOWN, of course, is the story of Jake Giddis, well-dressed private eye in Los Angeles in the 1930s, who takes on what he thinks is a routine matrimonial case but gets caught up in water politics and other people's strange lives. The writing here isn't quite Sam Spade; in fact, there's a very modern `70s tone to it. Towne was writing about the eye-opening `60s and `70s, for all that the story is set a generation earlier. But the pace is perfect, the characters are magnetic (even though Towne doesn't tell you everything that he might about them), and the very abrupt climax is shocking. Great writing, both of them.
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3: Credit Where It's Due
I haven't seen this book, but I assume that the script it contains for "Chinatown" conforms to the final cut of the film as released. If so, just be aware that the film wasn't really written by Robert Towne. Towne's screenplay was COMPLETELY redone by Roman Polanski, over Towne's very strong objections. Polanski, to his credit, has been pretty quiet about the subject. Towne, to his shame, has also. He continues to receive and accept credit for a script he never wrote. It's much more Polanski's movie than Towne's.I'd love to see someone do an article on what went on between these two guys between the time Towne turned in his final draft and Polanski finished cutting the film. That would be much more instructive.
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4: Robert Towne: Super Genius
I've long admired the films based on Robert Towne's scripts during the 1970s. These two lead the pack of the dark, cynical films produced during that period. Movies of a type I miss greatly now. But until reading this book I was never able to fully appreciate Towne's talent. From his revelatory introduction to the screenplays themselves, Robert Towne proves himself to be a talent of the highest order. My only regret is that I didn't learn of this book sooner so its influence on my own work would have already much sooner. If you have any appreciation for these films, you NEED to get this book.
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5: THE modern screenplay
Robert Towne's CHINATOWN is the finest example of screenwriting in the last thirty years. Towne could have written this story as a novel about how modern Los Angeles was formed, but chose to do so in the medium of film. The result has the richness and depth of a great novel. Students everywhere study CHINATOWN to learn the craft of screenwriting and for inspiration. Towne's brilliantly funny, disturbing script of THE LAST DETAIL, based on the novel by Darryl Ponicsan, is a worthy companion piece.
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