esrosedotblog

HARD BOILED

I read all of Raymond Chandler once.

It is good stuff.

Today we watched the Robert Altman update of his main novels

The Long Goodbye (1973).

He takes a Fifties private eye (Elliot Gould) and plunks him down in the Seventies. He arrives chainsmoking and in the same black suit throughout the film. Noir comes to La La Land.

There is a plot but it is cursory. Mostly it is about the interactions.

I found it interesting but one of the problems here is that we have the Fifties shamus traipsing around in the Seventies while watching from the 'new millenium'.

Time warp. I could get with it though.

Gould is good. He was better than the career he ended up having.

The other actors are all 'amateurs' except for Sterling Hayden who plays a Hemingway like alcoholic writer.

There are more dogs in this film than any we have seen save Amores Perros and they are all great scene stealers. There is even a small cat who takes the lead in the first ten minutes. I have no idea what that is about except that, at many times, the dogs are more coherent than the people.

I liked it but not that much really. It is a notch on the viewing chair.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

There are two Ebert reviews. Here is the other one from the date of the actual opening of the picture.