Despite the fact I think his three most respected films (M*A*S*H, McCabe and Mrs. Miller and Nashville) are vastly overrated, my respect for Robert Altman has increased. I loved A Prarie Home Companion and enjoyed this 70's update of film noir.
Elliot Gould plays Raymond Chandler's signature decective, Phillip Marlowe (who was famously essayed by Bogart in The Big Sleep). Although I have not read the novel, I have a feeling it's relitivley faithful to the book, as an awful lot is compacted into a film that is slightly shorter than two hours.
Marlowe is arrested by the police for suspicion of murder after the wife of his close friend Harry (David Arkin) is found dead. He is released when it is revealed that the friend killed his wife and commited suicide. Marlowe doesn't beleive Harry is guilty and sets out clear his name, but has to take another case first in order to make money. This case involves a mentally disturbed novelist (Sterling Hayden in a performance apparently based on Ernest Hemingway). It's not long before Marlowe releases their may be a connection...
The real standout of this film is Elliot Gould's performance. Gould wisely avoids any of the "trenchcoat cliches" and makes Marlowe a slightly goofy but always competiant dective. I think that Gould probably deserved an Oscar nomination, if not an award. Unlike so many detective films, the movie is not slowed down by an uncessary love story, the script by vetran 40's screenwriter Leigh Brackett is airtight. Altman's biggest acheivement is that the setting transfer from the 40's to 70's is perfect, the movie has 40's themes with a 70's sensibility.
Although I still found the director continous zooms annoying, I did not mind it quiet as much here. The real problem with the film is that aside from a Gould's performance, which is often very funny, I didn't get very emotionally involved in the story. Perhaps that's the point, as Marlowe doesn't seem to feel much of a loss of his friend, but it prevents the audince from getting involved in the picture. A famous quote about Raging Bull seems appropraite here: "It's an easy movie to like, but a hard movie to love."
The Long Goodbye (1973)