FILM · 1973 · USA
The Long Goodbye
- Directed by
- Robert Altman
- Runtime
- 112 min
- Studio
- United Artists, Lion's Gate Films
270 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026
In 1970s Hollywood, Detective Philip Marlowe tries to help a friend who is accused of murdering his wife.
270 Interesting Facts About The Long Goodbye
Interesting Facts (21)
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In his DVD commentary, Robert Altman expresses how sad he was that screenwriter Leigh Brackett died before the film was released and never saw the finished work. In fact, Brackett died about six years after the film's release (in 1979), shortly after completing the first draft of Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) for George Lucas, and therefore lived long enough to see The Long Goodbye (1973). Shortly before her death she had written about working on the film; she was very pleased with it and was one of the relatively few veteran Hollywood screenwriters to offer only praise for Robert Altman, whose "good story mind" she mentioned in interviews.
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Production Story (128)
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Robert Altman ran into Mark Rydell in London at a command performance screening of Rydell's latest directorial effort, The Cowboys (1972). At the end of a long evening of socializing, Altman made the snap judgment to cast Rydell as the villain Marty Augustine. Rydell read the script and felt the part was not well written, because "the character in the book was wishy-washy" and "had no character." He got Altman's permission to create a new concept for Augustine, and with the help of his housemate, screenwriter Larry Tucker, came up with a brutal Jewish gangster, capable of anything, but at the same time religious enough to be offended that he's missing shul for some business. Rydell said, "the challenge was to... Make it not only cruel and horrendous, but also charming and funny." As soon as Altman saw the pages, he called Rydell and said he would insert them straight into the shooting script. "That's the kind of guy he was. All he wanted was the best from his people."
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The time period of Raymond Chandler's novel "The Long Goodbye" was updated from it original era of 1949-1950 to the Hollywood of the 1970s. Despite this, Elliott Gould (Phillip Marlowe) still drives a car from the 1940s. While it might seem that he still earns a daily salary typical of gumshoe private eyes from older days, adjusted for inflation to 2019 dollars he is making just over $300 a day, which is manageable.
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The movie was part of a 1970s era revival cycle of pictures adapted from novels by Raymond Chandler. The films included Marlowe (1969), Chandler (1971), The Big Sleep (1978), The Long Goodbye (1973) and Farewell, My Lovely (1975) as well as a television version of Double Indemnity (1973) which had previously been adapted by Chandler and Billy Wilder from a novel by James M. Cain. Then during the early 1980s, there were further filmed Cain adaptations with Butterfly (1981) and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981).
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In the commentary on the DVD, Robert Altman talks about how sad he was that Leigh Brackett, the screenwriter, died before the film was released and never saw the completed work. In fact Brackett died nearly six years after the film's release (in 1979), shortly after completing the first draft of Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) for George Lucas, and thus lived long enough to see The Long Goodbye (1973). Not long before her death, she wrote about working on the film; she was very pleased with it, and was one of the (relatively few) veteran Hollywood screenwriters to have only praise for Robert Altman, whose "good story mind" she mentioned in interviews.
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Not known for making genre movies, Robert Altman would about 25 years later make another filmed adaptation from a story by a novelist in the mystery/thriller genre, this time it not being from Raymond Chandler but being based on a discarded manuscript by John Grisham, it being the movie The Gingerbread Man (1998).
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To help establish with the cast and crew the kind of tone he was trying to create, Robert Altman circulated on the set a little-known letter that Raymond Chandler had written, as well as his essay collection "Raymond Chandler Speaking". Both pieces are notable for revealing Chandler's underlying suicidal tendencies.
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The film entered Variety magazine's "50 Top-Grossing Films" list on March 21, 1973 at number 45 with a gross of $23,500. The film was initially considered a box office flop, earning less than $1 million despite a $1.7 million budget. However, word-of-mouth publicity clearly did its work, as the film quickly became a major cult item, and was forever being revived, shown at midnight screenings, booked for film societies and included in retrospectives. It also had large video, and later DVD, sales, and eventually, if slowly. made a considerable profit.
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Reportedly, director Robert Altman did not read all of Raymond Chandler's novel "The Long Goodbye" prior to production. Instead, Altman preferred to consult Chandler's collection of letters and essays, "Raymond Chandler Speaking". Copies of this book were given to cast and crew who were advised to study it.
