Biography
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 W...
Known For
Complete Filmography
What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael
2019
as Self
Pauline Kael (1919–2001) was undoubtedly one of the greatest names in film criticism. A Californian native, she wrote her first review in 1953 and joi...
Salinger
2013
as Self - Screenwriter
An in-depth investigation into the private world of the American writer J. D. Salinger (1919-2010), who lived most of his life behind the impenetrable...
You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story
2008
as Self
Jack L. Warner, Harry Warner, Albert Warner and Sam Warner were siblings who were born in Poland and emigrated to Canada near the turn of the century....
Revolution! The Making of 'Bonnie and Clyde'
2008
as Self
The making-of documentary of Bonnie and Clyde.
Ask the Dust
2006
Director, Screenplay
Mexican beauty Camilla hopes to rise above her station by marrying a wealthy American. That is complicated by meeting Arturo Bandini, a first-generati...
Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That
2005
as Self
Documentary about filmmaker Budd Boetticher.
Suspect Zero
2004
as Professor Dates (uncredited)
A killer is on the loose, and an FBI agent sifts through clues and learns that the bloodthirsty felon's victims of choice are other serial killers.
The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made
2004
as Agent XK150 (archive footage)
There are some movies that are so bad they're good. And there are some movies that are so bad- that they're just bad...
A Decade Under the Influence
2003
as Self
A documentary examining the decade of the 1970s as a turning point in American cinema. Some of today's best filmmakers interview the influential direc...
Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film
2002
as Self (uncredited)
illustrates how directors pushed boundaries and altered the art of filmmaking during the turbulent, swinging 1960s. Narrated by Woody Harrelson, "Reel...
Rescued from the Closet
2001
as Self
Rescued from the Closet is a 2001 documentary consisting of interviews originally recorded for the 1995 film The Celluloid Closet. It explores the his...
A Sad Flower in the Sand
2001
as Self
About a largely unsung writer of the twentieth century: John Fante, the renegade author whose highly autobiographical novels illustrate his deep-roote...
Mission: Impossible II
2000
Screenplay
With computer genius Luther Stickell at his side and a beautiful thief on his mind, agent Ethan Hunt races across Australia and Spain to stop a former...
Without Limits
1998
Writer, Director
The life of renowned runner Steve Prefontaine and his relationship with legendary coach Bill Bowerman.
Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy
1998
as Self
A profile of writer-director Billy Wilder
Cadillac Desert: Water and the Transformation of Nature
1997
as Self - Screenwriter, 'Chinatown'
Documentary on water usage, money, politics, the transformation of nature, and the growth of the American west, shown on PBS as a four-part miniseries...
Mission: Impossible
1996
Screenplay
When Ethan Hunt, the leader of a crack espionage team whose perilous operation has gone awry with no explanation, discovers that a mole has penetrated...
Love Affair
1994
Screenplay
Ex-football star Mike Gambril meets Terry McKay on a flight to Sydney, which is forced to land on a small atoll. They become romantic on board a ship ...
The Firm
1993
Screenplay
Mitch McDeere is a young man with a promising future in Law. About to sit his Bar exam, he is approached by 'The Firm' and made an offer he doesn't re...
The Two Jakes
1990
Writer, Characters
Real estate developer Jake Berman hires private investigator and war veteran Jake Gittes for some run-of-the-mill matrimonial work. After Berman shoot...
Days of Thunder
1990
Screenplay, Story
Talented but unproven stock car driver Cole Trickle gets a break and with the guidance of veteran Harry Hogge turns heads on the track. The young hots...
Tequila Sunrise
1988
Screenplay, Director
In a seaside California town, best friends Mac and Nick are on opposite sides of the law. Mac is a former drug dealer trying to clean up his act, whil...
Frantic
1988
Additional Writing
The wife of an American doctor suddenly vanishes in Paris. To find her, he navigates a puzzling web of language, locale, laissez-faire cops, triplicat...
The Pick-up Artist
1987
as Stan
A womanizer meets his match when he falls for the daughter of a gambling addict who is in debt to the mob.
Tough Guys Don't Dance
1987
Additional Writing
Tim Madden awakens one morning to discover a fresh tattoo on his arm, his car covered in blood, his girlfriend in bed with the town sheriff, and a wom...
