NEW YORK — Robert Towne, the Oscar-winning screenplay writer of Shampoo, The Last Detail and other films, whose script for Chinatown became a model of the art form and helped define the jaded allure ...

Celebrated for his mastery of dialogue, he also contributed (though without credit) to the scripts of “Bonnie and Clyde” and “The Godfather.” By Bill Morris Robert Towne, whose screenplay for Roman ...