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Elliott Gould had not worked in two years. Gould had been blackballed in the film industry due to his erratic behavior on the set of "A Glimpse of Tiger" (which eventually morphed into What's Up, Doc? (1972)). But Robert Altman insisted on casting Gould and this film served as a comeback for him.
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The film is dedicated to Dan Blocker in the closing credits. The dedication states: "With Special Remembrance for Dan Blocker)". Robert Altman, who had directed many early episodes of Bonanza (1959), had originally cast his friend Blocker in the role of Roger Wade, but he died before filming commenced. The role subsequently was filled by Sterling Hayden.
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This adaptation of Raymond Chandler's novel meant that as of 2018, Playback (the 7th and last completed novel of the series) is the only Philip Marlowe novel written by Chandler which has not been adapted into film. Ironically, this novel was freely adapted by Chandler from an original film script he had written years earlier, which had never been turned into an actual film. This screenplay, which is mostly set in Canada, does not feature the character of Philip Marlowe.
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The film was made and released about twenty years after its source novel of the same name by Raymond Chandler had been first published in 1953. According to 'Time Out', the film "stays pretty close to the novel's basic narrative (though there are a couple of crucial changes)". That publication also stated that there were "cries of outrage from hard-line Chandler purists".
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The directing job was offered to both Howard Hawks (who had directed Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep (1946)) and Peter Bogdanovich who both turned it down. Bogdanovich recommended Robert Altman who initially turned it down as well. The producers then engaged Brian G. Hutton, who ultimately didn't do it although he got Elliott Gould on board. It's been alleged that Altman did the picture when the producers were willing to cast pal Elliott Gould who had starred in Altman's earlier film M*A*S*H (1970).
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Jim Bouton has said he met Elliott Gould at an antiwar rally in New York and would join him in pickup basketball games. A week after Gould left for California to shoot, Bouton said he was awakened by a telephone call at three in the morning, which "scares the crap out of you." Gould was on the phone with Altman and said that Stacy Keach, who was cast to play Terry Lennox, was sick and couldn't do it. Bouton said it felt "like the Yankees reaching up in the stands to some guy and saying, 'We're putting you at third base today.'"
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According to executive producer Elliott Kastner, between the initial choice of Robert Mitchum and the final casting of Elliott Gould, he talked to Walter Matthau about playing Marlowe. Kastner had Matthau read the script and met him at a Santa Monica deli. Kastner said later, "He didn't want to do it because he was frightened, actually. He fancied himself a leading man but didn't want to step up and be one." Kastner loved the final choice of Gould because "he had a kind of dandruff on his shoulders, if you know what I mean."
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The "Hooray for Hollywood" music at the beginning and end of the film is a promotional trailer for an Warner Brothers Entertainment film made in 1937 (Hollywood Hotel (1937)) featuring the Benny Goodman and His Orchestra. The members of the orchestra are the male voices singing, and the voice saying "Be an actor, see Mr. Factor, he'll make your kisser look good" belongs to drummer Gene Krupa. The actual promo film itself is featured in the documentary Benny Goodman: Adventures in the Kingdom of Swing (1977).
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Contains a major spoiler — show
The idea to have every playing of the film's theme song "The Long Goodbye" mixed and/or arranged differently was a concept suggested by director Robert Altman. As such, there are around six different credits for the film's title song, it is performed in the film by The Dave Grusin Trio, Jack Sheldon, Clydie King, Jack Riley, Morgan Ames, Aluminum Band and also The Tepoztlan Municipal Band.
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The film's ending, which differs from the source novel, is generally attributed to director Robert Altman. Yet this ending was already present in Leigh Brackett's original screenplay before Altman became involved in the project. Altman liked the new ending so much that he had a clause added to his contract guaranteeing that the ending would not be changed during production or editing.
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Altman and Brackett discussed the screenplay at length. Altman wanted Marlowe to be a loser and nicknamed Gould's character 'Rip Van Marlowe'; as if he had slept for 20 years and awakened, someone seeking the morality of the past in 1970s Los Angeles. Brackett's first draft was very long; she shortened it, but the ending was uncertain: Marlowe shoots Terry Lennox. Altman conceived the film as a satire and made changes such as Roger Wade's suicide and Marty Augustine smashing a cola bottle in his girlfriend's face. Altman said, 'This scene had to grab the audience's attention and remind them that, despite Marlowe, there was a real, violent world outside.'
