The movies got around to adapting Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe novels fairly early. The first in the series, The Big Sleep, was published in 1939 followed fairly quickly by Farewell, My Lovely, The High Window and The Lady In The Lake and by 1947 all four had been filmed - twice each in the case of the latter two. By common consensus George Montgomery was the worst Marlowe and the film in which he took the role, The High Window the worst adaptation. That held good until Robert Altman decided he was qualified to reinvent Chandler and Boy! did he get a wrong number. I can't name one single aspect that says 'Chandler' in this piece of crap. Elliot Gould resembles Chandler's Philip Marlowe a tad less than Tom Cruise resembles Shakespeare's King Lear. Not that this is necessarily Gould's fault. Presumably he played the role as directed just as equally presumably Leigh Brackett - who had, of course, co-written the screenplay for the Bogie/Hawks version of The Big Sleep - wrote this Marlowe as instructed by Altman. I don't object to any director for whatever reason making a travesty of an accepted genre but I do object when a director acquires the rights of a well-known, well-loved novel and throws out virtually everything that made it great in the first place. Why not simply write and/or commission an Original Screenplay and have done with it. This Marlowe is phony from shot #1. Clearly inspired by Paul Newman's Harper, who was shown as a slob from the off, this Marlowe is portrayed hungover, chain-smoking and living in something one level up from a rat hole. Chandler's Marlowe on the other hand always maintained a tidy apartment and cooked real meals. It's a small point I agree but, as John O'Hara once said if you get the small things right you'll get the big things right. The very first line of the novel reads: The first time I saw Terry Lennox he was drunk in a Rolls Royce outside the Players restaurant. From this Chandler explores the growing friendship between the two men. Here, Lennox turns up at Marlowe's apartment out of the blue about two reels in, displaying nothing of the breeding and raffish charm that made Marlowe invest time in him. The link between Lennox and the Wades is clumsy and inept here where it was subtle in the novel. Lennox' military past in which he was one of three men on a wartime mission is omitted and a gangster who wasn't in the book is substituted for the two that were. Neither is there any mention of Lennox' father-in-law, Harlan Potter, to say nothing of his other daughter who Marlowe would actually marry in a later novel. The final insult is, of course, to have Marlowe, conceived and written as a modern day knight, doing his best to right the world's wrongs, kill Lennox in cold blood. The sooner this is turned into banjo pics the better.

Private investigator Philip Marlowe is approached by a friend, Terry Lennox, who is in a bit of a jam. Marlowe helps him get to Mexico but the next day his friend's wife turns up dead. The police hold Marlowe but then release him once Terry Lennox is found dead in Mexico - suicide. To the cops it is an open-and-shut case of murder-suicide but Marlowe doesn't believe that to be the case. Marlowe then is hired by the wife of wealthy author Roger Wade to find her husband. The Wades were neighbours of the Lennoxes. A powerful mob boss also leans on him to find the large sum of money Terry Lennox was transporting for him. Could all these events be connected?

Robert Altman directs a movie based on a Raymond Chandler novel, and it's a mixed bag.

Starts off very well with some humorous scenes and dialogue and a fair amount of intrigue. The middle-to-end sections lack focus, however, and, while it is never dull, the movie feels like it is drifting to a lacklustre conclusion. The intrigue just seems to get sucked out of the movie in that segment. In addition, the theme song gets played in just about every situation and in various forms - it gets very irritating, very quickly.

Ends well though, with a good twist and a powerful conclusion.

A new take on Philip Marlowe from Elliott Gould - he is hardly Humphrey Bogart and he's not trying to be. Altman's Philip Marlowe is the dishevelled, anti-social chain-smoking anti-hero rather than the suave, confident hero that Bogart portrayed. For the most part, it works, though at times I wished for the coolness and wise-cracks of Bogie.

Supporting cast are fine. Sterling Hayden is great as the larger-than-life, Ernest Hemingway/John Huston-esque Roger Wade.

Not the Philip Marlowe of the Bogart movies, but it'll do.

You do NOT expect a nice, polished Barnaby Jones sort of private eye when you see a Philip Marlowe movie. You expect a wisecracking jerk. But here in "The Long Goodbye" you get an amazing Philip Marlowe...one who is grubbier, earthlier and just plain nasty! The ending, in particular, is a VERY different sort of Marlowe...and I actually liked this.

Now the film COULD have tried to replicate the Marlow of the earlier films...such as as he was performed by the likes of Bogart, George Sanders or Robert Montgomery. Instead, they went for a far less handsome guy (sorry Mr. Gould...but the film was NOT designed to make you look handsome) who was at least as sarcastic...but also far more morally ambiguous. I think not trying to replicate these earlier films was a brave and smart decision in hindsight.

I could try explaining the plot but, frankly, it's very confusing and complicated. Now it all comes together great at the end...but how the journey gets there isn't easy to explain....just see the film. Excellent direction, excellent acting and an excellent script. I particularly liked the amazing performance by Sterling Hayden but Elliott Gould was also surprisingly good and I think it's probably his best film. All in all, well worth your time.