The Long Goodbye (1973)

Directed by: Robert Altman
Starring: Elliot Gould

I've made the mistake of waiting a couple days to write my review on this movie. I'm sitting trying to think of something to say and all I can think of is that this movie is very forgetable. A large part of the reason I write reveiws is so I can remember a thing or two about the many movies I see. Well, The Long Goodbye stuck with me for about 20 minutes after seeing it.

Elliot Gould plays Phillip Marlowe, a private detective in Los Angeles who can't help but raise comparisons to Jack Nicholson's J.J. Gittes of Chinatown. They are both wise-cracking, laid back detectives who get caught up in a case they really had little business being caught up in. The major difference between the two films however, is that Chinatown's mystery in interesting. The Long Goodbye opens with a couple of mysterious deaths into which Marlowe decides to look. As a result of this, his life no longer consists of simple interactions with his nudist neighbors and his cat, but with cheap mobsters looking for their money. During Marlowe's first confrontation with these mobsters, Marlowe is exposed to a scene so reminiscent of Polanski's cameo in Chinatown that I forgot for a moment what film I was watching.

I don't like making the inevitable comparison to Chinatown as few films can live up to it, however, The Long Goodbye compares in just about everyway. Before even revealing that our protagonist is a private eye some five minutes into the movie, I felt the presence of Chinatown all over this film. It had that late 60's, early 70's Los Angeles look and feel. It had meloncholy music that created a similar tone. In short, its impossible not to compare the two.

Speaking of the music, the title song, The Long Goodbye, is just about all the music we get. Peformed by a variety of artists in a variety of styles throughout the film, The Long Goodbye is easily the most annoying aspect of the film.

While The Long Goodbye fails to live up to its brother, it is a decent chase to find out who-dun-it. Elliot Gould is very good, comical and sympathetic throughout. And to give the film credit, it was released a year before Chinatown, so maybe its more of a father figure to Chinatown rather than a brother... or maybe its both. (Hilarious!)

While interesting in some ways and while the performances are quite good, The Long Goodbye remains what I first said about it, forgetable.

**