As ‘Chinatown’ Turns 50, Robert Towne Reflects on His Netflix Prequel Plans With David Fincher and Writing Jack Nicholson’s Most Iconic Role
variety.comChinatown.” First released on June 20, 1974, the seminal noir feature was a resounding success at its time: a big hit for producer and Paramount heavy Robert Evans, a renowned return to Hollywood for director Roman Polanski and an Academy Award winner for screenwriter Robert Towne, plus Oscar nominations for stars Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway.
But the film has only become more enshrined in the canon in the decades since, in particular for Towne’s script: a grim portrait of uninhibited greed shaping Los Angeles in the 30’s, celebrated as one of the best — and often cited as the best — screenplay in history.
Key to its legacy is its terrifying ending, which sees Nicholson’s detective J.J. Gittes return to his old stamping ground of Chinatown.
There he witnesses another deadly miscarriage of justice that he’s helpless to stop. That Towne initially objected to the ending is the stuff of Hollywood legend.
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