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In his commentary on the DVD, Altman says how sad he was that screenwriter Leigh Brackett died before the film was released and never saw the finished version. Yet Brackett died in 1979, about six years after the film, shortly after completing the first draft of 'Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back'; in other words, she lived long enough to see 'The Long Goodbye.' In a piece she wrote about the film shortly before her death, she stated that she was very pleased and praised Altman's 'good story sense,' making her one of the rare old Hollywood screenwriters to do so.
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The film is dedicated to Dan Blocker in the closing credits. The dedication reads 'In Special Memory of Dan Blocker.' Altman, who had previously directed many episodes of 'Bonanza,' had considered his friend Blocker for the role of Roger Wade, but the actor died before shooting began. The role was later given to Sterling Hayden.
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According to rumors, Altman did not read Raymond Chandler's novel 'The Long Goodbye' in its entirety before production. Instead, he used 'Raymond Chandler Speaking,' a collection of Chandler's letters and essays, as a source. Copies of this book were distributed to the cast and crew and they were asked to study it.
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Raymond Chandler's novel was updated from the 1949-1950 period to 1970s Hollywood. Despite this, Philip Marlowe, played by Elliott Gould, still drives a car from the 1940s. Although he appears to charge the daily rate typical of the private detectives of the old days, when adjusted to 2019 dollars he earns a little over $300 a day, which is a manageable amount.
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The film was shot and released about twenty years after the 1953 publication of Raymond Chandler's novel of the same name. According to 'Time Out' magazine, the film 'remains quite faithful to the novel's basic narrative (with a few significant changes).' The same publication also noted that 'howls of rage from hardcore Chandler devotees' arose.
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The directing job was first offered to Howard Hawks and Peter Bogdanovich, both of whom declined. Bogdanovich suggested Robert Altman, who initially also declined. The producers then made a deal with Brian G. Hutton; Hutton did not make the film but brought Elliott Gould into the project. It is claimed that Altman made the film after agreeing to cast his friend Gould, with whom the producers had previously worked on 'M*A*S*H.'
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The film was part of a revival cycle of films adapted from Raymond Chandler novels in the 1970s. These films included 'Marlowe,' 'Chandler,' 'The Big Sleep,' 'The Long Goodbye' and 'Farewell, My Lovely,' as well as a television version of 'Double Indemnity,' previously adapted by Chandler and Billy Wilder from a James M. Cain novel. In the early 1980s, Cain adaptations continued with 'The Butterfly' and 'The Postman Always Rings Twice.'
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As of 2018, this adaptation of Raymond Chandler's novel meant that 'Playback', the seventh and final completed novel in the series, was the only Philip Marlowe novel written by Chandler that had not yet been adapted for film. Ironically, that novel had been freely adapted from a screenplay Chandler wrote years earlier that was never filmed. That screenplay, set mostly in Canada, does not feature the character Philip Marlowe.
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The film was part of a 1970s cycle of parodies of the 1940s film noir and hard-boiled detective stories of writers such as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. The main target of these parodies was Humphrey Bogart. These films include Neil Simon's 'Murder by Death' and 'The Cheap Detective', as well as 'The Big Sleep', 'The Black Bird', 'Gumshoe', 'Peeper', 'The Long Goodbye', Woody Allen's 'Play It Again, Sam' and 'Bogart's Face'.
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The idea of using a different arrangement or mix each time the film's theme song 'The Long Goodbye' is played came from director Robert Altman. That is why the song was performed by six different artists, including The Dave Grusin Trio, Jack Sheldon, Clydie King and even the Tepoztlan Municipal Band.
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The 'Hooray for Hollywood' music at the beginning and end of the film is actually a promotional trailer prepared for Warner Bros.' 1937 film 'Hollywood Hotel'. In the number performed by the Benny Goodman Orchestra, the voice saying 'Be an actor, see Mr. Factor, have him make your face a factor' belongs to drummer Gene Krupa.
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In the scene where the two detectives wrongly arrest Marlowe at his home, one of the police officers takes out a piece of paper. Because the requirement for police to read Miranda rights was very new at the time the film is set, the officer has to read the text from the paper, having not yet memorized it.
