Big Goodbye

The Big Goodbye chronicles the making of Chinatown — screenwriter Robert Towne's obsessive research, director Roman Polanski's clashes with producer Robert Evans, and Jack Nicholson's rise to stardom — as emblematic of a brief window when Hollywood studios funded ambitious, director-driven films. Sam Wasson treats the production as the high-water mark of New Hollywood, arriving just before blockbuster economics and industry scandal reshaped the business.

Drawing on extensive interviews and archival research, the book combines granular behind-the-scenes filmmaking detail with a broader argument about why that particular kind of movie became impossible to make again.