Raymond Chandler

The Long Goodbye (1973)

By / / 1970s, 1973 / Leave a Comment

Despite being based on Raymond Chandler’s last book, The Long Goodbye is not a film noir or hard-boiled detective movie. It’s a Robert Altman film, which means it’s anything but straightforward.

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The Long Goodbye

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Altman was known for his satirical approach, and The Long Goodbye is no exception.

Instead of relying on voice-over narration, Altman’s version of Philip Marlowe (played by Elliott Gould) frequently mutters to himself and offers commentary on the situations he and others find themselves in. Marlowe is more concerned with finding his missing cat (Morris the Cat) than with solving the case or dealing with the topless yoga vixens next door, or even the $5,000 banknote he’s received from the missing man. He’s a private eye who drifts through his cases.

Set in 1970s Los Angeles, The Long Goodbye is a far cry from the film noir-ish LA of the 1940s. However, this Marlowe is a man out of time, always wearing a suit and tie (even on the beach) and driving a 1940s Cadillac, all the while chain-smoking.

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Double Indemnity

By / / 1940s, 1944 / 2 Comments

Double Indemnity is one of those movies that I’ve seen countless times, and will happily watch again.

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Double Indemnity

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For many of us, Fred MacMurray was the easygoing father, Steve Douglas, in the long-running TV show My Three Sons. In Double Indemnity, he’s the fast-talking, unsmiling insurance salesman Walter Neff, who is easily pulled into a scheme with a woman he’s fallen for, Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck), to murder her husband for the insurance money.

Visually and plot-wise, Double Indemnity is a film noir, but the dialog is straight out of hard-boiled detective fiction. It makes sense since the script was co-written by Raymond Chandler.

Chandler was one of the “Black Mask Boys,” a group of crime-fiction authors lured by editor Joseph T. “Cap” Shaw to the pulp magazine. Black Mask introduced readers to hard-boiled detective fiction with the short novel “Three Gun Terry,” by Carroll John Daly, in its May 15, 1923, issue. The main character, Terry Mack, was a smart-alecky private detective who talked tough and in the vernacular of the streets, unlike the drawing-room detectives that had been familiar to readers.

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