From Chinatown to Niketown

By Michael Sragow SF Weekly September 30, 1998 In 1974 Robert Towne was seething about the lot of his script for Chinatown, now considered his most famous work. Released that same year, the screenplay won an Oscar for Towne. When I interviewed him at the time, he was...

Shooting To Win

By Gloria Emerson The Movies November 1983 I did not suspect until recently that a large number of journalists rapidly converging on the capital of a small, poor country in great trouble might be a chilling sight. For nearly a decade I had often been part of such a...

“I’m Not a Movie Star; I’m an Actor!”

By Robert Ward American Film March 1983 Character actor Frank Pesce has a problem. He is supposed to be standing in the rain with this menacing look on his face, pointing a rod at Gene Hackman. He is playing the gunsel who backs up surly Mickey Rourke, crazy Joe...