R.I.P. Robert Towne 1934 - 2024

Robert Towne, the Academy-Award winning creator of Chinatown and the Jake Gittes mythos, passed away last month at his home in Los Angeles. He was 89.

Robert Towne provides update on prequel series

Nearly five years after it was first reported that Robert Towne and David Fincher were in development on a TV series for Netflix based on the early days of Jake Gittes, Towne has given an update to Variety, perhaps to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Chinatown's premiere on June 20, 1974.

Robert Towne and David Fincher

“All I’m likely to say is yes, all the episodes have been written for Netflix. Working with a force of nature like David Fincher, tho’ occasionally humbling, is never less than enlightening.”

Deleted Scene: That's Where She Drew the Line

 

Lieutenant Escobar and Jake discuss moral and ethical boundaries.

 

Dustin Hoffman does Robert Evans

Strange times! I hope you're all staying safe and well. It's being said quite often - each and every one of us could use a good laugh right now, so I think it's the perfect time to take a look at some of the fun that Dustin Hoffman has poked at Robert Evans over the years, despite a few denials and bitter words along the way.

Robert Evans, the great 'Kid Notorious', sadly passed away in October of last year, a few months before the world went completely mad, but I don't think he'd mind us having a few giggles at his expense.

Ben Affleck to direct adaptation of The Big Goodbye

Ben Affleck

Deadline has reported that Ben Affleck has signed on to write and direct The Big Goodbye for Paramount Pictures, a big-screen adaptation of Sam Wasson's widely acclaimed account of the making of Chinatown. Lorne Michaels (Saturday Night Live), who acquired the rights to the book and set the deal up with Paramount, will co-produce with Affleck.

Jack Nicholson: Blue Champagne

The road that follows the history of cinema is littered with the bones of movies that didn't quite make it to the finish line - all the way from unproduced treatments and screenplays to fully completed films that never saw the light of day. While it's something of a given that many a low-budget or independent film project can suffer this fate, it's not something exclusive to those without large resources at their disposal - even the involvement of the most powerful filmmakers and movie stars can't guarantee that a production in trouble can be saved from cinematic oblivion.

Jack Nicholson is no exception to this rule, by any means. In the early 1990s, he was truly one of the greatest movie stars in the world, but there's an odd little entry on his filmography from this time involving a failed venture which few will remember, and far fewer have ever seen.

JJ Gittes Investigations and beyond

With news about any Jake Gittes projects, either past, present or future, in somewhat short supply (although the upcoming TV show in development might create something of an explosion if it gets picked up, and once we're past these dark times), I'll also be posting articles about a few obscurities involving those who were responsible for the creation of Chinatown and The Two Jakes.

First up is the unreleased independent film from the early 1990s, Blue Champagne, produced by Jack Nicholson.

SCTV's 'Polynesiantown'

 
In 1981, the sketch TV show SCTV dedicated the majority of one episode to a very loose parody of Chinatown, entitled 'Polynesiantown', following the noir-ish escapades of restaurateur Johnny La Rue (played by the late, great John Candy) who runs a tacky Polynesian-style bar/restaurant.

Review: Sam Wasson's The Big Goodbye

For three decades, I have devoured every piece of information I could find about the film that set me upon a lifelong obsession with cinema. Much as I would have loved to finally see a dedicated print publication giving Chinatown its due - something along the lines of Peter Cowie's wonderful, very simply titled, The Godfather Book, which partly inspired me to start this blog - surely the story of the making of Chinatown had already been told time and time again in multiple biographies, articles and film histories.

When it was announced that an upcoming book entitled The Big Goodbye, by Sam Wasson (Fifth Avenue 5 A.M., Fosse), would tell the story of the making of Chinatown "for the first time", I was skeptical. My initial assumption was that this would just be a book collecting everything out there about the film and jamming it together in one place. The same old stuff that I'd read already, right?

Wrong.

Jake Gittes prequel TV series reportedly in development

Robert Towne

Deadline has reported that Netflix has closed deals with Robert Towne and David Fincher to pen a pilot script for a TV series that would be a prequel to Chinatown, covering the early days of private investigator Jake Gittes.

Towne, Fincher and Josh Donen have been announced as executive producers. Deadline states that "The hope is that Fincher might direct the pilot, but that is not part of the deal which at this point covers a pilot script."

