The Long Goodbye Review

The Long Goodbye
Director: Robert Altman
Stars: Elliott Gould, Nina van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, Mark Rydell Henry Gibson, Jim Bouton, David Arkin, David Carradine, Arnold Schwarzenegger & Ken Sansom.

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Running Time: 112 mins
Release: 7 March 1973

Detective Phillip Marlowe tries to help his old friend Terry Lennox (Bouton) clear his name of murdering his wife. The Marlowe receives a call from Eileen Wade (van Pallandt) to look for her missing husband Roger Wade (Hayden).

Elliott Gould gives an absolutely terrific and electrifying performance as Phillip Marlowe. Marlowe is a dishevelled, cat obsessed, chain smoking, mumbling, sarcastic, wry, smart mouth, outsider, chivalrous and intelligent detective who has his fare share of faults which make him human and he has a sense of morality unlike most of the characters in this film. I really do sympathise with him. He's absolutely perfect and I don't get the hate that he received I don't think any actor that has played the character has been completely faithful to Chandler's Marlowe.

With that aside he is an absolute joy to watch I love the way that he speaks to himself saying what he's thinking. And his catchphrase “That's okay with me”. Marlowe is a man out of time, he's from the 1940's and 50's it's like he's been sleeping for the last 20 years and that he is not completely attached to the world. It's like he's displaced. Just look at his neighbours and how different they are compared to Marlowe in there lifestyle and attitude and how he's not phased by them. It's very subtlety done and I really like that.

I love his dialog and sense of humour and how he gets the better of the cops and some of the other characters. He's a real smart mouth. I love the way he talks to. He has a very expressive face and it works very well for Marlowe. I noticed in the film he almost always has a cigarette in his mouth and lights up at any opportunity it's a great character tic for him. I love how he plays with his sense of identity too though I won't spoil that for you. I have to say he's my personal favourite interpretation of Marlowe.

Nina Van Pallandt plays Eileen Wade a sort of femme fatale she's a rather sympathetic character in this film who walks a very fine line. What I really was surprised with was her cut glass english accent despite the fact that in actual fact she's Danish ! It's quite amazing really. She has some great scenes in this film all of which are with Gould and Hayden. I'm surprised she has not appeared in much after The Long Goodbye.

Sterling Hayden plays Roger Wade a alcoholic writer slowly losing his mind akin to Ernest Hemingway of whom he was based on in this. He gives a brilliant storming performance in this film. The way he rambles and slips on his words looks very natural. He's a rather sympathetic character despite his behaviour and seeing him being bulled by Dr Verringer (Henry Gibson) is amazing and unexpected it's like a bull being bullied by a mouse.

Mark Rydell plays the psychopathic hoodlum Marty Augustine. He's a real nasty piece of work and his performance reminded me of Joe Pesci's psychopathic roles that were long after this film which makes me think Pesci was possibly inspired by Mark Rydell's turn as Marty. He gives a marvellous performance in this film and he's only in two scenes and his first is rather shocking especially by what he does it's completely unexpected.

Henry Gibson plays the enigmatic Dr Verringer. Throughout the film we never really know what his true intentions are but one thing for sure other characters are frightened of him well Marty and Roger. He has something over them and it appears (to me anyway) that he has some form of mental control over Roger. It's a great role and Henry Gibson gives the character a restrained menace feel to the character.

Jim Bouton plays Marlowe's long time friend Terry Lennox who's a bit of a gambling man and is in a bit of trouble and ends up being accused of killing his wife. He's only in few scenes but he's a pivotal character. He's very good in the role. I'm very surprised that he was a baseball player before he appeared in this which was his debut acting job.

David Arkin plays Marlowe's lookout and aide Henry. He's fantastic in the role and is a great memorable character he has some great lines in this.

David Carradine is uncredited in this he plays Marlowe's cellmate in the brief prison scene. His little monologue is fantastic I loved it and I didn't realise it was him till after the film.

Another uncredited role was Arnold Schwarzenegger as one of Marty's goons you can't miss him. It's a silent role and he's pretty good in it it's a bit odd seeing him before he hit the big time.

Also watch out for Ken Sansom as the Colony Guard who does some absolutely brilliant voice impressions.

What's really interesting about the score which is done by the great John Williams is that it's just different arrangements of the main theme and Williams does a great job on it. It's rather minimalist and suits the tone and atmosphere of the film completely.

Leigh Brackett wrote the screenplay to The Long Goodbye and it's a brilliant. There's somethings she's changed which I really liked. She was surely a very talented woman.

Before talking about Altman's masterful directing I have to mention Vilmos Zsigmond's beautiful cinematography. It's done using the “flashing technique” and it works incredibly well given the film a pastel like look which suits this film very well and it gives it an old school noir sort of feel which I love. After reading the booklet that came with the film it's a really hard thing to do and get right and Zsigmond executed it perfectly. I should add that he also worked on Brian De Palma's Blow Out another Arrow film that i'll be seeing & reviewing soon.

Robert Altman films with such flair and style and in typical. I noticed the camera never stood still it was constantly in motion though very subtly. A trademark or Altman is that the characters can talk other one another at times and he uses it quite a lot and I had no real problem with it though it can be hard for some. It should be noted that no sets were used for this film it was all filmed in real locations no sound stages. It really has a nitty gritty feel just like Chandler's novels and the other adaptations of his work albeit this one was updated to the 70's. It's a beautifully shot film and it's experience seeing how it was shot.

My favourite scenes would have to be the introduction scene, the interrogation-prison sequence which Marlowe encounters the store clerk he met earlier in a brief rather funny scene. To say anymore would spoil it. It was a sheer joy to watch.

There's a of themes within in this film; identity, morality, friendship, deceit, truth, corruption and justice. It's a fantastic noir film easily one of the best I have ever seen.

This film has everything that you could ask for in a classic noir in my opinion. It treads a fine line between character study,thriller (mostly) and comedy (they are some great funny bits in this). The acting is brilliant with Gould owning the film, a cracking pulpy script, fantastic cinematography and direction, an apt minimalist score and a damn fine ending.There's a lot of extras on the disc and in the booklet that is well worth a look A real American masterpiece of film and one of the finest from it's era.