The Long Goodbye
Robert Altman
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Plot Summary
Elliott Gould portrays tough private-eye Philip Marlowe in director Robert Altman's updated version of one of Raymond Chandler's most-celebrated novels... Marlowe is awakened at 3:30 in the morning by part-time hood Terry Lennox (Jim Bouton) to drive him to Tijuana. When Marlowe returns to Los Angeles, he learns that Lennox's wife is dead--murdered--and that (of course!) Lennox is the chief suspect. Marlowe returns to his normal work and is hired by a woman to find her husband, Roger (Sterling Hayden), an author with a fondness for the bottle. More puzzles... The mob turns up; they are seeking $350,000--and they seem to think Marlowe has it! He will soon learn of Lennox's death (murder, suicide or...) in Mexico and realize that no one but himself gives a damn. That will make Marlowe VERY angry...
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Movie Reviews from Rotten Tomatoes
TOMATOMETER
96%- Reviews Counted: 24
- Fresh: 23
- Rotten: 1
- Average Rating: 8.2/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Fresh: [Altman] attempts the impossible and pulls it off.
Fresh: It tries to be all genre and no story, and it almost works.
Fresh: Elliott Gould in the lead seems to relish the joke of serving up Marlowe in a radically different way.
Customer Reviews
For Altman fans, not Chandler fans
Robert Altman's take on Raymond Chandler's best novel is one his better films, but an atrocity for fans of detective noir. For a proper treatment of Philip Marlowe, watch The Big Sleep. And for Altman at his best, watch The Player. His style is too self-consciously quirky and winking to do justice to hard-boiled fiction.
Rip Van Marlowe
I found this take on Chandler's Marlowe character to be very enjoyable. Elliot Gould is wonderfully oblivious/nonchalant and pulls off some great improvisation. I also found the casting to be quite good, though I could have done without Arnold... Anyway, give it a go, and I don't think you'll be disappointed. Also check out California Split, another Gould movie from the same period, though it's not available on iTunes yet.
how does this happen?
It's happened before, but not to this extent. I never imagined that a film that is so well regarded could also be so thoroughly annoying.
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