The Long Goodbye (1973)

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Thought I'd seen Long Goodbye before, but, watching it, I soon realized I hadn't - probably because I never liked Elliot Gould & could never picture him as Philip Marlowe. Not that he was any more incongruous than any other part of that film. Tho they still had him inexplicably driving a '40s convertible - yet never with the top down for some reason - the film was reset in the swinging '70s when it was made & only a few plot elements vaguely connected the film to the original Raymond Chandler novel at all. In one ludicrous scene, the villain - to impress Marlowe with how vicious he is - smashes his own girlfriend in the face with a coke bottle. The bottle shatters, badly cutting her face. A coke bottle? Shatters on a human face? Yeah, right. But that's just the kind of film this was.

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.

Watching this once more, this time on blu-ray, I am reminded just how very good a film it is. McCabe and Mrs Miller has always been my favourite Altman film but I think this might just be a little better and a little more enjoyable. Ironic, of course, to watch this on the sharper medium when so much effort went into 'flashing' the film stock so as to partially degrade it and take that ultra bright look out. Altman himself wonders whether he went too far and there are one or two spots where there might be concern particularly in the darker corners but overall he has effectively altered the look so as to make the film more timeless. Sure there are the naked yoga ladies across the way to constantly remind one this is a seventies film but Gould (in a sensationally laid back performance) seems to wander in and out of this time and place quite effortlessly. Enthralling and believable with great dialogue, this is a joy to watch.

Loosely followed from Raymond Chandler's penultimate book about private-eye Phillip Marlowe (1953), "The Long Goodbye" was updated to a hip and hedonistic (i.e., topless yoga) world of 1973 California. Elliot Gould stars as an easy-going, chain-smoking, old-fashioned Marlowe, a wisecracking and disconnected observer of modern life. Others had previously played the Marlowe role, most notably Humphrey Bogart in "The Big Sleep" (1945). In the pre-credit opening sequence, to a brief tune of "Hooray for Hollywood," Marlowe is awakened at 3:00 AM by his hungry cat. As the detective has run out of pet food, he goes to the all-night supermarket. The cat's favorite brand is sold out, so Marlowe tries a substitute. Returning to his penthouse apartment, Marlowe places the cat food into an empty discarded can of its favorite brand. The cat is not fooled, however, and leaps off the counter and runs away. In the meantime, Terry Lennox (former baseball pitcher Jim Bouton), Marlowe's close friend, arrives at Marlow's and asks the detective to drive him with his two duffel bags to the border at Tijuana in Mexico to get away from his trouble with a local gangster. We will later learn that Lennox was running money across the Mexican border and it was not delivered. When Marlowe returns home he is arrested by the local police, who tell him that Terry's wife Sylvia has been murdered and that Marlowe may be an accomplice. As the gumshoe utters impudent answers to questions, he is held for three days. The beleaguered detective is finally released when the police notify him that Mexican authorities have confirmed that Lennox is dead, having shot himself. Before dying, Lennox had written a confession that he murdered Sylvia. But as Marlowe cannot possibly believe that Lennox is a murderer he decides to investigate further. Meanwhile Marlowe is hired by Lennox's neighbor Eileen Wade (Nina van Pallandt) to find her alcoholic, boorish, and large husband, Roger (Sterling Hayden), who has been missing for a week. With ease Marlowe locates Roger, who was held in a shady detoxification sanitarium under the direction of creepy and diminutive Dr. Verringer (Henry Gibson), who is not beyond humiliating the much bigger man (6'5"/220 pounds). Jewish gangster Marty Augustine (Mark Rydell), arriving with his gang of thugs, tells Marlowe that when Lennox went to Mexico he took a large bag containing $355,000 of his money. Augustine wants his money back and threatens Marlowe with physical harm. For emphasis, he does commit one quick and surprising act of violence to his mistress Jo Ann with a coke bottle. When Augustine leaves, the detective trails him to Roger and Eileen's beach residence. HINT: Eileen was not truthful to Marlowe when she denied knowing Terry and Sylvia Lennox, her Malibu neighbors. But exactly how are the two Wades, Lennox, and the mobster connected? The charming and manipulating Eileen now says that Roger was having an affair with Sylvia. Then, after a Malibu beach party, Roger wades into the ocean and drowns himself. The private-eye believes that Roger was feeling guilt for murdering Sylvia. But was Lennox the killer all along? Was he having an affair with Eileen, and did he crave some of that Wade fortune, which is obviously extensive? Meanwhile Marlowe has received a note and a $5,000 bill (a James Madison) from Lennox in the mail for his services. He drives to Mexico to confirm the death of Lennox. Somewhat satisfied, although the Mexican authorities said that Lennox had just one duffel bag, he returns to LA. In the presence of Augustine and his gang, Marlowe is searched and his $5,000 Madison bill is discovered. (There were three in Augustine's $355,000 bag.) While this "conference" is in progress the stash of money is delivered; the gangster is satisfied and releases Marlowe. So who had and who returned the cash?ADDITIONAL SPOILERS: When Marlowe arrives at Eileen's, he discovers that she has put her house up for sale and left. Not totally convinced of the meaning of some recent events and realizing he has been used by several people, Marlowe returns to Mexico and discovers the authorities were bribed by Lennox, who is still alive. He tracks Lennox at a hacienda, and the latter admits to killing his wife Sylvia accidentally and initially failing to deliver Augustine's $355,000 to Mexico City. That information does not bother Marlowe as much as Lennox used him and placed his life in danger. Lennox even insults him. Consequently, without batting an eyelash Marlowe pulls out his pistol and fires. Right after Eileen is seen driving her jeep to the hacienda as "Hooray for Hollywood" is played. It is obvious that Eileen and Lennox were having an affair. They clearly returned the cash after she had inherited Roger's large fortune. So there was not really much for Marlowe to solve, but there certainly was a score to settle! One may differ with director Roger Altman's ("MASH," 1970) anachronistic adaptation of Chandler's hero, but the picture does succeed. Furthermore, since when was Altman a purist? Moreover, Gould, not the misogynist of "MASH," provides one of his best performances as a not-so-tough disheveled sleuth who also drives an old car, like fictional police detective Columbo. In fact, the acting is fine throughout, even by a quirky cast of characters who inhabit LA. Near the beginning catch David Carradine as a jailed hash-smoking philosopher and towards the end spot Arnold Schwarzenegger as one of Augustine's henchmen.