Review of The Long Goodbye (1973) by Josh G — 18 Sep 2008

In the recent reviews here on Flixter alone, both Alistair Rockoff and Jim Miller mention The Long Goodbye's similarity to the Coen Bros. The Big Lebowski. Both are sort of self-aware detective stories, with heroes who are not your standard spit-shined all-around American gumshoes.

Phillip Marlowe (Gould) is a private eye, although whether he is a good one is up for debate. He spends most of the movie being confused by the goings-on around him while trying to act cool.

Marlowe's friend Terry winds up dead in Tiajuana with a sucide note and confession of murdering his wife. Marlowe doesn't buy that it was a suicide, but is going on little more than a hunch. Soon, there are gangsters and physicians mixed up in the story, while Marlowe wanders around making great one-liners and... just generally trying to piece everything together.

Rather than being one step ahead of the game, he is literally picking up clues as he goes, never really sure of what's going to happen or how to react to a given situation.

The movie is absolutely stunning, visually speaking. In addition to Altman's signature overlapping dialogue, there are scenes shot from between the leaves of trees, and -- in one incredible scene -- a shot of a sliding-glass door, showing the viewer two different scenes at once: the scene playing out behind the door, and the one playing out in the reflection of the glass.

Gould plays the wise-cracking, cooler-than-thou detective perfectly. Ebert says that Altman's Marlowe has been transported from 1950's noir movies into the golden '70s. When looking at the movie with that in mind, it becomes even more enjoyable. Marlowe constantly has a cigarette in his mouth, which nobody ever seems to complain about. Even in the supermarket, he is smoking. It's as though the cigarette is not an affect, but instead merely a part of his character, much as Indiana Jones must have his hat. He just wouldn't be the same character without it.

The ending was kind of a let-down following what had come before, as the plot needed wrapped up and suddenly everything is clear and Marlowe becomes the exact sort of private eye that the movie was previously satirizing.

That aside, The Long Goodbye is a really great movie.