The Long Goodbye

Robert Altman’s updating of Raymond Chandler’s LA-set private eye novel from the ’40s to the ’70s was greeted with outrage on original release (“a spit in the eye to a great writer”; “Altman’s attitude towards the genre borders on contempt”), but it quickly gained recognition as one of the most significant films of its period, projecting a bitter, ironic commentary on American values and mythologies with a characteristic use of multi-layered sound and the Panavision screen.

As portrayed by Elliott Gould, Philip Marlowe has evolved into a shambling, laid-back slob of the ‘me generation’; his unquestioning help for a friend embroils him in suicide, betrayal and murder.

“Despite cries of outrage from hard-line Chandler purists, easily the most intelligent of all screen adaptations of the writer’s work. Gloriously shot, wondrously scripted and superbly acted all round. One of the finest movies of the 70s.” – Time Out