The Long Goodbye
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Movie Reviews of The Long Goodbye
Movie Review: Don't Waste Your Time or Money
Summary: 1 Stars
I'm detecting a pattern. I watch an abysmal movie, then check Amazon to see the ratings, and lo and behold, the average is 4-5 stars. I can't let this one pass. I wasted my money and bought this turkey. Hopefully I can convince you not to do the same.
Simply put, this movie is extremely boring. The pacing is painfully slow. Example: it begins with Elliott Gould waking up and feeding his cat. This is about the first 4 minutes. Nothing happens. Without giving the plot away (to the extent there is one), we soon see Elliott Gould at the police station. Again, boring. It looks like it was a lot of stoned actors ad libbing. I hope no one actually wrote this stuff. But again, boring. Still barely anything happening with the story. Some might say modern movies are too fast. But there are plenty of great movies from the 30s, 40s, 70s, etc., that don't drag like this. "Casablanca," "Chinatown" (released a year after this), all quickly bring you into the story. The fact that this is 30+ years old is no excuse. I stopped watching this movie twice it was so mediocre. First after 30 minutes, then again 30 minutes later. The only reason I finally watched the entire thing was to see Sterling Hayden. He was great as a drunk writer, but his performance did not justify sitting through the movie.
But you say you like Robert Altman? Maybe you've seen "The Player," or "Gosford Park" and are hoping for something as good? You will be sorely disappointed. I guess watching this might be educational, in that you could see how a director that has made some amazing movies also can make something very bad. But personally, I'm not masochistic enough to consciously set out to do that.
And Raymond Chandler fans beware. I'm currently reading all of his short stories and novels, and was interested in what the early 1970s take on Chandler would be. It was insulting, really. This is not anywhere near the Philip Marlowe character that Chandler created. This Marlowe whines. And whines. And gets pushed and slapped around. The real Marlowe never whined. He got slapped around, but he slapped back. Maybe the idea is that he was on downers. That might explain things. But this is not Raymond Chandler's creation.
To sum up, buying this was a complete waste of money, but if I had obtained it for free, I would STILL be here writing this, warning others off. If you like Chandler and hard-boiled detectives, you would be much better off watching ANY Rockford Files episode. In fact, the weakest episode of the Rockford Files is heads and shoulders above this. And if you want the best of this genre from the 70s, watch "Chinatown." But this? It should be buried and forgotten.
Movie Review: Hard Boiled 70s Style
Summary: 4 Stars
I love Philip Marlow! Robert Altman and Elliott Gould team up to make this adaptation outstanding. This is what cinema is all about. Clever camera angles, strange locations, surperb acting and all draped in a 70s haze, part pot smoke, part porno. Check out a very young "Arnold" as well as Ross' and Rachel's dad when he was the hippest Jew in Hollywood. This is classic noir. Gangsters, molls, drunk writers, bad cops, and Marlow. What these folks did with a convoluted Chandler book is a work of art.Movie Review: WILL THE REAL PHILLIP MARLOWE STAND UP?
Summary: 4 Stars
Phillip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler's classic noir hard-boiled private detective forever literarily associated with Los Angeles and its means streets is right at home here in his search, at the request of a friend, for the inevitable `missing woman' (`dame' for the non-politically correct types) who 'conveniently' turns up dead. There is plenty of sparse but functional dialogue, physical action and a couple of plot twists, particularly around the identity of the above-mentioned `dame' and the motives behind the involvement of various wealthy Californians.
Have no fear however the intrepid Marlowe will figure it out in the end and some kind of 'rough' justice will prevail. At this point in the Chandler Marlowe series our shamus has been around the block more than a few times but he still is punching away at the 'bad guys' and the absurdity of the modern world. How does this one compare with the other Marlowe volumes? Give me those background oil derricks churning out the wealth while looking for General Sternwood's Rusty Regan in Big Sleep or the run down stucco flats in some shady places in pursuit of Moose's Velma in Farewell, My Lovely any day. Nevertheless, as always with Chandler, you get high literature in a plebeian package.
There have been many cinematic Phillip Marlowes from Bogart and Powell to Elliot Gould in this Altman production. They reflect their director's take on the times and on the character of Marlowe himself. The world-weary but virtuous Marlowe of the 1940's has been replaced in this film by a decidedly out-of-tune Marlowe who could realistically be arrested for vagrancy any minute in the up-scale and upward striving Los Angeles of 'new' California. Fortunately Robert Altman can make it work without being too syrupy. In other less capable hands, and with an actor other than Elliot Gould who sets the standard for all modern Marlowes (except probably the chain-smoking) giving his all to the role, that is an iffy proposition. In any case the days of Chandler's, Cain's and Hammett's intrepid California characters are long gone. But, thankfully, at least not on film. This one will join that crowd.
