HottWwjdIam There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

grantss Private investigator Philip Marlowe is approached by a friend, Terry Lennox, who is in a bit of a jam. Marlowe helps him get to Mexico but the next day his friend's wife turns up dead. The police hold Marlowe but then release him once Terry Lennox is found dead in Mexico - suicide. To the cops it is an open-and-shut case of murder-suicide but Marlowe doesn't believe that to be the case. Marlowe then is hired by the wife of wealthy author Roger Wade to find her husband. The Wades were neighbours of the Lennoxes. A powerful mob boss also leans on him to find the large sum of money Terry Lennox was transporting for him. Could all these events be connected? Robert Altman directs a movie based on a Raymond Chandler novel, and it's a mixed bag. Starts off very well with some humorous scenes and dialogue and a fair amount of intrigue. The middle-to-end sections lack focus, however, and, while it is never dull, the movie feels like it is drifting to a lacklustre conclusion. The intrigue just seems to get sucked out of the movie in that segment. In addition, the theme song gets played in just about every situation and in various forms - it gets very irritating, very quickly.Ends well though, with a good twist and a powerful conclusion.A new take on Philip Marlowe from Elliott Gould - he is hardly Humphrey Bogart and he's not trying to be. Altman's Philip Marlowe is the dishevelled, anti-social chain-smoking anti-hero rather than the suave, confident hero that Bogart portrayed. For the most part, it works, though at times I wished for the coolness and wise-cracks of Bogie. Supporting cast are fine. Sterling Hayden is great as the larger-than-life, Ernest Hemingway/John Huston-esque Roger Wade. Not the Philip Marlowe of the Bogart movies, but it'll do.

rdoyle29 Altman's take on Chandler seems increasingly influential as the years go by. His film takes the form of a detective story, but the story doesn't really go anywhere ... or more precisely, goes a whole lot of places just to end up back where it started. The pleasure here isn't in the mechanics of the story so much as having these characters interact in laid back 1970's California and have something like a plot emerge from their interactions. The seeds of "The Big Lebowski" and (especially) "Inherent Vice" lie right here. People tend to play up the "1950's Marlowe adrift in 1970's L.A." angle, but I've never really felt that angle comes through to clearly. Since you can't really get more quintessentially early 70's than Elliott Gould, I have never felt that he seems out of step here.

Predrag "The Long Goodbye" is vintage Altman. It ranks not only as one of his best works, but one of the best films of the 1970's. Ignore the negative comments, this is supposed to be an updating of Chandlers character Philip Marlowe to a more contemporary setting which was the whole point and Altman does it very cleverly in the most unexpected ways. Elliot Gould truly shines in his interesting interpretation of Marlowe. Seemingly lacking the confidence and self assurance of Humphrey Bogart. The problem, unfortunately, is that Altman doesn't understand what motivates Marlowe. He doesn't understand Marlowe's sense of friendship or honor. He does understand cruelty, which is why Marty is such a great invention. He also understands betrayal, which is why Eileen Wade is still a superb femme fatale. To some degree, he understands Roger Wade's whiny depression. But he doesn't get Marlowe at all, so he turns Chandler's meditation on lost friendship into a simplistic revenge story.You could say that Altman's treatment of Marlowe is "ironic," but that just confirms that he is out of his depth. There is nothing ironic about Chandler, and there shouldn't be. Marlowe's defining qualities are his ability to see through lies and his profound moral disgust for betrayal and dishonesty. He is not a vigilante in a bat suit. Marlowe illustrates the idea that, even if you are powerless to change the course of events, you can still maintain an unbreakable judgment of them. The whole point of Marlowe is that sometimes what you do has real consequences and determines who you are, and you have no way to ironically dance away from your actions. However clever, a parody isn't the equal of an original mystery novel. This movie is too serious to be a comedy, and too funny for a murder mystery. I suspect this confusion made it a commercial failure. The movie runs on too long. I did enjoy the cinematography (shots of Malibu and Mexico particularly) and being reminded of the goofiness of the early 70's, from the bad clothes to the bad haircuts,for both men and women. But all in all, not much to do with the original Marlowe. An Altman melange that does not quite amount to anything.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

