The story of the making of the movie Chinatown, told, more or less, as disorganized often sordid biographies of the movie's producer, screenwriter, lead actor, and director (Robert Evans, Robert Towne, Jack Nicholson, and Roman Polanski). This is a tough book to rate. I enjoyed it a lot, it has many great anecdotes, but it has its problems. The text isn't well-organized, jumping around and leaving some holes in the storyline - Didn't Polanksi realize that his producer had completely replaced the composer and score of his movie? The author always seems to be looking around for new scandalous details, even when they concern secondary or tertiary characters, and the whole shape of the story seems to be guided by the decadent and miserable stories that are available. So, for example, Roman Polanski's statutory rape case is described in great detail, but it postdates the movie. Also, it still isn't clear to me how Chinatown represented the last years of Hollywood, there have been many great movies of all kinds made in the U.S. since then, and it's not like the old studio system was still active in the mid-1970s. ( )

A big mess of a book for a big mess of a story. The narrative doesn't quite flow, but seemingly captures the chaotic intensity of the time - late 60s to 80s Hollywood, the rise of Nicholson, the fall of Polanski. Cocaine and overheating, overwhelming fame. ( )

I was impressed by Chinatown when I first saw it, and it would continue to rank near the top on a list of my favorite films, if I had such a thing. It's extraordinary in many ways - acting, directing, story, overall "feel". A classic noir with a somewhat updated sensibility.

Which is why this book caught my eye. I also remembered that many fine movies were released in the mid-70's, and I was intrigued by the "last years of Hollywood" part of the title.

It was, for me, a slow start, and I was tempted to DNF about an hour in. Wasson begins with basic background information about the individuals most closely involved with the making of the film: Roman Polanski (director), Robert Towne (script writer), Jack Nicholson (actor and connective tissue among the other players), and Robert Evans (producer).

Polanski is first up, and it was tough sledding reading about his childhood in Warsaw and Krakow during the years leading up to and including WWII, his mother being murdered by the Nazis, his father telling Roman to run away as he himself was being rounded up. This horrific history becomes backdrop to the murder of Sharon Tate, his wife, by the Manson family. That event becomes a kind of jumping off point for the rest of the book.

And that is where the book really takes off, and when I couldn't stop reading (listening, actually). Wasson skillfully weaves together the stories of those four principals, their friends and lovers, and other individuals peripheral to the making of the movie. His chief points are that although Towne had come up with the original story, it was bloated and he was incapable of paring it down, and that it was the friendships among these people that made it possible for a brilliant movie to emerge from their sometimes competing artistic visions.

Even Wasson's lesser points are fascinating. John Huston's character (one of the creepiest I've encountered in film) is not that far from his actual personality (OK, with the absolute worst elements missing). And he illustrates Fay Dunaway's legendary status as "difficult to work with", but makes it clear that everyone knew it was worth it for the sake of her remarkable performance.

Wasson describes how the problems deciding what type of score would be best weren't resolved until days before it was released. When he described the vintage jazz style solution, I vividly recalled the trumpet solo that set such a perfect starting tone.

That "last years of Hollywood" part of the title? Wasson seems to conclude that a combination of studio takeovers by corporations interested in boosting profits, and excesses of cocaine, were at the root of the conversion from "people" based pictures to high concept blockbusters.

One final observation: You can't (well, at least I couldn't) read about Polanski's role as director and script doctor without being confronted with that question about whether you can continue to love the art after learning that the artist has some reprehensible qualities, an attraction to girls in their young teens in Polanski's case. Clearly I didn't lose my enthusiasm for this film after I learned, years ago, of his conviction and permanent relocation in Europe. By contrast, I don't think I could ever rekindle my enthusiasm for Bill Cosby's humor. Somewhere in the middle is a film that may or may not permanently drop off my favorites list - The Usual Suspects, given what we've learned about Kevin Spacey.

If you're interested in film history, and especially if you like Chinatown, I heartily recommend this book. I may have to pull time away from my reading soon so that I can give it another viewing. ( )

Wasson's writing is buoyant, busy, and magnetic; it pulls you in. Good writer. Great book. One of the better books I've read in the last few years. The book bogs down a bit from the middle toward the end, but Wasson's writing holds it up enough. ( )

Except for a bog in the middle, quite readable. Also, I hate books with proper chapters. The tale of the making of the movie Chinatown is the story of the writer Robert Towne, the producer Robert Evan’s, the director Roman Polanski, and the actor Jack Nicholson. While the book is revealing and interesting, it is also sad because the end of the book is the end of Hollywood, now a place where art doesn’t matter, only money. ( )