Personal Info
Birth date
1934-11-23 (90 Years)
Day of death
2024-07-01
Gender
Male
Known for
Writing
Place of birth
San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, USA
Also known as
P. H. Vasak
Роберт Таун
Robert Towne
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 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). Description above from the Wikipedia article Robert Towne, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
The Outer Limits
7.775
Overview:
The Outer Limits is an anthology tv series of self-contained sci-fi-horror stories, sometimes with a plot twist at the end.The Lloyd Bridges Show
5
Overview:
The Lloyd Bridges Show is an American anthology drama series produced by Aaron Spelling, which aired on CBS from September 11, 1962 to May 28, 1963, starring and hosted by Lloyd Bridges.Mission: Impossible
7.004
Overview:
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 the CIA, he's surprised to learn that he's the prime suspect. To clear his name, Hunt now must ferret out the real double agent and, in the process, even the score.Mission: Impossible II
6.13
Overview:
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 IMF agent from unleashing a genetically engineered biological weapon called Chimera. This mission, should Hunt choose to accept it, plunges him into the center of an international crisis of terrifying magnitude.Welcome to the Basement
NYR
Overview:
Welcome To The Basement is a show about watching, discussing and having fun with movies. The series stars Matt Sloan as the preponderant host; with close friend and Chad Vader alum Craig Johnson as his Second Banana.Days of Thunder
6.375
Overview:
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 hotshot develops a rivalry with a fellow racer that threatens his career when the two smash their cars. But with the help of his doctor, Cole just might overcome his injuries-- and his fear.The Firm
6.734
Overview:
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 refuse. Seduced by the money and gifts showered on him, he is totally oblivious to the more sinister side of his company. Then, two Associates are murdered. The FBI contact him, asking him for information and suddenly his life is ruined. He has a choice - work with the FBI, or stay with the Firm. Either way he will lose his life as he knows it. Mitch figures the only way out is to follow his own plan...Chinatown
7.917
Overview:
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 investigate her husband's extra-marital affair, Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits, uncovering a web of personal and political scandals that come crashing together.Bonnie and Clyde
7.5
Overview:
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 country, stealing cars and robbing banks.Last Woman on Earth
4.381
Overview:
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, Harold's lawyer, who has come to discuss the latest indictment. Harold invites him along on a boat trip during which all three try out some newly bought scuba diving equipment. When they resurface, they find out that the world has changed forever.The Story of Film: An Odyssey
7.59
Overview:
A worldwide guided tour of the greatest movies ever made and the story of international cinema through the history of cinematic innovation.The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made
4.621
Overview:
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...Frantic
6.726
Overview:
The wife of an American doctor suddenly vanishes in Paris. To find her, he navigates a puzzling web of language, locale, laissez-faire cops, triplicate-form filling bureaucrats and a defiant, mysterious waif who knows more than she tells.Tequila Sunrise
6.1
Overview:
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, while Nick is a high-profile detective trying to take down a Mexican drug lord named Carlos. Soon Nick's loyalties are put to the test when he begins an affair with restaurateur Jo Ann -- a love interest of Mac's -- unwittingly leading his friend into a police-orchestrated trap.Shampoo
5.98
Overview:
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 entanglements. His attempts to gather the money to open his own salon are continually side-tracked by the distractions presented by his many lovers.Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes
6.366
Overview:
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 tree house. Soon after, a family of apes stumble across the house and in the ensuing panic, both parents are killed. A female ape takes the tiny boy as a replacement for her own dead infant, and raises him as her son. Twenty years later, Captain Phillippe D'Arnot discovers the man who thinks he is an ape. Evidence in the tree house leads him to believe that he is the direct descendant of the Earl of Greystoke, and thus takes it upon himself to return the man to civilization.The Parallax View
6.833
Overview:
An ambitious reporter gets in trouble while investigating a senator's assassination which leads to a vast conspiracy involving a multinational corporation behind every event in the world's headlines.The Two Jakes
6
Overview:
