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Screenwriter and Director Robert Towne.

Film director and screenwriter Robert Towne. Towne is perhaps Hollywood's most successful and critically acclaimed screenwriter. He wrote the scripts for the films "The Last Detail," "Shampoo" and "Chinatown," which won the Academy Award for the best screenplay. He debuted as a director with the 1982 film "Personal Best." His most recent film, which he wrote the screenplay for and directed, is "Tequila Sunrise," now out on home video. (Rebroadcast. Originally aired 12/15/88).

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Other segments from the episode on December 4, 1989

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, December 4, 1989: Interview with Nadine Gordimer; Commentary on boogie-woogie piano music; Interview with Robert Towne; Review of the television channel "Comedy Channel."
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22:09

Nadine Gordimer Discusses South African Apartheid.

South African writer Nadine Gordimer. She is one of that country's best-known artists and one of the most vocal and effective opponents of apartheid, the laws that mandate strict separation of the races. Gordimer's novels include A Sport of Nature, July's People, Burger's Daughter and The Conservationist. Her new book, a collection of essays, is titled The Essential Gesture. It provides a portrait of South Africa and of Gordimer's emergence as an artist. (rebroadcast. Originally on 5/24/89).

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27:46

Screenwriter and Director Robert Towne

Towne is widely considered to be the best screenwriter in Hollywood. His latest film -- his first since 1982 -- is called Tequila Sunrise, about cops, drug dealers, and betrayal. Towne talks about the tension between the intent of the screenwriter and the interpretation of a script by an actor or director.

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