Description: Elliott Gould gives one of his best performances (Esquire) as a quirky, mischievous PhilipMarlowe in Robert Altman's fascinating and original (Newsweek) send-up of Raymond Chandler's classic detective story. Co-starring Nina Van Pallandt and Sterling Hayden and written by Leigh Brackett (The Big Sleep) The Long Goodbye is a gloriously inspired tribute to Hollywood (The Hollywood Reporter) with an ending that's as controversial as it is provocative (Los Angeles Times)! Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe (Gould) faces the most bizarre case of his life, when a friend's apparent suicide turns into a double murder involving a sexy blonde, a disturbed gangster and a suitcase full of drug money. But as Marlowe stumbles toward the truth, hesoon finds himself lost in a maze of sex and deceitonly to discover that in L.A., if love is dangerous friendship is murder.
Amazon.com essential video: Raymond Chandler's cynically idealistic hero, Philip Marlowe, has been played by everyone from Humphrey Bogart to James Garner--but no one gives him the kind of weirdly affect-less spin that Elliott Gould does in this terrific Robert Altman reimagining of Chandler's penultimate novel. Altman recasts Marlowe as an early '70s L.A. habitué, who gets involved in a couple of cases at once. The most interesting involves a suicidal writer (Sterling Hayden in a larger-than-life performance) whom Marlowe is supposed to keep away from malevolent New-Ageish guru Henry Gibson. A variety of wonderfully odd characters pop up, played by everyone from model Nina Van Pallandt to director Mark Rydell to ex-baseballer Jim Bouton. And yes, that is Arnold Schwarzenegger (in only his second movie) popping up as (what else?) a muscleman. Listen for the title song: It shows up in the strangest places. --Marshall Fine
Brilliant, but not for the Chandler purists! (See the 1-star reviews for much teeth-gnashing from the anti-Altman camp) The truth is that Raymond Chandler purists who have a rigid view of his work are never going to like this brilliant little film. One has to be able to understand the artistic merit inherent in variation, parody, and reimagining. The fact that several reviewers gave this film ONE star out of five tells me one of these things are true: 1. These folks have an axe to grind and they let that get in the way of seeing this film for what it is, or 2. They sincerely have no taste. Or very, very limited taste. Oh, a third alternative just occurred to me: 3. Hollywood has ruined these people's brains, such that they can no longer appreciate a wider spectrum of pace in a film; everything needs to happen in a rapid-fire, linear fashion replete with gunfire and explosions every few minutes or they get bored because they are accustomed to having filmmakers cater to their short attention span and high tolerance for violence.
Sorry, soul cats. Try again. Or, rather, don't post vindictive and shallow reviews. Your reviews reveal more about you than they do about the movies you write about. Don't you realize this?
A poor translation of an interesting book There's no doubt that Raymond Chandler is a wonderful writer. But this film version of The Long Goodbye does not do the book any justice. It throws out the 1930's historical context and sets the book in the 1960's. This does not work. Elliot Gould is totally miscast as Philip Marlowe, Chandler's famous private eye. Gould lacks the toughness and wit of Chandler's Marlowe as well as the mannerisms and philosophy. Not surprising, The Long Goodbye is a complete flop. Don't waste your time and money on this film even if you love Chandler, Marlowe and film noir. Thomas Lee.
not bad, not bad at all, its worth watching, HELLO, THIS IS QUIET A GOOD MOVIE FROM 1973, ITS WORTH WATCHING, REMEMBER ALL THE GREAT , GREAT MOVIES, WERE MADE IN THE 1970, TIES THANKS AGAIN TAKE CARE.
Amazing Film, Decent DVD Another bare bones classic Altman film. This is a unique look at LA in the 70s, sort of like an ironic Chinatown doused in cocaine rather than alcohol.
Buy it for film library! You really need to own this film. It's truly a solid film in so many different ways. Robert Altman is a superb director. Elliot Gould plays a truly excellent detective who was betrayed by a 'friend' who has ruthlessly murdered a woman. He can't believe that the man he knew was capable of this crime. How did he become the hood that works for Marty Augustine? In the final scene he is chided by the Terry, "Who cares!" Marlowe remarks, "I care", and kills him with a bullet. Was it his disgust with him? Or a sense of betrayal? Mrs. Wade draws the wrong conclusions about Marlowe after he sits in jail for three days. Early in the film Marlowe tells Mrs. Wade that he doesn't do divorce work but her husband departed before she could separate or divorce from him. So she hires Marlowe to find him and bring him home. When Roger Wade returns home with Marlowe he must be wondering is there a chance to save the marriage? It's those first minutes with his wife that tell him nothing has changed. Like Terry Lennox, Roger Wade has changed. He's no longer the man that his wife married and wants. He complains to Mrs. Lennox who is determined to put a stop to matters and killed by her own husband when she threatens to go to the police. At the police station Lt. Farmer asked Marlowe how come he knows so little about his friends? He places his trust in them but loyalty carries a price. Was it merely co-incidence? Marlowe receives five thousand bills from Marty Augustine and Terry Lennox for 'his troubles'. Didn't it simply confirm the doubts that had been growing in his mind about a good friend and the crime that he had committed?
Not for Marlowe fans or kids. They'll be disappointed.
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