Cameron, Evan Wm.2019-04-122019-04-122006http://hdl.handle.net/10315/36133Screenwriters during the 'studio era' were required to work in sequence upon the screenplays of movies. After the studios collapsed, however, they were obliged increasingly to work alone, many striving to secure above all what Robert Towne was to call the 'tone' of a movie – the 'feel' of its scenes. Towne wrote the screenplay for CHINATOWN, released in 1974, and among the most acclaimed movies of the last half of the twentieth-century. The ending of CHINATOWN, however, lacks power, as he acknowledged. Why? Because the scenes before it, when encountered in sequence, fail to cohere. Within this essay I unpack the weaknesses of the 'story' of CHINATOWN, concluding that screenwriters ought to avoid working alone, especially if bewitched by 'tone'.enAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 CanadaBonnie and Clyde (Motion picture)Chase, BordenChekov, AntonChinatown (Motion picture)Cliff, MontgomeryCooper, GaryDouble Indemnity (Motion picture)Duryea, DanFilmmakingGodfather (Motion picture)Ireland, JohnJhabvala, Ruth PrawerLancaster, BurtLast Detail (Motion picture)Lubitsch, ErnstMaltese falcon (Motion picture : 1941)Marathon man (Motion picture)Polanski, RomanPostman always rings twice (Motion picture : 1981)Raphaelson, SamsonRiskin, RobertRoom with a view (Motion picture)ScreenwritingScreenwriting, History ofScreenwriting, Teaching ofStewart, JimmyTone (of scenes)Towne, RobertTwo Jakes (Motion picture)Wayne, JohnWinchester '73 (Motion picture)Zanuck, DarrylCameron, EvanPresentation