Customer Ratings & Reviews

I like Robert Altman's films but for whatever reason I missed this film when it came out and never saw it until I decided to purchase the blu-ray. The Long Goodbye is Altman's "spin" on film noir and while to my mind it is not as good as MASH and Nashville, it is well worth watching. The various threats come together in the end. I especially enjoyed Sterling Hayden as Roger Wade.

Kino Lorber brings Altman's controversial adaptation of perhaps Chandler's darkest work to Blu-ray with more of a bang than a whimper thankfully. Elliot Gould brings his easy-going attitude to one of the more cynical private eyes this time in seventies-era L.A. trying to adapt to changing times of fading loyalties and casual indifference in a film that also features a stellar cast plus an ending which in my honest opinion is more powerful and poignant than the books' ending. The transfer to this film is as good as it's going to get on a budget enhancing the film's hazy and grim atmosphere. Altman's cinematography choices don't allow for much clarity so keep that in mind. The audio I'm afraid suffers from a slight hiss like plenty of releases of films from the era but the extras are decent enough. Overall the flaws technical-wise can be attributed to the film itself so keep that in mind when viewing this otherwise fabulous adaptation. Highly recommended.

Elliot Gould is Philip Marlowe in The Long Goodbye, but Raymond Chandler was never like this. Through Robert Altman's post-modern lens, this noir tale is more of a comedy or an existential musing than a hard-boiled detective story. Elliot Gould sort of vaguely wanders through this very 1970's take on the classic Chandler story. The theme song of the film is sung by the same fellow (Jack Sheldon) who would later sing the "I'm Just a Bill" song on Schoolhouse Rock.

Directed by Robert Altman, starring Elliot Gould, and one of the most surreal detective movies of 1973 in 1970 California. Gould is the hard-boiled detective Philip Marlowe into a series of dramatic twisted mysteries linking a late friend's wife & an estranged wife seeking a missing husband with both mysteries intersected. A jazzy soundtrack that throws in plenty of surprises, this movie is for fans of detective movies or 70's era exploitation. If anything, look for the unspoken cameo of Arnold Schwarzenegger as a henchman for good measure.