American cinema in the 1970s had an interest in reviving older genres, and film noir was a great way of expressing society’s disillusionment and paranoia. Casting the hangdog, bemused charm of Elliott Gould as the classic detective character of Philip Marlowe in The Long Goodbye (1973) must have seemed like a joke to fans of hard boiled stories (in contrast to more classic portrayals like Humphrey Bogart playing Marlowe in The Big Sleep). On one hand, it is a joke, and on the other hand director Robert Altman and Gould are completely committed to the themes of a writer like Raymond Chandler, yet conveyed in a contemporary (at that time) Los Angeles vibe of post-hippie, self-involved wealth and corporate collusion. With John Williams’ jazzy score and the variations of the lounge-y title theme, there is a hipster, hang-out atmosphere, conveyed in Altman’s freewheeling approach as an auteur with overlapping dialogue, chaotic master shots and signature flourishes (the iconic title sequence revolving around Marlowe’s late night search for cat food, Marlowe’s repeated catch phrase “It’s okay with me”, etc). Searching for the truth behind his best friend’s suicide and accusations of murder, Marlowe is also hired to investigate a missing author (Sterling Hayden) by his concerned wife (Nina van Pallandt). Along the way, there is a fussy manipulative therapist (Henry Gibson) and a jocular mob boss (Mark Rydell). It’s mainly the delight in watching the black suited Marlowe swan through this sell-out City of Angels giving wry reactions to everything until he can’t stand it anymore. Adapted from the Chandler novel by screenwriter Leigh Brackett, The Long Goodbye now exerts a considerable influence on future hipster LA detective fare such as The Big Lebowski, Inherent Vice and Under The Silver Lake. One of my all time favourite films. Recommended.
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