Dublin Institute of Technology ARROW@DIT Doctoral Applied Arts 2009-01-01 The Screenplays of Robert Towne 1960-2000 Elaine Lennon (Thesis) Dublin Institute of Technology Recommended Citation Lennon, E.: The Screenplays of Robert Towne 1960-2000. Dublin, Dublin Institute of Technology, 2009 This Theses, Ph.D is brought to you for free and open access by the Applied Arts at ARROW@DIT. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral by an authorized administrator of ARROW@DIT. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. THE SCREENPLAYS OF ROBERT TOWNE 1960-2000 by Elaine Lennon M.A. Film Studies A thesis submitted for the award of Ph.D. DUBLIN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Supervised by Dr. Brian O’Neill Trust the tale, not the teller. - D.H. Lawrence When in doubt, tell the truth. - Mark Twain …memory and nostalgia have a way of preserving lost causes as the conscience of history. - Andrew Sarris Nothing matters. Nothing matters. - Louis B. Mayer on his deathbed Dedication For Squeaky, who was there at the beginning: the most charming, loving, handsome fellow; a true aristocat. I miss you. My lovely Pyewacket – fierce, brave and true, you didn’t deserve your ending. I hope you can appreciate mine. Darling little Ozzy. I’m so sorry you left us. Archie, please come home. Sidney. Baba. Life is not the same. This is for you. Abstract What follows is a study of Hollywood screenwriter Robert Towne. Theoretical notions of the screenplay have largely been cast in terms of screenwriting practice as an adjunct of studio production schedules. A popular cultural text in its own right, the screenplay is a procedurally central yet provisional document originated by a writer and subject to alteration within the production process. Auteurism has dominated film theory for over fifty years and is the point of departure for this study. While the critical method employed here is not rigidly anti-director, it seeks to enact an intervention into prior debates surrounding the attribution of screen credits – particularly the controversial possessory credit claimed by directors to complex cinematic works. It enumerates the elements central to an understanding of the screenplay as derived from various writings on not just the Hollywood screenplay but also dramatic playwriting. Arguing for the centrality of the screenwriter in the era of American auteur cinema is not without its practical and conceptual contradictions, however Towne’s position as collaborator extraordinaire is precisely the reason to reconsider his role and to attribute to him the title of auteur where appropriate. The major films written and/or directed by Towne are examined using elemental components of the screenplay, namely: action (story or plot), character, dialogue, genre, location and visuals, theme and tone (or point of view) and in chronological order of production and exhibition. The project as a whole is contextualised within a necessarily synoptic theoretical and historical analysis of the American studio system since 1960 in four key phases: 1960-1966; 1967-1975; 1976-1989; and from 1990 onwards. Towne’s career is a prism for the examination of evolving narrative techniques, screenplay structure, different spheres and eras of production, studio politics and the careers of individual producers and stars associated with his work. The thesis concludes that Robert Towne’s position as an author in cinema is as equally deserved by the screenwriter as the director and that Robert Towne is a principal auteur of the films he has written and directed inasmuch as his signature is recognisable amongst the multiple collaborators required to make a film in the Hollywood system. Although the idea of authorship itself is perhaps overly literary and somewhat inappropriate in its application to the study of a collaborative institution it retains its value as a principle of organisation and constitutes a model by which to understand the significance of the screenwriter’s contribution to cinema. Declaration I certify that this thesis which I now submit for examination for the award of Doctor of Philosophy, is entirely my own work and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. This thesis was prepared according to the regulations for postgraduate study by research of the Dublin Institute of Technology and has not been submitted in whole or in part for an award in any other Institute or University. The work reported on in this thesis conforms to the principles and requirements of the Institute’s guidelines for ethics in research. The Institute has permission to keep, to lend or to copy this thesis in whole or in part, on condition that any such use of the material of the thesis be duly acknowledged. Signature Date Candidate Acknowledgements Many thanks to Dr. Gwenda Young of University