romanorum1 Loosely followed from Raymond Chandler's penultimate book about private-eye Phillip Marlowe (1953), "The Long Goodbye" was updated to a hip and hedonistic (i.e., topless yoga) world of 1973 California. Elliot Gould stars as an easy-going, chain-smoking, old-fashioned Marlowe, a wisecracking and disconnected observer of modern life. Others had previously played the Marlowe role, most notably Humphrey Bogart in "The Big Sleep" (1945). In the pre-credit opening sequence, to a brief tune of "Hooray for Hollywood," Marlowe is awakened at 3:00 AM by his hungry cat. As the detective has run out of pet food, he goes to the all-night supermarket. The cat's favorite brand is sold out, so Marlowe tries a substitute. Returning to his penthouse apartment, Marlowe places the cat food into an empty discarded can of its favorite brand. The cat is not fooled, however, and leaps off the counter and runs away. In the meantime, Terry Lennox (former baseball pitcher Jim Bouton), Marlowe's close friend, arrives at Marlow's and asks the detective to drive him with his two duffel bags to the border at Tijuana in Mexico to get away from his trouble with a local gangster. We will later learn that Lennox was running money across the Mexican border and it was not delivered. When Marlowe returns home he is arrested by the local police, who tell him that Terry's wife Sylvia has been murdered and that Marlowe may be an accomplice. As the gumshoe utters impudent answers to questions, he is held for three days. The beleaguered detective is finally released when the police notify him that Mexican authorities have confirmed that Lennox is dead, having shot himself. Before dying, Lennox had written a confession that he murdered Sylvia. But as Marlowe cannot possibly believe that Lennox is a murderer he decides to investigate further. Meanwhile Marlowe is hired by Lennox's neighbor Eileen Wade (Nina van Pallandt) to find her alcoholic, boorish, and large husband, Roger (Sterling Hayden), who has been missing for a week. With ease Marlowe locates Roger, who was held in a shady detoxification sanitarium under the direction of creepy and diminutive Dr. Verringer (Henry Gibson), who is not beyond humiliating the much bigger man (6'5"/220 pounds). Jewish gangster Marty Augustine (Mark Rydell), arriving with his gang of thugs, tells Marlowe that when Lennox went to Mexico he took a large bag containing $355,000 of his money. Augustine wants his money back and threatens Marlowe with physical harm. For emphasis, he does commit one quick and surprising act of violence to his mistress Jo Ann with a coke bottle. When Augustine leaves, the detective trails him to Roger and Eileen's beach residence. HINT: Eileen was not truthful to Marlowe when she denied knowing Terry and Sylvia Lennox, her Malibu neighbors. But exactly how are the two Wades, Lennox, and the mobster connected? The charming and manipulating Eileen now says that Roger was having an affair with Sylvia. Then, after a Malibu beach party, Roger wades into the ocean and drowns himself. The private-eye believes that Roger was feeling guilt for murdering Sylvia. But was Lennox the killer all along? Was he having an affair with Eileen, and did he crave some of that Wade fortune, which is obviously extensive? Meanwhile Marlowe has received a note and a $5,000 bill (a James Madison) from Lennox in the mail for his services. He drives to Mexico to confirm the death of Lennox. Somewhat satisfied, although the Mexican authorities said that Lennox had just one duffel bag, he returns to LA. In the presence of Augustine and his gang, Marlowe is searched and his $5,000 Madison bill is discovered. (There were three in Augustine's $355,000 bag.) While this "conference" is in progress the stash of money is delivered; the gangster is satisfied and releases Marlowe. So who had and who returned the cash?ADDITIONAL SPOILERS: When Marlowe arrives at Eileen's, he discovers that she has put her house up for sale and left. Not totally convinced of the meaning of some recent events and realizing he has been used by several people, Marlowe returns to Mexico and discovers the authorities were bribed by Lennox, who is still alive. He tracks Lennox at a hacienda, and the latter admits to killing his wife Sylvia accidentally and initially failing to deliver Augustine's $355,000 to Mexico City. That information does not bother Marlowe as much as Lennox used him and placed his life in danger. Lennox even insults him. Consequently, without batting an eyelash Marlowe pulls out his pistol and fires. Right after Eileen is seen driving her jeep to the hacienda as "Hooray for Hollywood" is played. It is obvious that Eileen and Lennox were having an affair. They clearly returned the cash after she had inherited Roger's large fortune. So there was not really much for Marlowe to solve, but there certainly was a score to settle! One may differ with director Roger Altman's ("MASH," 1970) anachronistic adaptation of Chandler's hero, but the picture does succeed. Furthermore, since when was Altman a purist? Moreover, Gould, not the misogynist of "MASH," provides one of his best performances as a not-so-tough disheveled sleuth who also drives an old car, like fictional police detective Columbo. In fact, the acting is fine throughout, even by a quirky cast of characters who inhabit LA. Near the beginning catch David Carradine as a jailed hash-smoking philosopher and towards the end spot Arnold Schwarzenegger as one of Augustine's henchmen.