David Fincher

Netflix is yet to make any comment regarding this project.

No further details have been revealed, beyond the involvement of Chinatown's own creator Robert Towne, Chinatown superfan David Fincher (director of Se7en and Fight Club, and passionate co-commentator on Chinatown's DVD commentary with Towne) and Josh Donen (producer, House of Cards), and that the series is intended as a prequel to the 1974 film.

More news as it comes in.

R.I.P. Robert Evans 1930 - 2019

Chinatown's producer, the legendary, notorious and iconic Robert Evans, passed away on Saturday, October 26 at his Woodland home in Los Angeles. He was 89.

The Two Jakes: Poster Concepts

Found a couple of very informative posts on artist Robert Rodriguez's blog regarding the development of the poster for The Two Jakes, which also include some of the early concept sketches by Steven Chorney.

The Third Film

In the period allowed for questions, a young woman asked Robert Towne whether there was any chance for the completion of the 'trilogy' that had been begun with Chinatown.
'No,' he told the questioner. 'No chance.'
- David Thomson, The Whole Equation, 2004

Few things pique the curiosity of film buffs more than those films it seems they'll never get to see. There are those that were lost or destroyed - Orson Welles' original cut of The Magnificent Ambersons, Eric von Stroheim's eight-hour version of Greed. There are those that remain unreleased or unfinished - Jerry Lewis' notorious The Day the Clown Cried and various Orson Welles projects, most notably The Other Side of the Wind ⁱ.

Then there are those that were planned, but never made - Stanley Kubrick's Napoleon, Alejandro Jodorowsky's Dune, and further episodes of successful film series.

The Two Jakes: Take 2

"Paramount will make this movie," said one observer. "But only when the movie makers get their act together."
- Los Angeles Times, May 9, 1985

Following the very public collapse of the initial production of The Two Jakes in May of 1985, the sets were dismantled, a number of claims were filed by crew members regarding unpaid work, and the production faced lawsuits from Laird International Studios, Kodak and others. Paramount announced that the production had been postponed indefinitely, although Frank Mancuso, the executive producer, did state that he hadn't given up hope of resurrecting it.

Fun Stuff section

Made a couple of additions to the Fun Stuff page - head on over there for vintage Chinatown parodies by MAD Magazine and Cracked, plus some pics and videos.

Chinatown: The Expanded Score

Chinatown's classic soundtrack has finally received an official expanded treatment, courtesy of Intrada Records:

Intrada presents an expanded edition of Chinatown, with the first 12 tracks presenting the original 1974 album, remastered from the stereo masters for a more suitable natural sound of the ensemble (previous CD releases altered the dynamic range and overall levels considerably). The remaining tracks offer the entire score for the first time in the intended picture sequence. These precious recordings have been mastered from what may be the only surviving session elements in existence: a pair of aging 1/4˝ seven-and-a-half IPS full-track (mono) rolls retained by the composer and transferred to DAT some three decades ago.

http://www.intrada.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7090

Deleted Scene: The Rainmaker

Jake encounters a local character in the drought-ridden fields of Southern California.

The Two Jakes: Take 1

Los Angeles, 1984

Robert Towne scored an Oscar for Chinatown, followed it up with another hit, Shampoo, and spent the rest of the 1970s as the most lauded, in-demand screenwriter and script doctor in town, but the new decade had not been so kind.

Deleted Scene: Horseshit

Noah Cross philosophises with Jake.

Chinatown: The Lambro Score

"I couldn't believe it - it was Chinese-sounding!"

- Jerry Goldsmith on Phillip Lambro's score, Soundtrack! Magazine

Composer Phillip Lambro

It's hard to imagine Chinatown without the now-iconic score by Jerry Goldsmith - Uan Rasey's haunting trumpet solo over the opening credits, the sense of impending doom underlying the tender love theme, the dark, brooding suggestion of a great evil approaching in Noah Cross, and the understated menace of the simple cues accompanying Jake's investigations.

What's particularly remarkable is that Goldsmith completed it in ten days, having been brought in at the very last minute when the film's initial score, by composer Phillip Lambro, was finally rejected. This earlier score has only been briefly mentioned in passing by the film's main participants, and not kindly: