The Long Goodbye (1973)

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 […]

3 Women (1977)

My friend Lauren Cowdrey wrote a recommendation of Robert Altman’s 3 Women (1977) for VHS Tracking Issue 2. I finally watched it recently and thought it was great. Lauren’s review from the zine says it better than I could: “The first time I saw it I was struck by its beauty, like a painting both […]

Popeye (1980)

I have vague memories of seeing the live action movie of Popeye (1980) on Saturday afternoon TV when I was a kid. In recent memory, one of its Harry Nilsson penned songs sung by Shelly Duvall was used in PTA’s Punch-Drunk Love (“He needs me”). It was time to rewatch and more fully understand the […]