History Film / TheLongGoodbye

Marlowe's old friend Terry Lennox (Jim Bouton) comes by in some sort of trouble, asking for a ride to Tijuana, which Marlowe provides. This winds up getting Marlowe in hot water with the LAPD, when it turns out that Lennox's wife Susan was murdered and Terry is the prime suspect. Meanwhile, Eileen Wade (Nina van Pallandt) hires Marlowe to find her missing husband, the noted author Roger Wade (Creator/SterlingHayden)--and it turns out that the Wades' Malibu home is right down the beach from the Lennoxes'. Things get even more complicated when crime boss Marty Augustine (Mark Rydell) comes to Marlowe's apartment demanding $355,000 that Lennox was supposed to deliver but instead has absconded with.

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''The Long Goodbye'' is a 1973 film directed by Creator/RobertAltman and starring Creator/ElliottGould as detective Literature/PhilipMarlowe. It was adapted from the Creator/RaymondChandler [[Literature/TheLongGoodbye novel of the same name]] by Creator/LeighBrackett (who earlier co-wrote the most famous film version of Chandler's ''Film/TheBigSleep'').

Marlowe's old friend Terry Lennox comes by in some sort of trouble, asking for a ride to Tijuana, which Marlowe provides. This winds up getting Marlowe in hot water with the LAPD, when it turns out that Lennox's wife Susan was murdered and Terry is the prime suspect. Meanwhile, Eileen Wade (Nina van Pallandt) hires Marlowe to find her missing husband, the noted author Roger Wade (Creator/SterlingHayden)--and it turns out that the Wades' Malibu home is right down the beach from the Lennoxes'. Things get even more complicated when crime boss Marty Augustine (Mark Rydell) comes to Marlowe's apartment demanding $355,000 that Lennox was supposed to deliver but instead has absconded with.

* DiegeticSoundtrackUsage: Taken to its logical extreme, thanks to the skilled hands of Music/JohnWilliams. With the exception of "Hooray for Hollywoood" in the opening and closing of the movie, the only song heard in the movie is various arrangements of the theme song, "The Long Goodbye", used diegetically. So when a character turns on the radio, that's the song that plays, when a character is at a bar there's a piano player singing that song, in the supermarket, a muzak version is playing on the overhead, and when the nudist, hippie, neighbors, are chanting, they're chanting the theme also. The lyrics even {{Lampshade}} this:
-->''Can you recognize the theme?''

* ThemeTuneCameo: Taken to its logical extreme, thanks to the skilled hands of Music/JohnWilliams. With the exception of "Hooray for Hollywoood" in the opening and closing of the movie, the only song heard in the movie is various arrangements of the theme song, "The Long Goodbye", used diegetically. So when a character turns on the radio, that's the song that plays, when a character is at a bar there's a piano player singing that song, in the supermarket, a muzak version is playing on the overhead, and when the nudist, hippie, neighbors, are chanting, they're chanting the theme also. The lyrics even {{Lampshade}} this:

Marlowe's old friend Terry Lennox comes by in some sort of trouble, asking for a ride to Tijuana, which Marlowe provides. This winds up getting Marlowe in hot water with the LAPD, when it turns out that Lennox's wife Susan was murdered and Terry is the prime suspect. Meanwhile, Eileen Wade hires Marlowe to find her missing husband, noted author Roger Wade (Creator/SterlingHayden)--and it turns out that the Wades' Malibu home is right down the beach from the Lennoxes. Things get even more complicated when crime boss Marty Augustine comes to Marlowe's apartment demanding $355,000 that Lennox was supposed to deliver but instead has absconded with.

* ThemeTuneCameo: Taken to its logical extreme. With the exception of "Hooray for Hollywoood" in the opening and closing of the movie, the only song heard in the movie is various arrangements of the theme song, "The Long Goodbye" used diegetically. So when a character turns on the radio, that's the song that plays, when a character is at a bar there's a piano player singing that song, in the supermarket, a muzak version is playing on the overhead, and when the nudist, hippie, neighbors, are chanting, they're chanting the theme also. The lyrics even {{Lampshade}} this:

''The Long Goodbye'' is a 1973 film directed by Creator/RobertAltman and starring Elliott Gould as detective Literature/PhilipMarlowe. It was adapted from the Creator/RaymondChandler [[Literature/TheLongGoodbye novel of the same name]] by Creator/LeighBrackett (who earlier co-wrote the most famous film version of Chandler's ''Film/TheBigSleep'').

