Robert Towne

Went to an event today at Pomona College, a screening of Chinatown, followed by Robert Towne speaking...he is a Pomona Alum. He gave some interesting tid bits of info about the film, about his career, etc. My favorite part, however, was his story about the one scene he loved that never made it into the film:

When Jake Gittes (Jack N) goes to see Noah Cross (John Huston) for the first time, after he gets out of the car and before they go to lunch (this is how it cuts together in the film), the two characters are walking at the albacore club and horse walks in front of them and takes a dump. Cross reveals to Gates that most people pretend to hate the smell of horse shit, but that he in fact, loves it - and freely admits it. Then some other discussion occurs using horse shit as a metaphor for the world and how one deals with it...