I love THE LONG GOODBYE but a lot (actually an awful lot) of folks hate it. LADY IN THE LAKE is irksome. And TIME TO KILL (Fox, 1942) was an excellent adaptation of THE HIGH WINDOW.
THE LONG GOODBYE does have a lot of haters. I remember seeing it in the theater and thinking, "WTF?" That was because I went in expecting Chandler and instead got Altman and Brackett.
I loved "The Long Goodbye" when I saw it on its release, and continue to love it.
One movie that's missing is "Marlowe," starring James Garner (an adaptation of The Little Sister, as I recall), and memorable for Bruce Lee, among other things. Another movie I perhaps fonder of than most people are. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064638/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_63)
Much as I like Mitchum's FAREWELL, MY LOVELY, I prefer MURDER, MY SWEET, and consider Dick Powell the best screen Marlowe -- closest to the books. MARLOWE is good, too, and probably my second-favorite. I am not as big a fan of THE BIG SLEEP as many are -- Bogart is fine, but he's Bogart not Marlowe, and the revamping of the film to take advantage of the Bogie/Baby chemistry makes it even more incoherent than it already was. I need to revisit THE LONG GOODBYE, which I liked but felt was a kind of stunt more than a film...a reaction I often have to Altman.
Here's a very smart review of the imminent Blu-ray release of MURDER MY SWEET. In a throwaway, the reviewer makes a point so right, so obvious, I'm kicking myself. In the rush to comment about the unlikely casting of a song-and-dance man as Marlowe, the rest of us missed the key point -- that of all screen Marlowes, Powell gets the music of Chandler's words best.
8 comments:
I love THE LONG GOODBYE but a lot (actually an awful lot) of folks hate it. LADY IN THE LAKE is irksome. And TIME TO KILL (Fox, 1942) was an excellent adaptation of THE HIGH WINDOW.
THE LONG GOODBYE does have a lot of haters. I remember seeing it in the theater and thinking, "WTF?" That was because I went in expecting Chandler and instead got Altman and Brackett.
I loved "The Long Goodbye" when I saw it on its release, and continue to love it.
One movie that's missing is "Marlowe," starring James Garner (an adaptation of The Little Sister, as I recall), and memorable for Bruce Lee, among other things. Another movie I perhaps fonder of than most people are.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064638/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_63)
I've done an "Overlooked Movies" post on that one. It's certainly one of my favorites.
Much as I like Mitchum's FAREWELL, MY LOVELY, I prefer MURDER, MY SWEET, and consider Dick Powell the best screen Marlowe -- closest to the books. MARLOWE is good, too, and probably my second-favorite. I am not as big a fan of THE BIG SLEEP as many are -- Bogart is fine, but he's Bogart not Marlowe, and the revamping of the film to take advantage of the Bogie/Baby chemistry makes it even more incoherent than it already was. I need to revisit THE LONG GOODBYE, which I liked but felt was a kind of stunt more than a film...a reaction I often have to Altman.
As much as I love THE BIG SLEEP, I have to agree that Bogie is Bogie and not Marlowe. I like Powell, too. He's a very good Marlowe.
Here's a very smart review of the imminent Blu-ray release of MURDER MY SWEET. In a throwaway, the reviewer makes a point so right, so obvious, I'm kicking myself. In the rush to comment about the unlikely casting of a song-and-dance man as Marlowe, the rest of us missed the key point -- that of all screen Marlowes, Powell gets the music of Chandler's words best.
tp://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Murder-My-Sweet-Blu-ray/107434/#Review
Thanks for the link. That's a great review/commentary, and I'll have to get that Blu-Ray.
Post a Comment