* AdaptedOut: Most blatantly, Linda Loring--the classy yet [[DeadpanSnarker just-as-snarky-as-Marlowe]] SpiritedYoungLady whom Marlowe meets in the book during his investigation. She's the sister of Terry's late wife, and shares Marlowe's doubts that Terry killed anyone--and thus, becomes Marlowe's ally and uneasy assistant in his investigation. Chandler's purpose for her was to be the "Princess In Sour Dress" to Marlowe's KnightInSourArmor--and their parting near the book's end forces the detective to begin questioning his once-firm love of isolation. In the movie, she's nowhere to be found, and instead Altman has Marlowe strike up a complicated relationship with Mrs. Wade--who, ironically, [[spoiler: was the murderer]] in the book.

** The gangsters, represented by Marty Augustine, are the colourful minor villains who show up in many Noir movies, being LaughablyEvil and even representing a QuirkyMinibossSquad. However, the film emphasizes that these minor thugs and delinquents are incredibly dangerous and powerful to be around. The shrink Dr. Verringer is an unctous intimidating doctor who can humiliating and blackmail the burly and gregarious Roger Wade, and Marty Augustine is a brutal thug who could have killed and cut up Marlowe had he not been so lucky in getting out of spots quickly.

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

* GenreSavvy: Marlowe, on the typical if-this-were-a-movie dialogue for interrogation scenes:

** Several allusions to ''Film/TheThirdMan'', with Marlowe, Terry and Eileen having similarities to that film's main characters, some of the plot points, a cat figuring into the story, and ultimately [[spoiler:the ending where Marlowe walks past Eileen parodies and inverts the famous final scene of ''The Third Man''. Here, TheHero walks past and ignores the FemmeFatale and rather than being melancholy and serious, Marlowe is in a good mood]].

** The ending where [[spoiler:Marlowe walks past Ellen Wade is a spoof on the end of Film/TheThirdMan. Here the roles are reversed. TheHero walks past and ignores the FemmeFatale and rather than being melancholy and serious, Marlowe is in a good mood]].

* {{Deconstruction}}: Supposedly Altman wanted the film to be one, UpToEleven, of the whole "Private-Eye" genre -- to the point where it would actually more or less put an ''end'' [[GenreKiller to these kinds of movies.]] Didn't happen, of course.

* PoliceAreUseless: The police harass Marlowe, but otherwise seem to just accept what anyone tells them about the Lennox case without question.

* UnresolvedSexualTension: Marlowe gets it bad for Ellen. [[spoiler:Unfortunately she is using him.]]

* TheNicknamer: Roger Wade has nicknames for almost everybody.

''The Long Goodbye'' is a 1973 film directed by Creator/RobertAltman and starring Elliott Gould as detective Literature/PhilipMarlowe. It was adapted from the Creator/RaymondChandler novel of the same name by Creator/LeighBrackett (who earlier co-wrote the most famous film version of Chandler's ''Film/TheBigSleep'').

%%* PoliceAreUseless

Marlowe's old friend Terry Lennox comes by in some sort of trouble, asking for a ride to Tijuana, which Marlowe provides. This winds up getting Marlowe in hot water with the LAPD, when it turns out that Lennox's wife Susan was murdered and Terry is the prime suspect. Meanwhile, Eileen Wade hires Marlowe to find her missing husband, noted author Roger Wade--and it turns out that the Wades' Malibu home is right down the beach from the Lennoxes. Things get even more complicated when crime boss Marty Augustine comes to Marlowe's apartment demanding $355,000 that Lennox was supposed to deliver but instead has absconded with.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Marty Augustine.

* ThemeTuneCameo: Taken to its logical extreme. With the exception of "Hooray for Hollywoood" in the opening and closing of the movie, the only song heard in the movie is various arrangements of the theme song, "The Long Goodbye" used diegetically. So when a character turns on the radio, that's the song that plays, when a character is at a bar there's a piano player singing that song, in the supermarket, a muzak version is playing on the overhead, and when the nudist, hippie, neighbors, are chanting, they're chanting the theme also.