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Leigh Brackett and Robert Altman said that the dialogue in the drinking scenes between Sterling Hayden and Elliott Gould was improvised. Because Hayden was drunk and stoned during most of the shooting, these scenes developed spontaneously. The pair's natural state added a raw reality to the film.
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This film is one of five productions on which Elliott Gould and director Robert Altman worked together. The pair's collaboration includes 'M*A*S*H', 'Nashville', 'The Player', 'California Split' and 'The Long Goodbye'. Each brought together Altman's distinctive cinematic language and Gould's unconventional acting.
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Robert Altman met Mark Rydell at a private screening in London of 'The Cowboys', which Rydell directed. At the end of a long night, Altman made a spontaneous decision to cast Rydell as the villain Marty Augustine. Finding the character in the script inadequate, Rydell got Altman's permission and created a concept of a ruthless yet devout Jewish gangster; thus Augustine became both frightening and strangely endearing.
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Philip Marlowe's friend Terry Lennox was played by Jim Bouton, a former major league pitcher and the author of the book 'Ball Four'. Bouton's natural performance, despite his not being a professional actor, brought the character's fragility to the screen. This unusual transition from the world of sports to cinema was one of the film's surprises.
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Director Mark Rydell returned to acting with the role of Marty Augustine after a gap of about ten years. After this film, Rydell did not appear in any production for fifteen years, until 'Punchline' in 1988. His energetic and threatening performance as Augustine made his return unforgettable.
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Executive producer Elliott Kastner discussed the Marlowe role with Walter Matthau during the process between Robert Mitchum and Elliott Gould. He had Matthau read the script, and they met at a delicatessen in Santa Monica. Kastner later said that Matthau was hesitant to take the lead role, while Gould had that right air about him, with a bit of dandruff on his shoulders.
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This film was both the first American film and the first English-language cinema experience of the Danish actress Nina van Pallandt. Van Pallandt drew attention with her elegant and mysterious presence as Eileen Wade. This production, regarded as the beginning of her international career, opened new doors for her.
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This film was Arnold Schwarzenegger's second screen role, and he had no lines at all. Schwarzenegger would later star in 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day', in which August 29, Elliott Gould's birthday, is the date of the apocalypse. This coincidence linked the two actors in an interesting way.
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Stephen Coit (Detective Farmer) traced his history of working with Robert Altman back to an episode of the series 'Combat!' and the film 'Countdown'. This long-standing collaboration was part of the loyal team Altman built with actors he trusted. Coit contributed to the story here as well with a short but effective role.
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While the police are intervening in Roger Wade's suicide, Philip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) grows angry at their refusal to believe that they could have killed Terry Lennox's wife. To protest their inaction, he shouts that he will call the era's governor, Ronald Reagan. In the very next scene, Marlowe is taken to Marty Augustine's office, where one of the bodyguards is Arnold Schwarzenegger, who would later be elected governor of California; thus Marlowe has, in a sense, met the governor.
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This film is the first of two cinematic collaborations between Elliott Gould and actor-director Mark Rydell. After appearing together in 'The Long Goodbye,' the pair worked on 'Harry and Walter Go to New York,' with Rydell as director and Gould as actor. This partnership achieved a creative harmony, even if in different roles.
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Rutanya Alda played the character Rutanya Sweet, which is the same as her own name. This was no mere coincidence; four other actors—Jo Ann, Pepe, Vince/Vincent, and Dave/David—also had their real names match their characters. This curious detail suggests a deliberate game in the film's casting.
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Altman and Brackett discussed the screenplay at length. Altman wanted Marlowe to be a loser and nicknamed Gould's character 'Rip Van Marlowe,' as if he had slept for 20 years and awakened to seek the morality of the past in 1970s Los Angeles. Brackett's first draft was very long; she shortened it, but the ending was uncertain: Marlowe shoots Terry Lennox. Altman conceived the film as a satire and made changes such as Roger Wade's suicide and Marty Augustine smashing a cola bottle in his girlfriend's face. Altman said, 'This scene should grab the audience's attention and remind them that, despite Marlowe, there is a real, violent world out there.'
