Chinatown and the Last Detail: Two Screenplays

Robert Towne is one of America's most influential screenwriters. His screenplays are revered in Hollywood, and his lines and scenes are quoted from memory by countless fans. Collected here are two of his most famous and critically acclaimed Chinatown and The Last Detail. Each earned Towne a nomination for an Academy Award. Chinatown follows a seedy private investigator, Jake Gittes, as he becomes embroiled in a case far more complicated than he ever imagined and uncovers a conspiracy reaching to the economic foundations of Los Angeles. The Last Detail is about the lost weekend odyssey of two Navy lifers, Buddusky and Mule who are assigned to escort a court-martialed recruit to prison. The film celebrates their determination to enjoy their taste of freedom as they try to postpone the moment when they have to face the inevitable. Released in the mid-1970s, these two movies revolutionised Hollywood film-making with scriptwriting that is political and uncompromising in language and event, and complex in design and execution. This edition also includes an introduction by Robert Towne in which he discusses the craft of screenwriting. Read more