Scene Description Spotlight: “Chinatown”

The screenplay for the 1974 movie Chinatown is considered one of the best scripts ever written. Its writer Robert Towne received an 
Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the script ranks #3 on the WGA 101 List of top screenplays of all time.

Whether you consider the movie film noir or neo-noir, as some have called it, Chinatownhas a specific mood throughout — and that mood begins on page 1, scene 1:

FULL SCREEN PHOTOGRAPHGrainy but unmistakably a man and
woman making love. Photograph shakes. SOUND of a man MOANING
in anguish. The photograph is dropped, REVEALING ANOTHER,
MORE compromising one. Then another, and another. More moans.CURLY'S VOICE
(crying out)
Oh, no.INT. GITTES' OFFICECURLY drops the photos on Gittes' desk. Curly towers over
GITTES and sweats heavily through his workman's clothes, his
breathing progressively more labored. A drop plunks on Gittes'
shiny desk top.Gittes notes it. A fan whiffs overhead. Gittes glances up at
it. He looks cool and brisk in a white linen suit despite
the heat. Never taking his eyes off Curly, he lights a
cigarette using a lighter with a "nail" on his desk.Curly, with another anguished sob, turns and rams his fist
into the wall, kicking the wastebasket as he does. He starts
to sob again, slides along the wall where his fist has left
a noticeable dent and its impact has sent the signed photos
of several movie stars askew.Curly slides on into the blinds and sinks to his knees. He
is weeping heavily now, and is in such pain that he actually
bites into the blinds.Gittes doesn't move from his chair.GITTES
All right, enough is enough. You
can't eat the Venetian blinds, Curly.
I just had 'em installed on Wednesday.Curly responds slowly, rising to his feet, crying. Gittes
reaches into his desk and pulls out a shot glass, quickly
selects a cheaper bottle of bourbon from several fifths of
more expensive whiskeys.Gittes pours a large shot. He shoves the glass across his
desk toward Curly.GITTES
Down the hatch.Curly stares dumbly at it. Then picks it up, and drains it.
He sinks back into the chair opposite Gittes, begins to cry
quietly.CURLY
(drinking, relaxing a
little)
She's just no good.GITTES
What can I tell you, Kid? You're
right. When you're right, you're
right, and you're right.CURLY
Ain't worth thinking about.Gittes leaves the bottle with Curly.

How does Towne achieve the mood? Certainly the subject matter of the scene: Gittes (Jack Nicholson), a private investigator revealing 
to a client Curly (Burt Young) that his wife has been having an affair. Gittes’ reserved reaction in contrast to Curly’s visceral pain and 
tears. But there are moments in this scene, captured by Towne’s description, that evoke and underscore the scene’s mood:

Photograph shakes. A drop [sweat] plunks on Gittes' shiny desk top.
Gittes notes it. A fan whiffs overhead. He looks cool and brisk in a white
linen suit despite the heat. Never taking his eyes off Curly, he lights a
cigarette using a lighter with a "nail" on his desk. Slides along the wall
where his fist has left a noticeable dent and its impact has sent the signed
photos of several movie stars askew. Gittes reaches into his desk and pulls
out a shot glass, quickly selects a cheaper bottle of bourbon from several
fifths of more expensive whiskeys. Gittes pours a large shot. He shoves the
glass across his desk toward Curly. Curly stares dumbly at it. Then picks it
up, and drains it.

The description is specific, observant, but cool, even detached, perfectly in sync with Gittes’ character. A private investigator is trained to 
pick up small, but important details, and the scene description does that — everything from a drop of sweat to a whiffing fan, a dent in the 
wall to photos of movie stars moved askew. But a P.I. also learns how to keep their emotions out of their business, and Towne does that, too, conveying Curly’s pain accurately and yet keeping the tenor of the scene at an arm’s length from the poor man’s trauma.

Thus right from the start of the screenplay, Chinatown sets a mood that reflects the personality of the story’s Protagonist Jake Gittes — and that personality is also reflected in the narrative voice of the scene description.

For more on Chinatown, here is a great interview with Robert Towne.

[Originally posted April 1, 2010]

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