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In his DVD commentary, Altman says how sad he was that screenwriter Leigh Brackett died before the film was released and never saw the finished version. Yet Brackett died in 1979, about six years after the film, shortly after completing the first draft of 'Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back'; in other words, she lived long enough to see 'The Long Goodbye.' In a piece she wrote about the film shortly before her death, she stated that she was very pleased and was one of the rare old Hollywood screenwriters to praise Altman's 'good story sense.'
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Raymond Chandler's novel was updated from the 1949-1950 period to 1970s Hollywood. Nevertheless, Philip Marlowe, played by Elliott Gould, still drives a car from the 1940s. Although he appears to charge the daily rate typical of the private detectives of the old days, when adjusted to 2019 dollars he earns a little over $300 a day, which is a manageable amount.
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The film was shot and released roughly twenty years after Raymond Chandler's novel of the same name was published in 1953. According to 'Time Out', the film 'stays quite faithful to the novel's basic narrative (with a few significant changes)'. The same publication also noted that 'howls of outrage from strict Chandler devotees' arose.
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The directing job was first offered to Howard Hawks and Peter Bogdanovich, both of whom declined. Bogdanovich suggested Robert Altman, who initially also declined. The producers then made a deal with Brian G. Hutton; Hutton did not shoot the film but brought Elliott Gould into the project. It is claimed that Altman took the film on after agreeing to cast his friend Gould, with whom the producers had previously worked on 'M*A*S*H'.
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The film was part of a revival cycle of adaptations of Raymond Chandler novels in the 1970s. These films included 'Marlowe', 'Chandler', 'The Big Sleep', 'The Long Goodbye' and 'Farewell, My Lovely', as well as a television version of 'Double Indemnity', previously adapted by Chandler and Billy Wilder from a James M. Cain novel. In the early 1980s, Cain adaptations continued with 'The Butterfly' and 'The Postman Always Rings Twice'.
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As of 2018, this adaptation of Raymond Chandler's novel meant that 'Playback', the seventh and last completed novel in the series, was the only Philip Marlowe novel written by Chandler that had not yet been adapted for film. Ironically, this novel was freely adapted from a screenplay Chandler had written years earlier and which had never been filmed. That screenplay, set mostly in Canada, does not feature the character Philip Marlowe.
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The film was part of a 1970s cycle of parodies of the 1940s film noir and hard-boiled detective stories of writers such as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. The main target of these parodies was Humphrey Bogart. These films included Neil Simon's 'Murder by Death' and 'The Cheap Detective', as well as 'The Big Fix', 'The Black Bird', 'Gumshoe', 'Peeper', 'The Long Goodbye', Woody Allen's 'Play It Again, Sam' and 'Bogart Face'.
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Behind the Scenes (34)
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The idea of using a different arrangement or mix each time the film's theme song 'The Long Goodbye' is played came from director Robert Altman. For this reason, the song was performed by six different artists, including The Dave Grusin Trio, Jack Sheldon, Clydie King and even the Tepoztlan Municipal Band.
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The 'Hooray for Hollywood' music at the beginning and the end of the film is in fact a promotional trailer prepared for Warner Bros.' 1937 film 'Hollywood Hotel'. In the number performed by the Benny Goodman Orchestra, the voice saying 'Be an actor, see Mr. Factor, have him make your face look good' belongs to drummer Gene Krupa.
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In the scene where the two detectives wrongly arrest Marlowe at his home, one of the police officers takes out a piece of paper. Because the requirement for police to read Miranda rights was very new at the time in which the film is set, the officer has to read the text from the paper, having not yet memorized it.
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Characters & Cast (39)
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Elliott Gould has said that so long as he is physically able he holds out hopes that he could reprise the role of Phillip Marlowe. He has a screenplay entitled "It's Always Now," based on a Raymond Chandler story, "The Curtain." The Chandler estate sold him the rights to the story for $1.
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Leigh Brackett and Robert Altman said that the dialogue in the drinking scenes between Sterling Hayden and Elliott Gould was improvised. Because Hayden was drunk and high on marijuana during most of the shoot, these scenes developed spontaneously. The pair's natural state gave the film a raw realism.
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This film is one of five productions on which Elliott Gould and director Robert Altman worked together. The pair's collaboration includes 'M*A*S*H,' 'Nashville,' 'The Player,' 'California Split' and 'The Long Goodbye.' Each brought together Altman's distinctive cinematic language and Gould's unconventional acting.
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Robert Altman met Mark Rydell at a private screening in London of 'The Cowboys,' which Rydell directed. At the end of a long night, Altman made a spontaneous decision to cast Rydell as the villain Marty Augustine. Because Rydell found the character in the script inadequate, he asked Altman's permission and created a concept of a ruthless yet devout Jewish gangster; thus Augustine became both frightening and strangely endearing.
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Marlowe's friend Terry Lennox was played by Jim Bouton, a former major league pitcher and the author of the book 'Ball Four.' Bouton's natural performance, despite his not being a professional actor, brought the character's vulnerability to the screen. This unusual transition from the world of sports to cinema was one of the film's surprises.
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Director Mark Rydell returned to acting with the role of Marty Augustine after a hiatus of about ten years. After this film, Rydell did not appear in any production for fifteen years, until 'Punchline' in 1988. His energetic and menacing performance as Augustine made his return unforgettable.
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Jim Bouton recounted that he met Elliott Gould at an anti-war rally in New York and that they played basketball together. A week after Gould went to California for the shoot, a phone call at three in the morning woke Bouton. Gould and Altman were on the line, saying that Stacy Keach, who had been cast as Terry Lennox, had fallen ill and that they wanted Bouton to take the role; the offer was like bringing a spectator from the stands onto the field.
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Although Sterling Hayden was Robert Altman's reluctant second choice for the role of Wade, the director was very pleased with his performance. Hayden's large build and deep voice powerfully reflected the writer's self-destructive decline. Altman saw how this forced choice added value to the film.
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Executive producer Elliott Kastner discussed the role of Marlowe with Walter Matthau during the process between Robert Mitchum and Elliott Gould. He had Matthau read the script, and they met at a delicatessen in Santa Monica. Kastner later said that Matthau was hesitant to take the lead role, while Gould had just the right air, with a bit of dandruff on his shoulders.
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This film was both Danish actress Nina van Pallandt's first American film and her first cinematic experience in the English language. Van Pallandt drew attention with her elegant and mysterious presence as Eileen Wade. Regarded as the beginning of her international career, this production opened new doors for her.
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Stephen Coit (Detective Farmer) traced his history of working with Robert Altman back to an episode of the series 'Combat!' and the film 'Countdown'. This long-running collaboration was part of the loyal team Altman built with actors he trusted. Here too, Coit contributed to the story with a brief but effective role.
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As the police respond to Roger Wade's suicide, Philip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) grows angry at their refusal to believe they could have killed Terry Lennox's wife. To protest their inaction, he shouts that he will call the governor of the time, Ronald Reagan. In the very next scene, Marlowe is taken to Marty Augustine's office, where one of the bodyguards is Arnold Schwarzenegger, who would later be elected governor of California; thus Marlowe has, in a sense, met the governor.
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This film is the first of two feature-film collaborations between Elliott Gould and actor-director Mark Rydell. After appearing together in 'The Long Goodbye', the pair worked on 'Harry and Walter Go to New York', with Rydell as director and Gould as actor. This partnership found a creative harmony, even in different roles.
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Rutanya Alda played the character Rutanya Sweet, which shares her own first name. This was not merely a coincidence; four other actors—Jo Ann, Pepe, Vince/Vincent and Dave/David—also had real names matching their characters. This curious detail suggests a deliberate game in the film's casting.
Easter Eggs & References (18)
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Rutanya Alda played a character, Rutanya Sweet, who had the same first name as her own. Proving this cannot be mere scripting coincidence, four (4) other players - many with unusual character/self first names - also have first names in real life that happen to match their character (Jo Ann, Pepe, Vince/Vincent, Dave/David..).
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There is a blue and red sticker on Marlowe's car windshield. On close examination, it is a membership and entry tag for the "Balboa Bay Club", a private beach front resort in Newport Beach, California. Numerous Hollywood celebrities and politicians frequented the club at the time. Since it is reported that Marlowe's car (Lincoln Continental 1948) belonged to Elliott Gould himself, it is likely that the tag and club membership that parallels some plots of the movie was originally his as well.
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A portrait of Leonard Cohen is visible in the background during the scene where Philip Marlowe and Eileen Wade are dining together in the Wades' residence. Robert Altman was an admirer of Cohen's, having used three of his songs - 'The Stranger Song', 'Sisters of Mercy' and 'Winter Lady', all from the soundtrack of his earlier western McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971).