Real estate developer Jake Berman hires private investigator and war veteran Jake Gittes for some run-of-the-mill matrimonial work. After Berman shoots his wife's lover, who happens to be his business partner, Gittes is drawn into a web of conspiracy and deceit involving the oil reserves beneath Los Angeles. While investigating, Gittes hears a voice from his past that causes him to revisit a traumatic case in Chinatown.Ask the Dust
5.378
Overview:
Mexican beauty Camilla hopes to rise above her station by marrying a wealthy American. That is complicated by meeting Arturo Bandini, a first-generation Italian hoping to land a writing career and a blue-eyed blonde on his arm.McCabe & Mrs. Miller
7.165
Overview:
A gambler and a prostitute become thriving business partners in a remote Old West mining town until a large corporation arrives on the scene.The Last Detail
7.034
Overview:
Two Navy men are ordered to bring a young offender to prison, but decide to show him one last good time along the way.Heaven Can Wait
6.613
Overview:
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 heaven only to discover that he wasn't ready to die, and that his body has been cremated. A new body must be found, and that of a recently-murdered millionaire is chosen. His wife and accountant—the murderers—are confused by this development, as he buys the L.A. Rams in order to once again quarterback them into the Superbowl.Suspect Zero
5.5
Overview:
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 Yakuza
7.073
Overview:
When George Tanner does business with high-ranking Yakuza Tono, Tono kidnaps his daughter, and George summons his old friend, private eye Harry Kilmer, to Japan to investigate.Villa Rides
6.3
Overview:
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 dedicated men in a march across Mexico battling the Colorados and stealing women's hearts as they go. But each has a nemesis among his friends: Arnold is tormented by Fierro, Villa's right-hand-man; and Villa must face possible betrayal by his own president's naiveté8 Million Ways to Die
5.5
Overview:
Scudder is a detective with the Sheriff's Department who is forced to shoot a violent suspect during a narcotics raid. The ensuing psychological aftermath of this shooting worsens his drinking problem and this alcoholism causes him to lose his job, as well as his marriage.Without Limits
6.5
Overview:
The life of renowned runner Steve Prefontaine and his relationship with legendary coach Bill Bowerman.Love Affair
5.4
Overview:
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 sent to take them to a larger island. They agree to meet in New York three months later to see if the attraction is real. One shows up but the other doesn't. However, a chance meeting brings them together again.Acting
2019What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael as Self
2013Salinger as Self - Screenwriter
2011The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2 Episodes) as Self
2008You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story as Self
2008Revolution! The Making of 'Bonnie and Clyde' as Self
2005Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That as Self
2004Suspect Zero as Professor Dates (uncredited)
2004The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made as Agent XK150 (archive footage)
2003A Decade Under the Influence as Self
2002Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film as Self (uncredited)
2001Rescued from the Closet as Self
2001A Sad Flower in the Sand as Self
1998Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy as Self
1997Cadillac Desert: Water and the Transformation of Nature as Self - Screenwriter, 'Chinatown'
1987The Pick-up Artist as Stan
1975Shampoo as Party Guest (uncredited)
1971Drive, He Said as Richard
1971The Zodiac Killer as Man in Bar #3
1961Creature from the Haunted Sea as Sparks Moran / Agent XK150 / Narrator
1960Last Woman on Earth as Martin Joyce
Writing
TBABattle of Britain ... Screenplay
2012Welcome to the Basement (1 Episode) ... Screenplay
2006Ask the Dust ... Screenplay
2000Mission: Impossible II ... Screenplay
1998Without Limits ... Writer
1996Mission: Impossible ... Screenplay
1994Love Affair ... Screenplay
1993The Firm ... Screenplay
1990The Two Jakes ... Writer, Characters
1990Days of Thunder ... Screenplay, Story
1988Tequila Sunrise ... Screenplay
19868 Million Ways to Die ... Writer
1984Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes ... Writer
1982Personal Best ... Writer
1975Shampoo ... Writer
1974The Yakuza ... Screenplay
1974Chinatown ... Writer
1973The Last Detail ... Screenplay
1968Villa Rides ... Screenplay
1964The Tomb of Ligeia ... Screenplay
1963The Outer Limits (1 Episode) ... Writer
1962The Lloyd Bridges Show (1 Episode) ... Writer
1960Last Woman on Earth ... Screenplay
Directing
2006Ask the Dust ... Director
1998Without Limits ... Director
1988Tequila Sunrise ... Director
1982Personal Best ... Director
Crew
1988Frantic ... Additional Writing
1987Tough Guys Don't Dance ... Additional Writing
19868 Million Ways to Die ... Additional Writing
1983Deal of the Century ... Additional Writing
1978Heaven Can Wait ... Additional Writing
1974The Parallax View ... Additional Writing
1972The New Centurions ... Additional Writing
1971Cisco Pike ... Additional Writing
1971McCabe & Mrs. Miller ... Additional Writing
1971Drive, He Said ... Additional Writing
1967Bonnie and Clyde ... Additional Writing