The Long Goodbye

The Long Goodbye

By Robert Altman

  • Genre: Drama
  • Release Date: 1973-03-07
  • Advisory Rating: R
  • Runtime: 1h 52min
  • Director: Robert Altman
  • Production Company: United Artists
  • Production Country: United States of America
  • iTunes Price: USD 4.99
  • iTunes Rent Price: USD 3.99
7.41/10
7.41
From 625 Ratings
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Description

Elliott Gould portrays tough private-eye Philip Marlowe in director Robert Altman's updated version of one of Raymond Chandler's most-celebrated novels... Marlowe is awakened at 3:30 in the morning by part-time hood Terry Lennox (Jim Bouton) to drive him to Tijuana. When Marlowe returns to Los Angeles, he learns that Lennox's wife is dead--murdered--and that (of course!) Lennox is the chief suspect. Marlowe returns to his normal work and is hired by a woman to find her husband, Roger (Sterling Hayden), an author with a fondness for the bottle. More puzzles... The mob turns up; they are seeking $350,000--and they seem to think Marlowe has it! He will soon learn of Lennox's death (murder, suicide or...) in Mexico and realize that no one but himself gives a damn. That will make Marlowe VERY angry...

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Reviews

  • A low key but definite Masterpiece!

    5
    By Tex Lewin
    Some amazingly mixed reviews on iTunes! I personally thoroughly enjoy this movie, but I am a die hard Altman fan. I can see Chandler fans being irritated by the treatment, but I thought the ‘70s update was rather interesting. While the movie isn’t up to Nashville or McCabe & Mrs Miller in the Altman filmography it is certainly worth viewing and contains many delights—not least the kitty oriented opening! Definitely of interest as a key stepping stone (on many levels) to Anderson’s Inherent Vice.

  • Quite possibly my favorite Robert Altman film

    5
    By Shredder 418
    An excellent companion piece to the 1946 The Big Sleep. Gould doesn't try so much to be a carbon copy of Humphrey Bogart, but his Phillip Marlowe is a bit different. A wonderful film.

  • Great movie, clearly polarizing.

    5
    By New Haven Guy
    I love this movie and actually think that Gould gets Marlowe better than a lot of people here give him credit for. If you watch this movie as both LA noir and a movie about the 1970s, I think it works better than if you try to force the 1940s of the original novel onto film.

  • Unexpectedly Good

    4
    By shriekback
    I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. Casting Elliott Gould was a stroke of genius. Although I had read the Chandler novel of the same name, I was not quite sure how or where the move would end up at. The cat, the repeated playing of "The Long Goodbye" by various performers, the constant smoking by Marlowe, the dialog - especially what came out of Roger's character -- the constantly flowing camera shots, oh and the gaggle of top-less neighbors to Marlowe set an incredible atmosphere that was mesmerizing and captivating. Again, watch it for Gould's and Sterling's performances. Incredible. Sterling was the actor ("Jack Ripper") in "Dr. Strangelove" who kept going on about fluoride in the water. Incredible!

  • It's okay with me.

    5
    By bodangersloot
    One of my all time favorite movies by one of my all time favorite directors. Watch it. Now.

  • Masterpiece

    5
    By EK1992
    Altman does a fantastic job of reconstruction the typical hard-boiled detective genre and classic film noir style. His take demythologizes everything that films like The Maltese Falcon strove to create. If you don't understand this film watch it a second time. It truly is amazing. Just because you think it's slow doesn't make it bad; in fact, it plays up Marlowe's character and the storyline that Gould so masterfully portrays. No need to criticize the 'literary'. If you dislike this, fine, it's not for everybody. But don't say it's bad because this is probably one of the best contemporary detective films of the 70's whether watching it for pleasure or for literary purposes.

  • Wildly, wildly, wildly, wildly overrated.

    1
    By The Steves
    Raymond Chandler is the seminal novelist of LA Noir. This piece of crap was put together in the 70s trying to bring Chandler's POV from the 40s into the 70s. It fails. It is boring, slow, turgid, dull, tedious. With some naked breasts and interesting LA architecture. The literary crowd loves it because only they can understand it. But the book itself was incredible. Chandler's ability to define the morality and physicality of LA was remarkable. This is self-indulgent, dated, patter. Ick.

  • For Altman fans, not Chandler fans

    2
    By HTW
    Robert Altman's take on Raymond Chandler's best novel is one his better films, but an atrocity for fans of detective noir. For a proper treatment of Philip Marlowe, watch The Big Sleep. And for Altman at his best, watch The Player. His style is too self-consciously quirky and winking to do justice to hard-boiled fiction.

  • how does this happen?

    2
    By Suz....
    It's happened before, but not to this extent. I never imagined that a film that is so well regarded could also be so thoroughly annoying.

  • ANOTHER ALTMAN MASTERPIECE !!!

    5
    By THEYCALLME-E
    ROBERT ALTMAN REINVENTS MARLOWE. PUTS HIM IN A 70'S HAZE OF HIPPIE NEIGHBORS, A NOT SO NICE CAT, FUDGE BROWNIE MIX, A MALIBU BEACH GUARD THAT IMPERSONATES HOLLYWOOD STARS, A BUNCH OF DUMB GOONS, MEAN COPS AND A FRIEND THAT DOUBLE CROSSES HIM. SOUNDS LIKE THE BIG LEBOWSKI.... IN SOME WAYS THIS IS THE ORIGINAL DUDE. LET'S NOT FORGET THAT THE SOUNDTRACK IS GENUIS AND NOT AVAILABLE ON ITUNES (FOR SHAME) THIS MOVIE IS ONE OF ALTMANS BEST IN MY OPINION THE BEST. "IT'S OKAY WITH ME."

Movies by Robert Altman

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