Review of Long Goodbye, The

Introduction

This is a great movie. It starts without fanfare, with an engaging scene where Marlowe tries to kid his fussy cat that he has the right brand cat food but to no effect. He has to pay a 3am visit to his local 24 hour supermarket but to no avail - and it continues ever on into the darkness of the night and beyond. Set in contemporary LA (in 1973 when this was released), we see Gould make the part of Philip Marlowe all his own. Prior to this, Dick Powell, Humphrey Bogart, Robert Montgomery, Robert Mitchum and James Garner all made convincing Philip Marlowes, but Gould plays it differently. Whacky, off kilter, sardonic, cool and caring, the wise-cracking Marlowe we have here feels like a friend from the outset. There`s something very intimate about his under-breath mutterings and throw-away comments, and it`s all totally endearing. But then a dark shadow falls over proceedings and we`re taken into an LA that`s more akin to Twin Peaks than it is to popular conceptions of the Sunshine City. The narrative is excellent - but then the source material was of a fine quality, this being adapted from Raymond Chandler`s penultimate novel. It`s compelling viewing - and Altmans direction is superb. The camera is rarely still and what feels like documentary footage at times is carefully considered and choreographed. This is a Director who knows his craft.This movie carries an 18 certificate and though the violence is infrequent there are some scenes that are quite extreme. There`s no blood that we can see, but it`s directed to create maximum impact and the imagination does a lot of the work here for what is genuinely quite shocking. But it`s also a movie full of humour. There are wise cracks aplenty and some of the characterisations are played exclusively for laughs. And it all works beautifully. Whilst Gould dominates the movie, there are some great performances from a strong supporting cast. Writer Roger Wade (Sterling Haydn)is magnificently larger than life, and his wife Eileen, played by Nina Van Pallandt,is simply gorgeous.

For those pre-occupied with the mechanics of movie making, it`s startling that Gould smokes his way through the entire movie. There isn`t a single scene that doesn`t see him light up - often having just put one out. A continuity persons nightmare! The movie is full of twists and turns and, whilst a unique interpretation, it remains a credit to the original book.

Video

This is a very disappointing transfer. I`ve never seen this movie at the cinema so it`s hard to say how much of the low contrast `grey mist` feel is down to the transfer. To cast an educated guess, I`d bet my bottom dollar that this is a PAL conversion from an original DVD/Mpeg3 NTSC - which is very remiss. If that is the case, then it`s a crime because this really is an excellent movie that deserves better attention.

Audio

This is a fine soundtrack, with it`s almost Lynch-like use of a recurring theme and song (`The long goodbye`) which appears throughout the movie in a variety of styles and by a variety of different singers. (Must be a crazy OST CD!) The soundtrack is typical Altman - mumblings and snappy dialogue overlapping and dripping with barely audible throw away lines. Available here in four or five languages it`s always diverting to watch a dub - and a great way to brush up those language skills. I suspect this is less to do with value for money and more to do with economies of (duplicating) scale as this disc is marketed around Europe. They`re all available in Dolby Digital only.

Features

Not only half a dozen language dubs to choose from, there are a dozen sub-titled options too. Great for language schools - and great for Warner Brothers and their marketing team. But all these language options leave little room for extras - so there aren`t any.

Conclusion

For lovers of no-nonsense drama and suspense, this captivatingly realistic trawl through LA`s dark-side, with Gould`s inimitable Marlowe as your host, is a real treat. A movie is always greater than it`s individual ingredients (and this is no exception) but with a recipe that includes a great screenplay, a haunting soundtrack, superb and confident direction, a strong cast, great scenery, humour, violence and pathos - it almost doesn`t matter what way you bake it, it sure tastes good! Though the transfer is sub-standard, the movie itself is thoroughly recommended.