The Bedroom Window
1987
Executive Producer
Baltimore, Maryland. Sylvia sees a girl being attacked from her lover Terry's bedroom window. The assailant flees and his victim is saved. But that sa...
8 Million Ways to Die
1986
Additional Writing, Writer
Scudder is a detective with the Sheriff's Department who is forced to shoot a violent suspect during a narcotics raid. The ensuing psychological after...
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes
1984
Writer
A shipping disaster in the 19th Century has stranded a man and woman in the wilds of Africa. The lady is pregnant, and gives birth to a son in their t...
Deal of the Century
1983
Additional Writing
Arms dealers from several companies vie to sell the most expensive and highest tech weapons to a South American dictator. There are complications; und...
Personal Best
1982
Director, Producer, Writer
Young sprinter Chris Cahill is having difficulty reaching her potential as an athlete, until she meets established track star Tory Skinner. As Tory an...
Heaven Can Wait
1978
Additional Writing
Joe Pendleton is a quarterback preparing to lead his team to the superbowl when he is almost killed in an accident. An overanxious angel plucks him to...
Shampoo
1975
as Party Guest (uncredited)
A Beverly Hills hairdresser runs around town on the eve of the 1968 presidential election trying to make heads or tails of his financial and romantic ...
Shampoo
1975
Writer
A Beverly Hills hairdresser runs around town on the eve of the 1968 presidential election trying to make heads or tails of his financial and romantic ...
The Yakuza
1974
Screenplay
When George Tanner does business with high-ranking Yakuza Tono, Tono kidnaps his daughter, and George summons his old friend, private eye Harry Kilmer...
Chinatown
1974
Writer
Private eye Jake Gittes lives off of the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-World War II Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite to inve...
The Parallax View
1974
Additional Writing
An ambitious reporter gets in trouble while investigating a senator's assassination which leads to a vast conspiracy involving a multinational corpora...
The Last Detail
1973
Screenplay
Two Navy men are ordered to bring a young offender to prison, but decide to show him one last good time along the way.
The New Centurions
1972
Additional Writing
An idealistic rookie cop joins the LAPD to make ends meet while finishing law school, and is indoctrinated by a seasoned veteran. As time goes on, he ...
Cisco Pike
1971
Additional Writing
A down on his luck former drug dealer is forced by a corrupt LAPD policeman to sell 100 kilos of confiscated marijuana in one weekend.
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
1971
Additional Writing
A gambler and a prostitute become thriving business partners in a remote Old West mining town until a large corporation arrives on the scene.
Drive, He Said
1971
as Richard
Hector is a star basketball player for the College basketball team he plays for, the Leopards. His girlfriend, Olive, doesn't know whether to stay wit...
Drive, He Said
1971
Additional Writing
Hector is a star basketball player for the College basketball team he plays for, the Leopards. His girlfriend, Olive, doesn't know whether to stay wit...
The Zodiac Killer
1971
as Man in Bar #3
The San Francisco area is beset by a series of seemingly random murders without motive or pattern. The police are taunted by phone calls and letters. ...
Villa Rides
1968
Screenplay
Pulled into the Mexican Revolution by his own greed, Texas gunrunner and pilot Lee Arnold joins bandit-turned-patriot Pancho Villa and his band of ded...
Bonnie and Clyde
1967
Additional Writing
In the 1930s, bored waitress Bonnie Parker falls in love with an ex-con named Clyde Barrow and together they start a violent crime spree through the c...
The Tomb of Ligeia
1964
Screenplay
Verden Fell is shattered after the death of his lovely wife. But, after an unexpected encounter with Lady Rowena Trevanion, Fell soon finds himself ma...
Creature from the Haunted Sea
1961
as Sparks Moran / Agent XK150 / Narrator
A crook decides to bump off members of his inept crew and blame their deaths on a legendary sea creature. What he doesn't know is that the creature is...
Last Woman on Earth
1960
as Martin Joyce
Harold Gern, a shady businessman from New York, is spending a holiday in Puerto Rico with his attractive wife Evelyn. They are joined by Martin Joyce,...
Last Woman on Earth
1960
Screenplay
Harold Gern, a shady businessman from New York, is spending a holiday in Puerto Rico with his attractive wife Evelyn. They are joined by Martin Joyce,...
Battle of Britain
N/A
Screenplay
A story set during the famous WWII air battle between the British Royal Air Force and the German Luftwaffe.