That most expert of genre benders -- Robert Altman -- takes aim at the noir detective film in this delightfully creative and witty adaptation of the Raymond Chandler novel.
Altman -- not to mention Elliott Gould, who delivers a wonderfully whacked-out performance as Chandler staple Philip Marlowe -- gives us a hero who's right at home in the drifter, "everything goes" environment of 1970s L.A. His mumbled refrain throughout the film is "It's o.k. with me," a refrain that sees him through all manner of confrontations, some of them life threatening. The plot is one of those convoluted puzzles for which films noir are known, having something to do with Marlowe's close friend, Terry Lennox, turning up dead in Mexico after supposedly murdering his wife. Marlowe, unable to believe that his friend would be capable of such an act, can't let the case drop even though the police want him to. And of course, in true noir fashion, he's hired for a separate case that at first seems to have nothing to do with the other but eventually turns out to be connected, involving the wife (Nina van Pallandt) of a suicidal novelist (Sterling Hayden, giving a frightening and intense performance).
But, also true to film noir (and true as well of most Altman films), none of this plot really matters as much as the movie's tone, so artist and genre find themselves perfectly matched. Over the course of the film, we realize that Marlowe is the only honest person in this crooked version of contemporary L.A., and he begins to seem like more of a relic from a past decade, a shuffling gumshoe that might be at home in a Warners crime film from the 40s, but who is woefully under equipped to handle the dirty dealings of the present. That is until a shocking and cold-blooded finale, in which Marlowe proves himself to be a bit more resourceful than we had given him credit for.
There's a hip quality to "The Long Goodbye" -- it's a sustained joke of a film that Altman pulls off beautifully. Our introduction to Marlowe finds him going off in the middle of the night in search of his cat's favorite brand of pet food, and then trying to trick the cat into eating a brand it's not used to. This endears us to him, and we stay endeared to him for the rest of the film, thanks largely to the way Gould plays him. The film looks great too; Altman's frequent collaborator on his early 70s pictures, Vilmos Zsigmond, does cinematography honors. And John Williams composed a great theme song, that plays in numerous variations throughout the film and contributes a running gag to the proceedings, popping up at one point as the funeral dirge being played by a Mexican band and at another as the tinkling tune of a doorbell.
I've liked "The Long Goodbye" more and more every time I've seen it, and have quickly come to the conclusion that it's one of Altman's best.
Grade: A
Altman -- not to mention Elliott Gould, who delivers a wonderfully whacked-out performance as Chandler staple Philip Marlowe -- gives us a hero who's right at home in the drifter, "everything goes" environment of 1970s L.A. His mumbled refrain throughout the film is "It's o.k. with me," a refrain that sees him through all manner of confrontations, some of them life threatening. The plot is one of those convoluted puzzles for which films noir are known, having something to do with Marlowe's close friend, Terry Lennox, turning up dead in Mexico after supposedly murdering his wife. Marlowe, unable to believe that his friend would be capable of such an act, can't let the case drop even though the police want him to. And of course, in true noir fashion, he's hired for a separate case that at first seems to have nothing to do with the other but eventually turns out to be connected, involving the wife (Nina van Pallandt) of a suicidal novelist (Sterling Hayden, giving a frightening and intense performance).
But, also true to film noir (and true as well of most Altman films), none of this plot really matters as much as the movie's tone, so artist and genre find themselves perfectly matched. Over the course of the film, we realize that Marlowe is the only honest person in this crooked version of contemporary L.A., and he begins to seem like more of a relic from a past decade, a shuffling gumshoe that might be at home in a Warners crime film from the 40s, but who is woefully under equipped to handle the dirty dealings of the present. That is until a shocking and cold-blooded finale, in which Marlowe proves himself to be a bit more resourceful than we had given him credit for.
There's a hip quality to "The Long Goodbye" -- it's a sustained joke of a film that Altman pulls off beautifully. Our introduction to Marlowe finds him going off in the middle of the night in search of his cat's favorite brand of pet food, and then trying to trick the cat into eating a brand it's not used to. This endears us to him, and we stay endeared to him for the rest of the film, thanks largely to the way Gould plays him. The film looks great too; Altman's frequent collaborator on his early 70s pictures, Vilmos Zsigmond, does cinematography honors. And John Williams composed a great theme song, that plays in numerous variations throughout the film and contributes a running gag to the proceedings, popping up at one point as the funeral dirge being played by a Mexican band and at another as the tinkling tune of a doorbell.
I've liked "The Long Goodbye" more and more every time I've seen it, and have quickly come to the conclusion that it's one of Altman's best.
Grade: A