After years of listening to Sam Wasson on Bret Easton Ellis's podcast and adoring those episodes immensely, I finally bought 'The Big Goodbye'. Chinatown might be my favorite film, it has grown to possess me more and more over the years as do all the strange films with "strange" fathers.

Wasson's way of writing is such a pleasure and makes for a quick read. The layers of history and personalities that clashed and overcame the making of this film are riveting. Though it's clear that the legacy of the film is thanks to Polanski, the assuredness of Robert Towne to imbue his noir with a historical reality of how Los Angeles got its water, remains an overbearing aspect of the films enduring success. It inspires me to consider how a story can have a backdrop of mystery to guide the character through his journey.

If you're interested in the arduous process of completing a script, how that script changes hands and authors, and the history of Hollywood and all the tragic elements of the key players (particularly Polanski); you will savor this book. This film would not be what it was if Sharon Tate had still been alive, if the holocaust never happened, and if all of these men didn't have the egos and confidence they had.

Sam treats the elements within this story as objectively as possible and with narrative flair as well. The more tragic elements are handled delicately, yet matter of fact. Samantha Geimer's recount of her assault perpetuated by Polanski is so deep, nuanced, sympathetic, tragic, and true. I would like to see the kind of films someone as honest as her could make.