Review of The Long Goodbye (1973) by Steve P — 24 Nov 2007
"It's okay with me." A film begging for scholarship - and finally getting its just due. Now considered by many - who, frankly, missed the train leaving the first time - as both an Altman masterwork, and as the most thoughtful, unique screen treatment of a Philip Marlowe story.
And the film that finally treated Chandler - and let's use Mickey Spillane's yardstick - as an author, not simply a writer - just as he seemingly always wanted. If you're a purist, you might roundly despise it almost as much as you despise Michael Winner's 1978 remake of THE BIG SLEEP with Robert Mitchum (set in modern-day England, for god's sake ).
And that's a fair reaction. No one blames you for loving the man's original creations so much as to be snowed by them. Many, many people felt that way at the time, and stayed away in droves - even after the studio revamped its ad campaign, and re-released it.
My expectations were certainly disappointed, as I had just discovered the author the year before, and wanted all the 1940's Private Dick bells and whistles. But I was pretty young and pretty stupid.
Hell, Dick Richards would give us all that in the 1975 "pure Chandler" - and vastly less interesting - version of FAREWELL, MY LOVELY (also with Mitchum). Ironic, then, that those most likely to hate the film would be the only group fully capable of appreciating its genius.
Study it, along with the people who participated in it. Fascinating.
This review of The Long Goodbye (1973) was written by Steve P on 24 Nov 2007.
The Long Goodbye has generally received very positive reviews.
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