Celluloid Heroes

Of course I’m respectable. I’m old. Politicians, public buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.

Take a screenwriting class, any screenwriting class, and I almost guarantee you that, before the first session is over, your teacher will mention Robert Towne’s script for Chinatown in a tone that grown men usually reserve for talking about their first crush. The screenplay for this film has been held up as an example of near perfection of the screenwriting craft and, if I were more cynical, I might look hard for evidence to the contrary. I probably wouldn’t find it, though.

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