Review of The Long Goodbye (1973) by Jens T — 29 Jan 2011

70s adaptation of raymond chandler's the long goodbye is through a rip van winkln approach, and in my opinion, that unique anachronism is what makes ellott gould's marlowe surpass robert mitchum's in 1970s, which is not a decade for philip marlowe to exist, even if he lives in the 70s, he would stumble his ways practicing his vigilantism with a boyish awkwardness.

Philip marlowe was created by raymond chandler in 1939 as the big sleep was published then became a hit...the most effectively concise way to depict marlowe would be: a cowboy performs his honorable chivalries in metropolitan surroundings because america no longer has any old-western border-town for him, thus he's a misfit, loner and his ideals are no longer adequate for such a chaotic period (1930s)...a cowboy who loses his playfield,,,marlowe's narratives convey great amount of anger, discontentment and disillusionments but as you read closer into his words, you would find a much more conservative man under the disguise of those offensive sasses.

Then it's the 70s, the saga of philip marlowe has become an item of nostalgia, and in 30s or 40s, marlowe is the vigilante folk-hero before the infantilized/junvenilized masked superheros took over to reign pop culture, and marlowe was literally the batman to the audience before comic books (or graphic novels) started to be taken more seriously today. in the anti-establishment 70s, marlowe is merely a product to be reminded of the good old days, and vigilante heros are masked clowns to entertain the kids (the first batman was released in 60s),..now marlowe is arranged in the time of post-vietnam america when vigilantism is obsolete. so why not laying bare such anachronic alienation?

1970s marlowe is a mumbling dude who would take troubles finding a particular brand of cat food for his pet, a man who views his cat as important as a girlfriend. and he's settled in an apartment opposite the residence of a bunch of naked yoga-loving chics who do nothing but get their clothes off in meditation. marlowe's client this time is a writer who resembles ernest hemingway, played the aged but still hunky sterling hayden who did look hemingway-esque with that big beard. of course, the raymond-chandler formula: marlowe is to be deceived and doublecrossed, then serve the justice right in his own ways, and in the end, he's all left alone again in a state of unrequited love. a knight in his dirty armour.

1970s movie the good goodbye is a reflexive commentary that the past (1930s) makes on the present (1970s). in other words, it shows how 1930s marlowe gazes upon the 70s america or how 70s views 30s..(vice versa)...for example, sterling hayden's writer is trapped in alcholism and commits suicide. (70s evaluates hemingway as a wrecked suicidal drinker)..another example would be the janitor who likes to impersonate the voices of old movies: barbara stanwyck in double indemnity and james stewart in vertigo, and no one responds to him except marlowe..and in the last scene, marlowe walks past the femme fatale without any lingering infatuation toward her, right after he bids his long-goodbye to his scoundrel friend with a bullet. and strangely the set of mexican forests resembles 1949 noir "the third man" in which the woman walks past the awaiting man unappreciatively.

What the third man tries to deliver is a reluctance from europe toward american heroism. but in the long good-bye, it stands for the opposite: old american vigilantism shows its contempts over the greed of new time. just read into the last dialgoue marlowe has with his scoundrel friend who tries to bribes off marlowe's friendship with great money and comments "no one would care those things as you do, marlowe..gee, you're a born loser who sticks to those ideals" then marlowe shots him as a demonstration of his violent disapproval. at last, marlowe kills his stinky friend and leaves the duplicious adulteress then returns to his world...alone, in his eternal wanderings within the urban wasteland.

Except the fun facts like young arnold was in it as the sidekick of the gangster leader who smashes a glass-bottle of coke over the face of his mistress, the most engrossing attribute of the movie would be its theme song: the long goodbye, which is ubiquitously heard in the movie with vigorously self-indulgent rejoices, and all the music is by john williams who is also the composer of several hitchcock flicks since hitchcock fired bernard herrman and substitutes williams as the composer for his "torn curtain"...

(ps) for anyone who's interested in reading chandler's original novel:

On the contrary, chandler's long-goodbye is a tribute from hard-boiled novel to f scott fitzgerald's the great gatsby. the movie is completely different from the book..the novel is the senile chandler's reminiscence of the jazz age and the gatsby-esque american-dreamer...it's a hard-boiled version of the great gatsby as if raymond chandler was writing a sequel for the great gatsby under the assumption: if gatsby didn't get killed and stayed alive, how he would be like?