College Cork, who provided sources for references and library acquisitions, as well as valuable advice about my research in Los Angeles. Also, a big thank you to Gráinne Humphreys, Director of Dublin International Film Festival and former Deputy Director/Head of Education of the Irish Film Institute, as well as Pauline Kael afficionada; and her staff at the Institute’s library, who gave me such great help with article research. Also to Dr Ruth Barton at University College Dublin who provided me with good advice when it was needed; and my very own Sidney Korshak, Maria Farrell, of the National College of Art and Design and the Genco Olive Oil Company, for her enthusiastic support. Thanks to staff at the Aungier Street Library of Dublin Institute of Technology, particularly Caroline Beatty and Seán Byrne; and especially Sarah Jane Beatty, Sarah-Anne Kennedy and Andrea McKeon, whose forbearance at a constant list of requests was admirable and the results speedy. A special thank you to Barbara Hall, Research Archivist at the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and all the staff in Special Collections, especially Greg Walsh for his marvellous article research; and to the late Edith Head, who unwittingly donated the use of her dining table; Karen Pedersen and staff at the Writers Guild of America, West; Richard Stayton, editor of Written By magazine for our brief if informative meeting; Caroline Sisneros, of the Louis B. Mayer Library at the American Film Institute; Randi Hokett and Jennifer Prindiville of the Warner Brothers Archives at the University of Southern California; Judy Noack and Shannon Fifer at Warner Brothers, Los Angeles; Mark Quigley at UCLA’s Film and Television Archive; producer Catherine Clinch whose wise words struck a welcome chord after our ‘meeting cute’ on Melrose; and Carrie Marsh at Pomona College, Claremont, all of whom made my Los Angeles research such a great pleasure. Professor Tom Stempel, of Los Angeles City College, proved a world class guide to the city; many thanks are due to him for taking me on a memorable tour of the locations for CHINATOWN and his involvement, support and writings were such a wonderful addition to this project. The opportunity to read the manuscript for SCREENPLAYS TO LEARN FROM published as UNDERSTANDING SCREENWRITING: Learning From Good, Not-Quite-So Good, and Bad Screenplays (Los Angeles: Continuum, 2008) proved hugely inspiring at a difficult time. He makes it possible for myself and others like me to write about screenplays. My visit to Los Angeles in November 2003 happily afforded me an opportunity to meet Gavin Lambert, one of my writing heroes, and with whom I enjoyed a brief correspondence before his untimely death: Gavin, wherever you are, how I wish I had made it back to Los Angeles in time for our long-threatened lunch. Your books and screenplays are a true inspiration. Thanks also to Kathleen Dickson at the archives of the British Film Institute in London, who arranged a screening of DRIVE, HE SAID; and to Jerry Bruckheimer, for his kind words. Thanks are also due to David Thomson for his wise and cautionary initial advice, and of course for his articles and books, which are a wonderful guide to all aspiring writers on the subject of film – and life as it is lived under the imposing shadow of the silver screen. (He was right – everything I really needed is in Robert Towne’s study.) A big thank you to Mr. Lawrence Block, novelist extraordinaire, for taking the time to express his feelings about the adaptation of 8 MILLION WAYS TO DIE. And thank you once again to Professor James Goodwin at the Department of English, UCLA, for kindly forwarding me a copy of his article ‘The Author is Dead, Long Live the Author’. Sincere thanks are due to Anna Waterhouse, Robert Towne’s script consultant, for her thoughtful correspondence; and also to Dr. Claus Tieber, at the University of Vienna, for his interest and comments on the project. Also thanks to Professor Charles Barr for his assistance and advice on literature. And a special thanks to Robin Wood, whose brilliant essay on Howard Hawks, ‘To Have (Written) and Have Not (Directed),’ provided not just a chapter title but invaluable direction to the project as a whole and whose final words I admit to paraphrasing in my Conclusions! Thank you to Rolando Caputo and the team at the University of Melbourne for supporting the project and publishing several articles based on the initial findings of this thesis in Senses of Cinema, which restored me when my faith was flagging. And special thanks to Donato Totaro at Offscreen, whose publication of my article on TEQUILA SUNRISE re-ignited my writing. I have at various times in my academic and professional life attended screenwriting seminars by Robert McKee, Bobette Buster, Chris Vogler and Linda Seger, amongst others.