Synopsis: LA private investigator Philip Marlowe gets embroiled in his friends murder and disappearance
Director: Robert Altman
Actors: Elliott Gould, NIna van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden
Date: 1973
How viewed: Already in my DVD collection
Rating: 3/5
David Meyer says:
A touching, funny, suspenseful parody of detective movies that may be the best detective movie ever made.
I say:
Trying to follow in Humphrey Bogart's footsteps is impossible, and the film doesn't try to do that, but it didn't seem to work for me on any level - it wasn't much of a detective story (the story didn't hang together at all), it wasn't that funny, and it wasn't obviously a parody. I liked: the brilliant ginger cat in the first scene, a number of scenes (especially one between Gould and Sterling Hayden at the beach) which seemed very natural and improvised, the fact that the theme tune cropped up everywhere (in a jazz bar, on the radio, being hummed by the bad guy, as the supermarket musak, by a Mariachi band at a Mexican funeral, etc), and there were good running themes about ties and about dogs. I normally like Elliott Gould, but here I was irritated by his dourness, his mumbling to himself, and the number of cigarettes he smokes - yes, yes, I know it's an act, but it was still irritating. I also usually like Robert Altman, but this wasn't one of his enesmble pieces (Nashville, The Player, etc). The blonde was played by NIna van Pallandt (previously one half of the singing duo Nina and Frederick) - strange choice - she only seems to have acted in Altman films. Think I'll stick to Bogart's Marlowe...
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