Review of The Long Goodbye (1973) by Isaac J — 14 Jul 2009

Most writers like to use landmarks to keep the audience on track. Familiar events and plot devices that let us know where we are in the story. It's not a bad thing; it actually helps the writer keep himself on the rails. But in Chandler stories, the moments bleed together. The individual revelations are sleepy and unmemorable. The plot is something like, "Marlowe goes here. Then he goes there. Then he goes back to the first place. Then to another place." It's rarely even clear when the mystery started. Ten minutes before the movie ends, there's no indication that things are winding down. No act breaks. No denouement. Just a two-hour wash of slow-burning suspense.

And by some miracle, it makes sense at the end.

I held off on seeing this movie for a while because I'd heard that it upset Raymond Chandler fans for it's depiction of Marlowe. Which surprises me, because I think it's the most accurate portrayal I've seen. I don't think people understand the difference between Marlowe and Sam Spade, so here it is: Sam Spade is Brick, or Miller's Crossing. Phillip Marlowe is The Big Lebowski.

Marlowe isn't smart, he's a smart-ass. He's not suave or dashing; hell, he barely even has a libido. He's tough, but he's still usually the one GETTING punched. And he's not solving a crime, he's just kind of drifting along as the events unfold around him. He isn't the guy who knows all the angles, who can play people against each other and always land on his feet. Phillip Marlowe is a bum.

This cements Robert Altman as one of my favorite American filmmakers. I think I'm gonna buy this movie.