The Long Goodbye (film)
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| The Long Goodbye | |
|---|---|
 The Long Goodbye movie poster |
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| Directed by | Robert Altman |
| Produced by | Jerry Bick |
| Written by | Raymond Chandler (novel) Leigh Brackett |
| Starring | Elliott Gould Nina Van Pallandt |
| Music by | John Williams |
| Cinematography | Vilmos Zsigmond |
| Editing by | Lou Lombardo |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | March 7, 1973 in film (U.S. release) |
| Running time | 112 min. |
| Country | US |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
The Long Goodbye is a 1973 film adaptation of Raymond Chandler's novel The Long Goodbye. Directed by Robert Altman from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett, the film stars Elliott Gould as Philip Marlowe, film noir veteran Sterling Hayden as Roger Wade and director Mark Rydell as the gangster Marty Augustine. "The Long Goodbye" holds up a mirror to the culture of the Hollywood lifestyle in the 1970's. The film is "a study of a moral and decent man cast adrift in a selfish, self-obsessed society where lives can be thrown away without a backward glance...and any notions of friendship and loyalty are meaningless" (Daniel O'Brien, "Robert Altman: Hollywood Survivor").
Leigh Brackett was also one of the screenwriters on the 1946 film The Big Sleep, also based on a Chandler novel.
Unlike the novel, which is set in the forties, the film is set in the seventies — although Marlowe in his suit and tie still looks like he could be from the forties, a relic from another era.
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[edit] Reaction
Initial reviews for the film were mixed and the box-office returns were poor, on account of the unconventional changes from the novel. Sight and Sound and The Film Quarterly attacked the depiction of Marlowe stating that "one can not satirize or destroy a hero image until one defines it" (Gerald Plecki, "Robert Altman"). Some critics objected to a 1970s Marlowe, feeling a keen sense of betrayal, tracking down and killing his friend at the end of the movie. Altman liked the new ending so much that he insisted on a clause in his contract that guaranteed the ending wouldn't be changed during production or editing. The act of cold violence and Gould's sloppy, boyish Marlowe was a clear attempt to distance the movie from Bogart's The Big Sleep. Other reviewers compared the film favorably to other Altman films. A New York Times review of the film, by critic Vincent Canby in 1973, noted "Don't be misled by the ads, The Long Goodbye is not a put-on. It's great fun and it's funny, but it's a serious, unique work." [1]
With time The Long Goodbye was more widely accepted, regarded by one critic as "the Altman master work" (Gerald Plecki, "Robert Altman"). It currently boasts a 94% fresh consensus on Rotten Tomatoes
[edit] Trivia
- The film was analyzed by film critic Roger Ebert at the 2006 Conference on World Affairs in Boulder, Colorado, the source of some of this analysis.
- The actual plot deviates drastically from Raymond Chandler's novel Long Goodbye. Leigh Brackett took a few liberties when adapting the book into a screenplay. Marlowe killing his best friend Terry Lennox and the end of the film was a major departure from the book. The role of Sylvia Lennox's rich father was eliminated from the storyline for the film. Roger Wade's suicide was originally a murder in the novel. Marty Augustine is not in the novel, and his role and subplots were added specifically for the film.
- Nina Van Pallandt plays Eileen Wade; she became famous as the mistress of hoaxer Clifford Irving, who was jailed when his biography of Howard Hughes was exposed as a fraud. This was her first English-language film.
- The film pokes fun at Hollywood stereotypes, opening and closing with a 1950's-sounding version of Hooray for Hollywood — in the opening shot old art of the Hollywood Hills is shown, and the camera pans to Marlowe, now in the 1970's. And Marlowe ("Rip Van Marlowe"), a relic of the 1940s transplanted to the 1970s, is the only character to smoke in the film. Marlowe himself refers to the artifice when talking to the cops: "Is this where I'm supposed to say 'What's all this about?' and he says 'Shut up, I ask the questions'?"
- The film is often washed out, with weak colors. Altman and his cinematographer, Vilmos Zsigmond, partially exposed the negatives. Many shots were through windows or (in at least one scene) a cage, often reflected in windows.
- In one scene of the movie Marlowe says that he is going to "call Ronald Reagan", who was then governor of California - and future actor and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appears in a minor role during the following scene as one of Augustine's hoods, wearing a red shirt and tan pants.
- There is a small reference to The Maltese Falcon in one scene; when Marlowe is talking to Eileen Wade a green Maltese Falcon is seen as a lampshade in the background. Another small reference is to Tokyo Story, seen in a reflection as a flash while Marlowe is going to the hospital in an ambulance — both are very quick, and easy to miss. There is also a reference to Altman's movie McCabe & Mrs. Miller near the end of the film, where the songbook Songs of Leonard Cohen is displayed in the background. Several of the songs printed in that book were featured in McCabe.
- The final scene, down to the music, bears a strong resemblance to the final scene of The Third Man, as Terry Lennox's final speech to Marlowe bears a resemblance to Orson Welles famed cynical "cuckoo clock" ad-lib in The Third Man, pointed out by Roger Ebert at the 2006 Conference on World Affairs.
- There is argument about what the title, "The Long Goodbye," refers to. It could be Terry Lennox, or it could be the entire hard-boiled detective genre of movies.
- Originally Dan Blocker, who played the character of Hoss in Bonanza and was a close friend of Robert Altman was chosen to play the character of Roger Wade, but he died before filming began. The film is dedicated to Dan Blocker.
- The soundtrack of the film consists of two songs, the aforementioned Hooray for Hollywood and a song titled The Long Goodbye, composed by John Williams. Each time the song is used it is played in a very different arrangement and instrumentation, making it at times almost unrecognizable.
[edit] Featured cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Elliott Gould | Philip Marlowe |
| Nina Van Pallandt | Eileen Wade |
| Sterling Hayden | Roger Wade |
| Mark Rydell | Marty Augustine |
| Henry Gibson | Dr. Verringer |
| David Arkin | Harry |
| Jim Bouton | Terry Lennox |
[edit] Quotes
- "I tell you what we're gonna do, Marlboro. You're gonna take that goddamn J.C. Penney tie off and we're gonna have an old fashioned man to man drinking party." "Well, that's okay but I'm not taking off the tie." (Roger Wade and Marlowe)
- "It's okay with me."(Marlowe's mantra, stated many times throughout the film)
[edit] External links
| Films directed by Robert Altman |
|---|
| The Delinquents • The James Dean Story • Countdown • That Cold Day in the Park • MASH • Brewster McCloud • McCabe & Mrs. Miller • Images • The Long Goodbye • Thieves Like Us • California Split • Nashville • Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson • 3 Women • A Wedding • Quintet • A Perfect Couple • HealtH • Popeye • Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean • Streamers • Secret Honor • O.C. & Stiggs • Fool for Love • Beyond Therapy • Aria • Vincent & Theo • The Player • Short Cuts • Prêt-à-Porter • Kansas City • The Gingerbread Man • Cookie's Fortune • Dr. T & the Women • Gosford Park • The Company • A Prairie Home Companion |
