James Garner's death last week was a sad occasion for me because I'd enjoyed his work over the years in so many movies and TV series. There's a lot of Garner in Sheriff Dan Rhodes, and Judy and I have always thought that Garner would've been perfect to play Rhodes in the movies at just about any time between the ages of 50 and 70. Back in 1969 Garner played another character that I thought he was right for, Philip Marlowe, in a movie based on Raymond Chandler's The Little Sister. Most people don't regard this as one of Chadler's better novels, but I like it a lot. Most people don't regard Marlowe as one of the better film adaptations of Chandler's work, so it won't surprise you to learn that I like it a lot, too.
The movie follows the plot of the novel fairly closely, and if you check out the trailer below, you can see that the toupee removal scene even looks a lot like it was lifted from the cover of the first paperback edition of the book. Stirling Silliphant wrote the script, and he lifted some of Marlowe's snappy patter from the book, too. However, the movie was given a contemporary setting, and it's very much a late '60s item. Maybe that's one reason I like it.
Garner's very good as Marlowe, and Carol O'Connor is dandy at the tough cop. Rita Moreno almost steals the picture. Bruce Lee shows up, as you can see in the trailer, but I didn't really think his part suited the movie. You might not agree. Anyway, it's a lot of fun, and Garner's performance foreshadows Jim Rockford in ways you'll recognize. Check it out.
UPDATE: The movie will be part of the TCM Garner marathon. I believe the time is 4 A.M. on 7/29 CDT. Check your local listings.
10 comments:
The character name of "Sonny Steelgrave" found new life in the first 'Wiseguy' arc.
It's a great name.
James Garner was at the top of his game in the Sixties. MARLOWE is one of his best films.
Not everyone would agree with you, George, but I do.
I like this film more than many do, as well, while not loving it...Rita Moreno is certainly both energetic and gorgeous in this film...and one has to assume that Bruce Lee's character is perhaps just a bit too sadistic for his own self-preservation. Oddly, most of the Chandler films are pretty good...we're perhaps lucky no one's done PLAYBACK (which do I remember correctly began as a treatment?)...at least I don't think there's been a PLAYBACK adaptation (maybe BBC Radio).
I don't remember any PLAYBACK adaptations. Probably for the best.
I like the book and movie both. At the time I thought much of the casting (Jackie Coogan, Rita Moreno, H.M. Wynant) matched the book. And I believe that the line "Does your mother know what you do for a living?" made it into THE ROCKFORD FILES.
There are more fans of this one than I thought, which is nice to know.
I think this may be the first Marlowe adaptation I ever saw. Just a kid at the time(19), I hadn't yet discovered Chandler.
I'm a fan.
Like this a lot. Bought a copy from Warner Archive
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