Movie Review: Perfect
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a superb adaptation of Raymond Chandlers famous story. Elliot Gould, in his best ever role, is perfectly cast as private detective Philip Marlowe. The opening scenes alone warrant purchase of this disc. In the early hours of the morning Marlowe has to get his cat the right food. This is funny and introduces you nicely to the slovenly Marlowe.
It helps that the films is directed by one of the great American filmmakers Robert Altman, who also directed M.A.S.H., Nashville and The Player. Sterling Hayden is fantastic as Wade, a scary Hemingway like writer with violent and depressive tendencies.
I have watched this film quite a few times now and have never noticed a problem with the transfer quality (mentioned in one review I saw). An essential movie for any film collection.
Movie Review: Altman's convoluted noir mystery
Summary: 4 Stars
Robert Altman's career essentially began with 1970's "MASH," and a mere three years later Altman had already established an ecclectic bunch of films, including his reimagining of the western genre, "McCabe & Mrs. Miller," and his stab at horror, "Images." Altman next set out to revitalize the long-dormant film noir with an adaptation of Raymond Chandler's "The Long Goodbye," a Philip Marlowe mystery. Marlowe had previously been portrayed by the likes of Dick Powell in "Murder, My Sweet" and most memorably by Humphrey Bogart in Howard Hawks' "The Big Sleep," which Bogey starred in opposite wife Lauren Bacall.
For his Philip Marlowe, Altman made a choice only he could have made: Elliott Gould, who had previously appeared as the rambunctious "Trapper" John McIntyre in "MASH." Needless to say, it was a curious decision, but one that - for this film at least - works and works well. Gould's Marlowe is unlike any other. He's considerably more upbeat his predecessors, and he talks to himself almost incessently. He lacks the cool and the confidence one expects in the role, and he lets himself get pushed around without putting up a fight. He is also dedicated to one thing and one thing alone: his cat. But for Altman's film, a convoluted, surreal neo-noir, Gould is perfect. His performance captures the displacement and nostalgia a person like Marlowe feels living in the 1970s (Altman updated the setting from Chandler's novel, which was set in the 1950s). While the other characters have big hair and leisure suits and baggy pants, Gould walks around in an old-fashioned suit and drives around in an automobile that can't have been manufactured after the 1950s. Altman stated that while he was envisioning the film, he nicknamed his Marlowe "Rip van Marlowe." The name fits.
The supporting cast includes Nina van Pallandt as the mysterious Eileen Wade, who does better in her role than any big-name actress could, as well as Sterling Hayden, who roars and grumbles like an angry bear as alcoholic writer Roger Wade. Henry Gibson is the sleazy, odd Dr. Verringer, and Jim Bouton is the obnoxiously cheery and foolish Terry Lennox. Young Arnold Schwarzenegger also appears toward the end of the film as an enormous bodyguard for Mark Rydell's ratty mobster.
One of the most interesting aspects of the film is that it was written by Leigh Brackett, who also co-wrote the screenplay for Hawks' "The Big Sleep" (although reportedly Robert Altman made numerous changes to the script, something he's rather infamous for doing). "The Big Sleep" remains the best and one of the most faithful adaptations of a Chandler novel, but Altman's "The Long Goodbye" has little in common with its brilliant source material. The complex plot of the book has been trimmed down to a thread, and a frequently incomprehensible thread at that. By the end of the film, we have at least a loose grasp of what has happened. And though the film's shock ending will no doubt infuriate fans of Chandler's work, it's a major part of what makes Altman's film so unique.
In the end, that's exactly what "The Long Goodbye" is: not a Chandler adaptation, nor a Philip Marlowe mystery, but a Robert Altman film. Altman is the real star of the film. He's often been occused of focusing more on what the film looks like than what the film is about, and if ever there was a film in which Altman was guilty of that, it's this one. He's more focused on making a shady noir film and not focused enough on crafting an intriguing mystery to go along with it (the intriguing mystery, if there is one, is just what the hell is going on). That's enough to make "The Long Goodbye" float, though, through Altman's tight angles, the murky photography, Gould's neurotic performance, and the theme song by a young John Williams, which appears in different variations at a number of points in the film (it's also the only music in the movie). Despite its flaws, "The Long Goodbye" had enough points of brilliance to earn it classic status, and interestingly enough, it accomplished Altman's goal of revitalizing the noir genre, paving the way for films like Roman Polanski's "Chinatown" and Arthur Penn's "Night Moves." It may not quite be a masterpiece, but as Marlowe says repeatedly, "It's okay with me."