The Last Woman on Earth [as Edward Wain] (screenplay) 1960
The Tomb of Ligeia [adaptor; from the short story "Ligeia" by Edgar Allan Poe] (screenplay) 1965
Villa Rides [with Sam Peckinpah; adaptors from the book Pancho Villa by William Douglas Lansford] (screenplay) 1968
The Last Detail [adaptor; from the novel by Darryl Ponicsan] (screenplay) 1973
Chinatown (screenplay) 1974
Shampoo [with Warren Beatty] (screenplay) 1975
The Yakuza [with Paul Schrader] (screenplay) 1975
†Personal Best (screenplay) 1982
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes [as P. H. Vazak, with Michael Austin; adaptors from the novel Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs] (screenplay) 1984
The Natural [with Phil Dusenberry; adaptors from the novel by Bernard Malamud] 1984
†Tequila Sunrise (screenplay) 1988
Days of Thunder [with Tom Cruise] (screenplay) 1990
The Two Jakes (screenplay) 1990
Love Affair [with Warren Beatty; adaptors from the screenplays for the films Love Affair, written by Delmer Daves and Donald Ogden Stewart, and An Affair to Remember, written by Daves and Leo McCarey] (screenplay) 1994

∗In addition to the films listed above, for which Towne received either sole or shared screenwriting credit, he has also worked without screen credit on numerous films. The most prominent of these include Bonnie and Clyde (1967), for which he is credited as "special consultant"; The Godfather (1972); Marathon Man (1976); Reds (1981); Swing Shift (1984); 8 Million Ways to Die (1985); Fatal Attraction (1987); and Frantic (1988).

†Towne also directed these films.