JohnHowardReid
Robert Altman's film version of The Long Goodbye (1973) offered little succor to Chandler devotees. Far from the comparatively suave heights of Dick Powell and Humphrey Bogart (where Marlowe's suit may be a bit rumpled, his face occasionally unshaven), the habitually disheveled Eliott Gould, stunningly miscast as a bumbling, mumbling derelict slob of a Marlowe, was then joined by a colorless model-turned-Barbie doll, Nina Van Pallandt. Joining this less than awesome twosome was a supposedly enticing former film hero, Sterling Hayden - here making his screen return in a character role in which he stubbornly and loquaciously out-stayed his original welcome. All in all, this was a most disappointing affair.(M-G-M have released an excellent 10/10 DVD, but I doubt if they have many buyers).
dierregi
"The long goodbye" is Chandler's longest book and my favorite one. A moody, nostalgic novel about betrayal and the corruptive power of money. Being a Chandler's fan, I felt compelled to watch this movie. Not being an Altman fan, I feared I was going to dislike it.In fact, I positively hated it. Apparently I am not the only one, since the movie bombed when it came out. But lately opinions changed. According to the "official" story, the whole point was to make a looser of Marlowe and to show how old fashioned his values were in the "modern" world of the 70s. To which I can only say that Altman could have made a movie about any looser whatsoever, without dragging Marlowe into his mess. Marlowe's friend, Terry Lennox, is the real looser, but not a killer. Beautiful Eileen Wade is the manipulator around whom the plot revolves. In the movie, we have instead a terribly mistcast Gould, playing dumb Marlowe to an equally terrible Van Palland, expressionless and flat as Eileen. Despite much of the plot having being cut out, the movie drags on for almost two hours with plenty of useless scenes (cat feeding, hippy neighbours) until the denouement. In less than two minutes, we are shown that Marlowe was completely wrong about Lennox but ready to fix the problem, gangster style.That was definitely not what Chandler's Marlowe would have done. Altman just spoiled a great fictional character for yet another sordid, sad, depressing tale about disgusting humankind. It says a lot about Altman egotism that he blamed the failure of this movie on "wrong marketing" (as a thriller instead of as a satire), just as he blamed politicians for not getting an Oscar. He could not accept the fact that some (many) of his movies are just not good enough.Unfortunately it is a truth universally acknowledged that no matter how bad a movie, sooner or later it will be "rediscovered" and labelled as a "classic", misunderstood by the audience. This is what is going on here, coupled with the semi-god status of some directors, who apparently cannot get anything wrong and are constantly worshipped by snobbish viewers who think they know better than the average audience.
Predrag
"The Long Goodbye" is vintage Altman. It ranks not only as one of his best works, but one of the best films of the 1970's. Ignore the negative comments, this is supposed to be an updating of Chandlers character Philip Marlowe to a more contemporary setting which was the whole point and Altman does it very cleverly in the most unexpected ways. Elliot Gould truly shines in his interesting interpretation of Marlowe. Seemingly lacking the confidence and self assurance of Humphrey Bogart. The problem, unfortunately, is that Altman doesn't understand what motivates Marlowe. He doesn't understand Marlowe's sense of friendship or honor. He does understand cruelty, which is why Marty is such a great invention. He also understands betrayal, which is why Eileen Wade is still a superb femme fatale. To some degree, he understands Roger Wade's whiny depression. But he doesn't get Marlowe at all, so he turns Chandler's meditation on lost friendship into a simplistic revenge story.You could say that Altman's treatment of Marlowe is "ironic," but that just confirms that he is out of his depth. There is nothing ironic about Chandler, and there shouldn't be. Marlowe's defining qualities are his ability to see through lies and his profound moral disgust for betrayal and dishonesty. He is not a vigilante in a bat suit. Marlowe illustrates the idea that, even if you are powerless to change the course of events, you can still maintain an unbreakable judgment of them. The whole point of Marlowe is that sometimes what you do has real consequences and determines who you are, and you have no way to ironically dance away from your actions. However clever, a parody isn't the equal of an original mystery novel. This movie is too serious to be a comedy, and too funny for a murder mystery. I suspect this confusion made it a commercial failure. The movie runs on too long. I did enjoy the cinematography (shots of Malibu and Mexico particularly) and being reminded of the goofiness of the early 70's, from the bad clothes to the bad haircuts,for both men and women. But all in all, not much to do with the original Marlowe. An Altman melange that does not quite amount to anything.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.
adonis98-743-186503
Starring Elliott Gould The Long Goodbye is about Detective Philip Marlowe who tries to help a friend who is accused of murdering his wife. And by that you except something good right but no this is a movie that feels and looks like it was made in the 70's and the only interesting thing in it was Arnold Schwarzenegger's cameo and even tho he didn't speak a word he looked menacing because he's the freaking Terminator and he has a mustache in this one another cameo from a famous actor is the late David Carradine known from the movies Kill Bill Volume 1 and Kill Bill Volume 2. In the end The Long Goodbye tries to be many things but the leading actor and a very fun cameo by The Terminator is what might keep the audience asleep. (Rating: 7/10) (By Percent: 70%)
AD
