TV Guide: Robert Towne

Listing: Decade Under the Influence

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:50:00 -0500

Sat Nov 14 02:50 PM IFC In the final installment, filmmakers discuss the impact of '70s politics on their work, and the competition between studios for blockbuster movies after the success of “Jaws.” Included: comments from Julie Christie, William Friedkin, Peter Bogdanovich and Robert Altman.

Listing: Mission: Impossible 2

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:00:00 -0500

Fri Nov 13 08:00 AM FLIXe

Video: Trailer

Trailer Addict — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:00:00 -0500

Academy Award-winner Robert Towne writes and directs Ask the Dust, set under the brutally sunny skies of Depression-era Los Angeles. Based on novelist John Fante s masterpiece, Towne s interpretation of Ask the Dust focuses on a city exotic and vulgar, glamorous and raunchy a place of heat and dust. Full of imports palm trees from Egypt and people from everywhere in search of health and wealth, fame and fortune L. A. is the city of first and last resort, where all dreams are supposed to come true. So it is for Arturo Bandini (Colin Farrell), a son of Italian immigrants who dreams of becoming a famous novelist and marrying a beautiful blonde, and Camilla Lopez (Salma Hayek), a Mexican who longs to marry a WASP and shed her last name. In a time when relations between Anglos and people of Mexican descent hang by tattered threads, Bandini and Camilla collide with one another, fighting the city and themselves to make their dreams come true.

Video: The Yakuza

Amazon Video on Demand — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:00:00 -0500

From Academy Award-winning director Sidney Pollack ("The Firm," "Absence of Malice") comes this suspenseful adventure about a Harry Kilmer (Oscar-nominee Robert Mitchum, "Cape Fear"), an American man determined to rescue his employer's kidnapped daughter from the Japanese mafia in Kyoto. Written by Paul Schrader ("Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull") and Acadamy Award-winner Robert Towne ("Chinatown," "Tequila Sunrise"). "Dazzling displays of swordplay," praises Newsweek, while Rex Reed proclaims this "an exciting, riveting, totally original motion picture."

Video: The Yakuza

Amazon Video on Demand — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:00:00 -0500

Video: Ask The Dust

CinemaNow — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 12:00:00 -0500

In the Robert Towne-directed adaptation of John Fante's Depression Era novel, Hayek will play the fiery Mexican beauty Camilla who hopes to rise above her station by marrying a wealthy American. That is complicated by meeting Arturo Bandini (Farrell), a

Video: London, Day One

NBC — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 12:00:00 -0500

From high atop London towne, the Heroes send a message to home.

Video: Ask the Dust - Trailer

AOL Moviefone — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 12:00:00 -0500

Adapted from a novel by John Fante, Robert Towne's Ask the Dust stars Colin Farrell as Arturo Bandini, a young writer who comes to Los Angeles during the Great Depression in order to write a novel. As the film opens, he is down to his last nickel and decides to spend it on coffee in a diner. He is served by Camilla (Salma Hayek), a Mexican beauty he is instantly attracted to even though he treats her horribly during their first interaction. Soon the pair is involved in a relationship that finds them sparring with each other at first, but slowly learning to trust each other. Bandini meets the acquaintance of a desperate woman who sees him as the most desirable man in the world. Eventually Arturo and Camilla get away from the city and their love deepens as he attempts to finish his novel. Donald Sutherland co-stars as a seedy but helpful and loyal neighbor. - Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide