The Long Goodbye
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Movie Reviews of The Long Goodbye
Movie Review: Quirky, Atmospheric, Unique Altman Spin to Chandler!
Summary: 5 Stars
I admit, when I first viewed "The Long Goodbye", in 1973, I didn't like the film; the signature Altman touches (rambling storyline, cartoonish characters, dialog that fades in and out) seemed ill-suited to a hard-boiled detective movie, and Elliott Gould as Philip Marlowe? No WAY! Bogie had been perfect, Dick Powell, nearly as good, but "M.A.S.H.'s" 'Trapper John'? Too ethnic, too 'hip', too 'Altman'!
Well, seeing it again, nearly 34 years later, I now realize I was totally wrong! The film is brilliant, a carefully-crafted color Noir, with Gould truly remarkable as a man of morals in a period (the 1970s) lacking morality. Perhaps it isn't Raymond Chandler, but I don't think he'd have minded Altman's 'spin', at all!
In the first sequence of the film, Marlowe's cat wakes him to be fed; out of cat food, the detective drives to an all-night grocery, only to discover the cat's favorite brand is out of stock, so he attempts to fool the cat, emptying another brand into an empty can of 'her' food. The cat isn't fooled by the deception, however, and runs away, for good...
A simple scene, one I thought was simply Altman quirkiness, in '73...but, in fact, it neatly foreshadows the major theme of the film: betrayal by a friend, and the price. As events unfold, Marlowe would uncover treachery, a multitude of lies, and self-serving, amoral characters attempting to 'fool' him...with his resolution decisive, abrupt, and totally unexpected!
The casting is first-rate. Elliott Gould, Altman's only choice as Marlowe, actually works extremely well, BECAUSE he is against 'type'. Mumbling, bemused, a cigarette eternally between his lips, he gives the detective a blue-collar integrity that plays beautifully off the snobbish Malibu 'suspects'. And what an array of characters they are! From a grandiosely 'over-the-top' alcoholic writer (Sterling Hayden, in a role intended for Dan Blocker, who passed away, before filming began), to his sophisticated, long-suffering wife (Nina Van Pallandt), to a thuggish Jewish gangster attempting to be genteel (Mark Rydell), to a smug health guru (Henry Gibson), to Marlowe's cocky childhood buddy (Jim Bouton)...everyone has an agenda, and the detective must plow through all the deception, to uncover the truth.
There are a couple of notable cameos; Arnold Schwarzenegger, in only his second film, displays his massive physique, as a silent, mustached henchman; and David Carradine plays a philosophical cellmate, after Marlowe 'cracks wise' to the cops.
The film was a failure when released; Altman blamed poor marketing, with the studio promoting it as a 'traditional' detective flick, and audiences (including me) expecting a Bogart-like Marlowe. Time has, however, allowed the movie to succeed on it's own merits, and it is, today, considered a classic.
So please give the film a second look...You may discover a new favorite, in an old film!
Movie Review: A Great & Twisted Take On Marlowe
Summary: 5 Stars
What director, Robert Altman did with "The Long Goodbye" is what he does best. He takes either a subject or genre and turns it inside out, until it becomes something completely different. He has done this to everything from the myths of the old West ("McCabe & Mrs. Miller") to most recently, the old standbye of the English drawing room murder("Gosford Park").In "The Long Goodbye" Altman works his movie magic on Raymond Chandler's private eye, Phillipe Marlowe.In this film Altman plops the iconic 40's & 50's detective (masterfully played by Elliot Gould) right into the middle of 1970s, Southern California.The plot is the usual labyrinth, that you would expect a Chandler character to be in. Marlowe's good friend, Terry Lennox mysteriously drops by and asks the detective for a ride to Mexico. Days later he winds up dead from an apparent suicide.Meanwhile, Marlowe is hired by the wife of an alcholic writer, in a missing persons case.Is there some how a connection between all these events?Along the way the movie viewer gets the fun of following Marlowe, as he meets tough guy cops, psychotic gangsters,a quack doctor, even a cult of naked yoga enthusiasts.Gould reinvents the character and plays him as a figure who is an anachronism, a man lost in time. He wanders the landscape in a haze, mumbling smart remarks and nonsequiturs.He is a man who is preplexed by the antics and lifestyles of the modern world.Everytime he is confronted by 1970s California weirdness, he responds with the mantra "its O.K. by me".Not only is his cheap suit and car decades old, but so are his values and that famous moral code that he lives by.But in the twisted surprise ending of the film, it is those values and moral codes that he sticks by.This is a really great film, that humourously turns the Marlowe legend upside down.Gould really shows us his acting chops and gives a great performance.He is backed up with a wonderful supporting cast(Henry Gibson, Nina Van Pallandt, Mark Rydell, Jim Bouton) that gives us some amazingly crazy characters.Especially good is veteren actor, Sterling Hayden as the drunken, Hemingway-like author. Hayden gives a very vigorous and moving portrayle of a man at the end of his emotional rope.Finally a mention should be made of the movie's theme song. The Mercer/Williams tune is played throughout the film in many weird and different ways, that are too many to list.Keep an ear out for them.This is a simply great movie that will fascinate and entertain.What would Humphery Bogart think, if he saw all of this? I think Bogie would have had a good laugh...Movie Review: Altman meets Chandler
Summary: 5 Stars
Many movie makers use to make good novel adaptions for the celluloid after previously having them converted into scripts that try to recreate the books' atmosphere. Altman, though, uses to take someone else's writings just to fit them into his personal satirical vision of corruption, lies and dishonesty inherent to us human beings, to set them, finally, into a brilliant suite of humor gags. The Long Goodbye is a special work of Altman -perhaps not as notorius as MASH, Short Cuts, The Player, etc.-, but here the satire and the black humor reach an unexpected zenith through a playwrite that is la crème de la crème...The main character -Philipp Marlowe- played by Elliot Gould, is one of the coolest and most hillarious detectives ever seen on screen. A chain-smoking curly-headed loser addicted to Marlboro cigarettes and witty wisecracking who seems to be more of that sort from the outside looking in, spins the fade of the action and meets the infamous bunch half amused and half horrorized, but never trusting anybody of them. An outsider-loner, so as Chandler figured out Marlowe in his novels and as Raymond Chandler self and the only one in possession of a bit of honesty and integrity, he tries to clear up the missing of a good friend and comes upon deeply rotten intrigues faded by stingy shrinks and a wife of wishy-washy reliability played by Danish baronessa Van Pallandt in one role out of her usual folky-hippy musical attempts of real life. Her husband, -a writer, stunnigly good played by Sterling Hayden-, delivers one of the dazzling perfomances. Meanwhile, Marlowe tries to fool his cat feeding him with the wrong brand that he dislikes -one of the most hillarious bits of the film, it takes at least five minutes-, getting to the supermarket, digging it and changing the label of the can. Other memorable moments follow, like the wanna-be-actor-chap of the parking ground impersonating Barbara Stanwyck or the Jewish gangster cracking a glas vase in his own girlfriend's face, stating: "...And this is the person I love the most in the world, now go and figure out what could I do with you -and I don't even like you". Marlowe's trip over the Mexican border turns out to be rather elucidating too. This is Altman at his best, pulling everybody to pieces, but contrary to his European counterpart Chabrol does -with the coldness and precission of a surgeon's scalpel- Altman gets to the conclusion that once the disgust's been got over, humor is the only weapon left to can stand up all the rotten things in this world.Movie Review: they don't make 'em like this anymore
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the best of Altman's anti-genre genre films, this is a picture that I did not completely understand on first viewing, but after six times, I'm only beginning to become aware of its incredible originality and beauty. (It's also a very funny film at times.)If you want plot details, check other reviews here, but what I appreciate most about this Marlowe parody is the presentation. When you get down to it, the plot has nothing to say, even though it will keep you guessing and surprise you at the end. This is a film that 21st-century Hollywood would never allow to see the light of day; it's too original and not dumbed-down enough.
There is much to admire here, and here are just a few things I love about "The Long Goodbye":
Vilmos Zsigmond's photography is nothing less than astounding. Flashing the film provides for many subtle shades of lighting and contrast; likewise, the restless camera never stops moving; there is not one stationary shot in this entire film. There is a shot of the Sterling Hayden character arguing with his wife, shot from *outside* the house through glass; in the glass we see the reflection of Elliot Gould, waiting on the beach. This is a great use of visuals, and would not be permissable in Hollywood today.
Mark Rydell, playing Marty Augustine, is hilarious. His delivery and gesturing are top-notch for a non-actor. Just look at the way he delivers the line "You're friend was a murderer; he murdered his wife."
Altman's style here has never been better used. Yes, there is the occasional overlapping dialogue, but it's held in restraint rather than overblown as in "M*A*S*H" or "McCabe" (even though those are both brilliant in their own way). The constant camera motion and zooming are done so subtly it draws the viewer in and doesn't for a second seem like a gimmick.
Those are just a few things to enjoy in this film. Watch it, then watch it again. The rewards are many, and more of them appear with each viewing. A true, original, and very sly masterpiece. They just don't make 'em like this anymore.
Movie Review: Deconstructing film " noir "
Summary: 5 Stars
Robert Altman's " The long goodbye " is an outstanding film in many ways:for one side,due to the liquid treatment(visual promiscuity;uncentralization of the dramatic action and valuation of lateral details; continuous movement of the camera; smooth travellings combined with "zoom" effects; sudden focus changes )of its mesmerizing images and surrounded and haunting theme song ( composed by Johnny Mercer),the dominant musical piece in the film but reinterpreted with different instruments and tones along the movie collaborating to the general hypnotic effect that destils all the film; for another side, because the "jazzistic" treatment of a genre and a character( and this connects with the intention to give different variations of a same musical piece ), character that as in many films of the director appears dissolved in a polyphonic structure; and finally , because Altman revives, at the same time he subverts since its roots a genre that had been fallen into melancholy and into an excessive kindness conducting it to the free-wheeling spirit of the 70's and to his own ideology and democratic conception of film.Vaguely inspired in the novel with the same title by Raymond Chandler, Altman's film constitutes the destruction of old narratives codes and a stereotype that the director turns down in an ironic and realistic way ( Marlowe ( Elliott Gould ) don't try to seduce girls and prefers words than guns; he usually talks with a cigarette between his teeths or Altman films Marlowe's back while he's talking, producing the effect of "off-voice", typical narrative support of "film noir " )cracking with the expresionist portrait, surrounded by shadows and lights, of the character, at the same time as he uses Marlowe as counterbalance to emphasize his sarcastic vision of corruption. In an underground way, the film can be read as a sardonic criticism to Hollywood's ideology.