Swapa DVD: Biography & Awards for Robert Towne, Robert Towne's List of Movies/Used DVDs

AKA: Rob Morton

Born: 11/23/1934 Los Angeles, CA

Decades Active:
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1890	1900	1910	1920	1930	1940	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010
Biography: Robert Towne would prefer his appearance as the stick-like leading actor Edward Wain in the prententious Roger Corman post-apocalyptic effort The Last Woman on Earth (1960) be forgotten -- in addition to the film's screenplay, which was Towne's first. Despite this inauspicious beginning (and his follow-up starring appearance in Creature From the Haunted Sea [1961]), Towne appreciated the early opportunity afforded him by Corman, and remained with the producer/director to pen the screenplay for Tomb of Ligeia (1965) (two more scripts for Corman, A Time for Killing and Captain Nemo and the Underwater City, were heavily revised by others). From there, Towne could only go up, and this he did as script consultant for Warren Beatty's Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and as full screenwriter for Villa Rides (1967). After one more acting turn in Drive, He Said (1971), Towne made a good living as a screenwriter and troubleshooting script doctor. Towne's output ranged from the salty profanities of The Last Detail (1967) to the insightful glances at Nixon-era mores in Shampoo (1968) to the misty mysticism of The Natural (1984) to the dewy-eyed romanticism of Warren Beatty's 1994 remake of Love Affair. In 1974, Towne won a Best Screenplay Academy Award for director Roman Polanski's Chinatown. This film contained one of the few totally unhappy endings in the Towne canon -- for the most part, he prefers upbeat denouements, to the extent of overhauling the endings for the screen versions of Bernard Malamud's The Natural and John Grisham's The Firm. In 1981, Robert Towne made his directorial debut with Personal Best; more successful was the second Towne-directed effort, 1988's Tequila Sunrise. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Green links represent a title available on SwapaDVD. Dates shown are DVD release dates.

06/03/2008 - Villa Rides
02/19/2008 - The Outsider
12/16/2003 - The Pick-Up Artist
09/30/2003 - A Decade Under the Influence
01/21/2003 - Last Woman on Earth
01/21/2003 - Last Woman on Earth

Green links represent a title available on SwapaDVD. Dates shown are DVD release dates.

12/30/2008 - Days of Thunder [Widescreen] [Blu-ray] - Executive Producer
06/03/2008 - Villa Rides - Producer
01/08/2008 - Personal Best - Screenwriter
11/06/2007 - Chinatown [Collector's Edition] - Screenwriter
11/06/2007 - The Two Jakes [Collector's Edition] - Screenwriter
11/06/2007 - The Two Jakes [Collector's Edition] [Widescreen] - Screenwriter
05/22/2007 - Mission: Impossible 2 [HD DVD] - Screenwriter
05/22/2007 - Mission: Impossible [HD DVD] - Screenwriter
05/22/2007 - Mission: Impossible 2 [Blu-ray] - Director
05/22/2007 - Mission: Impossible [Blu-ray] - Producer

1975	Best Original Screenplay (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Shampoo
1974	Best Screenplay (winner)	British Academy of Film and Television	The Last Detail
1974	Best Screenplay (winner)	British Academy of Film and Television	Chinatown [Widescreen & 25th Anniversary Edition]
1974	Best Screenplay (winner)	Golden Globe	Chinatown [Widescreen & 25th Anniversary Edition]
1974	Best Original Screenplay (winner)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Chinatown [Widescreen & 25th Anniversary Edition]
1973	Best Adapted Screenplay (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	The Last Detail

Robert Towne

DVDs that Robert Towne appeared in...

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Awards