The Long Goodbye [DVD] (1973)

Cards on the table, I love this film, and I've seen it loads of times. I've got an original big film poster of it on my wall. I don't care whether it is the same or faithful to the book, because that's irrelevant - it's a film! It has to stand and fall as a film, and there is no point in slavishly sticking to what is on the pages of a book when you are trying to make a great, well paced, and involving film. Gould's Marlowe works wonderfully: he has a real sense of what is right, is cool, and is very human (in short he has depth, and is so much better than James Garner's - boring and smug; and, like, why did he never answer his phone in that TV series?). Gould and Altman are a great combination, as the director lets Gould just do his thing; I only wish that Gould had done more films of this quality (I'm sure he does too!) like when he was paired-up with George Segal in the sublime (Altman) film California Split. The cinematographer, Zsigmond, used some very interesting techniques in shooting this film, including pre-exposing to varying degrees, which imbues it with a beautiful soft/muted colour quality. In fact, why on earth has this film not yet been released in blu-ray? If there was ever a film that deserved the enhanced definition of a blu-ray transfer this is it! But there is so much about this film to recommend it. The 'femme fatale', played by Nina Van Pallandt (her of Nina and Frederick singing fame) is scorchingly beautiful, and a great advert for the 'older' woman (40 years old when she shot this!! Old by Hollywood standards then - and now; she is a bit of posh - read the shorthand for this: "would you like a dried apricot?" which Marlowe politely accepts, but never eats). In fact in a strange way, Marlowe is curiously sexless, and the ravishing naked pot-headed yoga cookie toting neighbours are little more than a mild curiosity to him; this ambivalence making his character even more enigmatic; observing the casual violence of the piece's nasty piece of work getting evil with a coke bottle, he manages to keep calm, and even threatened with having his johnson excised he still refuses to play balls. His familiar line being: "It's OK with me". Whatever your experience of Chandler's work, put that aside and just enjoy the filmscape; it is set in contemporary 70s but remains resolutely timeless. Marlowe is an observer, for the most part, which makes the final scene genuinely shocking. One of the great jokes, and musical pleasures of the film, is how many times 'The Long Goodbye' theme is used in the supermarket, car, bar, etc (#"Can you recognize the theme?"#). Looking forward to the blu-ray's release, when I'll watch it another dozen or so times, no doubt! Maybe even buy extra copies to give as presents - and no, that's not a sign of mania.... Oh! If only I could be as enigmatic as Gould's Marlowe, or even his cat!!

Terry Lennox has a problem. He's in trouble and needs help getting out of the country. Who else can he go to than one of his best friends, Philip Marlowe? All he asks is that Marlowe drive him down to Tijuana...right now. Marlowe, a private eye who probably has few good friends other than Lennox, does it. When Marlowe gets back hours later, he's picked up by the cops, knocked around, jailed and finally released. It seems Terry's wife has been beaten to death and the police want to know where Terry is. Marlowe doesn't believe that his friend is a killer and decides he'll look into the case. He also is hired by the sexy Eileen Wade to find her missing husband, the aging alcoholic writer Roger Wade. Funny, Marlowe finally decides, that the Wades live very close to the Lennox house in an exclusive, gated Malibu enclave (with a private cop at the gate who does a good imitation of Barbara Stanwyck). Then Marlowe is forced into a private conversation with the gangster Marty Augustine...something about a missing $50,000 of Augustine's that Lennox supposedly had and that Augustine wants back. Marlowe is taught how vicious Augustine can be in one violent act so startling it'll make your stress level rise every time Augustine shows up. Marlowe finally puts all the pieces together, slowly and persistently, until he finds himself in Mexico for probably the last time.

Is this really Philip Marlowe we're watching? Well, it's Robert Altman's Philip Marlowe, which means Raymond Chandler probably wouldn't recognize him. Is this a bad thing? Not at all. Altman (and Elliot Gould as Marlowe) has put his own imprint on the iconic gumshoe. Marlowe is often just confused by things. He's laid back, quizzical, good-natured in a reasonably skeptical way, not quite a loser, maybe not too smart the first time around but he learns and he is not going to stop looking for answers. The mystery has a vague resemblance to the bones of Chandler's book, but Altman isn't as much concerned with the trajectory of Mrs. Lennoxes murder as he is with the interplay of Marlowe and those he meets, and in how the story evolves from that interplay.

Altman put together a vivid cast. Gould would probably be glaringly miscast as a Marlowe played tough and straight. As Altman's Marlowe, however, he's the glue that holds the movie together and provides that strange Altman mixture of almost sly humor and drama. The byplay between Marlowe and his hungry cat and between Marlowe and the three luscious yoga practitioners in the next apartment lets us settle into this new-model Marlowe. Sterling Hayden as Roger Wade gives a roaring, dynamic, foul-mouthed performance. The scenes he shares with the small, precise and sleazy Dr. Verringer played by Henry Gibson are almost surreal in the disparity between the two actors' physical sizes and acting styles. Gibson, with a terrible comb-over, holds his own. When he slaps Hayden full in the face, it's almost as startling as what Augustine does with a glass Coke bottle. Nina Van Pallandt does a fine job as the complex and compelling Eileen Wade. We're no more sure of her game than Marlowe is, but he's got enough sense not to fall for her. Jim Boulton as Terry Lennox doesn't have a lot of screen time, but you'll remember him.

The end of the movie, when Marlowe puts the pieces together and provides his own sad justice, left me thinking...but about what, I'm not sure. About the nature of friendship, I guess...how friendship doesn't necessarily work both ways, even when you think it does. Altman has given us a first-rate movie that goes well beyond a private eye caper. Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe is a fine creation. So is Robert Altman's. This is a film worth watching several times.

The movie has a slightly washed out look which was created purposefully by Altman and his cinematographer, Vilmos Zsigmond. There are several extras which I didn't sample, including a discussion with Altman and Gould.

Here's an all-American hero with a twist; Elliot Gould is Philip Marlowe as you've never seen before and I suppose it took the dry wit of Robert Altman's directorial skills to pull this one off. Gould's Marlowe lives alone with his very particular cat, is rather unsuccesful as a private eye or anything else. Yet, he's a thoroughly moral character if never ostentatious, naieve in that he doesn't want to believe his best friend is taking him for a ride. The scenes with the Jewish mobster are priceless; look out for an early appearance by Arnie Schwarzenegger as one of the thugs who seems a bit to keen to want to undress Gould. My all time favourite film by far; Gould as the ironic ultimate anti-hero, no flash gumshoe glamour but lots of understated humour and a laid-back approach that is second to none. In a word: wonderful. Bless Robert Altman, Elliot Gould and seventies California..Oh, see if you can count all the different musical versions of 'The Long Goodbye' that appear on the slick soundtrack. Enjoy!