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Contains a major spoiler — show
In the scene where two detectives arrest Marlowe at his apartment on false pretenses (one pushes him into the other and he's charged with assault), one of the cops pulls out a piece of paper. At the time the movie was set, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling about the Miranda warning that police had to issue to arrested people was relatively new; the cop is reading the Miranda rights statement from the paper because it's too new for him to have memorized it yet.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
When the police are responding to the suicide of Roger Wade, Philip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) becomes irate that they don't believe that Roger Wade could have murdered Terry Lennox's wife. He yells that he's going to call Ronald Reagan (then the governor) to protest their inaction. In the very next scene, Marlowe is brought to Marty Augustine's office for a shakedown. One of Augustine's bodyguards is an uncredited Arnold Schwarzenegger, later elected Governor of California. Thus Marlowe, in a way, gets to meet the governor. Gould's birthday is August 29; Judgement Day from Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), which also starred Arnold Schwarznegger.
- #240
In the scene where Philip Marlowe and Eileen Wade eat together at the Wades' house, a portrait of Leonard Cohen is visible in the background. Robert Altman was a fan of Cohen and used three of his songs: 'The Stranger Song', 'Sisters of Mercy' and 'Winter Lady', all of which had previously been part of the soundtrack for the earlier western McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971).
Deeper Meaning (21)
- #241
In a recent interview, Elliott Gould referred to Raymond Chandler's love of cats and how Robert Altman used this as a central point in the movie: "Altman said to me before we started to shoot, he told me the first sequence with the cat and the food. He said, "That's the theme of the picture...." "You can't fool a cat."
- #242
One of a cycle of a number of 1970s spoofs and parodies of film noir and hard-boiled detective films of the 1940s from the likes of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, some of which starred Humphrey Bogart, who was the main target of the parodies. The films included Murder by Death (1976) and The Cheap Detective (1978), both from Neil Simon, The Big Fix (1978), The Black Bird (1975), Gumshoe (1971), Peeper (1975), The Long Goodbye (1973), Woody Allen's Play It Again, Sam (1972), and The Man with Bogart's Face (1980).
- #243
The movie's ending, different from the source novel, is usually attributed to director Robert Altman. It actually appeared in Leigh Brackett's original script, written before Altman signed on. Altman liked the new ending so much that he insisted on a clause in his contract that guaranteed the ending wouldn't be changed during production or editing.
- #244
Robert Altman and Leigh Brackett spent a lot of time talking over the plot. Altman wanted Marlowe to be a loser. He even nicknamed Elliott Gould's character Rip Van Marlowe, as if he had been asleep for 20 years, had woken up, and was wandering around Los Angeles in the early 1970s but "trying to invoke the morals of a previous era". Her first draft was too long, and she shortened it, but the ending was inconclusive. She had Marlowe shooting Terry Lennox. Altman conceived of the film as a satire and made several changes to the script, like having Roger Wade commit suicide and having Marty Augustine smash a Coke bottle across his girlfriend's face. Altman said, "it was supposed to get the attention of the audience and remind them that, in spite of Marlowe, there is a real world out there, and it is a violent world".
- #245
The film's ending, which differs from the source novel, is generally attributed to director Robert Altman. In fact, it was already present in the original screenplay Leigh Brackett wrote before Altman came on board. Altman liked the new ending so much that he insisted on a clause in his contract guaranteeing that the ending would not be changed during production or editing.
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Career & Awards (9)
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Mark Rydell returned to acting in this Robert Altman movie, he said, because he found Altman's films extraordinary and wanted to find out "how he does it". It is notable that the film Rydell directed straight after finishing his role, "Cinderella Liberty", shares a cinematographer (Vilmos Zsigmond) and a composer (John Williams) with this movie and has sets designed by Leon Ericksen, who worked on a great many Altman films.
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First of two theatrical feature film collaborations of actor Elliott Gould and actor-director Mark Rydell. They are [in order]: The Long Goodbye (1973) and Harry and Walter Go to New York (1976). In the former, Rydell and Gould were both in acting roles, while in the latter, Rydell was a director who directed actor Gould.
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Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
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- IMDb
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