Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

hyped garbage

Good movie but grossly overrated

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Elliott Gould offers up one of his most amusing performances as Raymond Chandlers' private eye character Philip Marlowe. Marlowe is visited in the wee hours of the morning by his friend Terry Lennox (baseball player Jim Bouton). He does his friend a favour by driving him all the way to Tijuana. Some time after that, he learns that, in fact, Terry's wife Sylvia is dead, presumably killed by Terry, who has also offed himself. Then he is hired for a supposedly simple case: find Roger Wade (Sterling Hayden), a boozy writer, for his wife Eileen (Nina van Pallandt). In the time-honoured tradition of detective fiction, Marlowe will discover that the separate stories turn out to be connected.Filmmaker Robert Altmans' take on the whole Neo-Noir genre does take some getting used to. It's a lot more irreverent, and goofy, than some people will expect. Devotees of Chandler and classic film noir will likely be dismayed. Scripted by the legendary Leigh Brackett, the dialogue does flow from the mouths of the cast with real ease, and it is reasonably entertaining to watch as this thing develops. After a while, however, even a viewer such as this one can see where the story is headed.Goulds' version of Marlowe is a real change of pace. He's a quirky, hip, unflappable wise-ass who's willing to head to an all-night supermarket to obtain the only brand of cat food that his pet will eat. And he's just one memorable character in this interesting stew of a film. Hayden plays his washed-up writer for everything that it's worth. Film director Mark Rydell ("The Rose") is clearly relishing his meaty acting role as a brutal Jewish gangster. Henry Gibson ("The Blues Brothers") is an effective weasel as a doctor who expects to be PAID for his services. Danish actress Van Pallandt is alluring as the femme fatale of the piece. And there are a couple of very familiar faces in small roles: Jack Riley ('The Bob Newhart Show'), Rutanya Alda ("Mommie Dearest"), David Carradine as a chatty convict, and even Arnold Schwarzenegger as one of Rydells' goons.Set in a sunny but rather seedy California of the 70s (complete with spacey hippie neighbours for Marlowe), this is an entertainingly convoluted tale, and a rather slowly paced one, but it always remains...interesting. It's definitely an unusual spin on the typical noir film.Seven out of 10.

Altman's take on Chandler seems increasingly influential as the years go by. His film takes the form of a detective story, but the story doesn't really go anywhere ... or more precisely, goes a whole lot of places just to end up back where it started. The pleasure here isn't in the mechanics of the story so much as having these characters interact in laid back 1970's California and have something like a plot emerge from their interactions. The seeds of "The Big Lebowski" and (especially) "Inherent Vice" lie right here. People tend to play up the "1950's Marlowe adrift in 1970's L.A." angle, but I've never really felt that angle comes through to clearly. Since you can't really get more quintessentially early 70's than Elliott Gould, I have never felt that he seems out of step here.

Marlowe is a private eye and one heck of a nice guy. At 3 AM he furnishes a party of half-naked women with boxes of brownie mix, goes to lengths to find his choosy cat's favorite brand of cat food, and even drives his buddy to Tijuana.There's that saying, the one about nice guys finishing last. Well, Marlowe gets himself in a little pickle because of the car trip down to Mexico with his old pal Larry Potts, aka Terry Lennox. Terry was wrapped up in something nasty, and when it's reported that Terry's wife was murdered and Terry committed suicide, Marlowe has a hunch that the papers just ain't singin' the truth.Instead of pursuing that thought, Marlowe starts booking other clients. Still, it doesn't take long for Terry's goings-on prior to the deaths to catch up to the private eye. Marlowe's in a few jams, and has to crack the case from Adam's apple to ankle or risk his own neck.This one has some shocking and disturbing violence. The kind of stuff that is haunting because it captures bad men doing things lovingly. Like other Altman flicks, music figures heavily into the structure and connects people and places across the action.I mean, what can I say? This is another ridiculously superb movie by a guy who does it all.

In a quirky, hilarious, intense, and mildly satirical fashion, the great filmmaker Robert Altman adapts Raymond Chandler's classic crime novel "The Long Goodbye", one of the couple of novels he wrote centering around a character named Philip Marlowe, private investigator. I am not very familiar with Chandler's work, and still have to see/read what is perhaps the most famous of the Marlowe stories "The Big Sleep". But, despite me being mostly unfamiliar with the source material, I loved "The Long Goodbye", and you probably will as well!Based on all of the Altman films I've seen so far, "The Long Goodbye" may be his most accessible. It's exciting, fast paced, and funny, and will likely please mainstream audiences. Of course, fans of art house cinema and critics are also likely to love this film, since it's very intelligent and well made.While the camera-work in and Altman film is always exceptional, the camera-work in "The Long Goodbye" really stuck out. The way the camera moves so smooth and gracefully is a real treat for the eyes, and I couldn't help but be greatly impressed by it.Another aspect of the film that really stuck out to me was the performances, particularly Elliot Gould as Philip Marlowe. He helps make the character all the more cool, funny, and likable, his line delivery is just perfect! Other great actors like Sterling Hayden and Henry Gibson also give very strong and entertaining performances.I can't really think of many people who would dislike such a film. It manages to be different but still somewhat appealing to the mainstream at the same time. It has an emotional core, and some truly intense scenes, but it's also wildly funny throughout, and feels almost like a detective parody at times. I would really highly recommend this movie to EVERYBODY! It's just so good!