There have been 6 major film adaptations featuring Raymond Chandler’s “poor but honest” LA private detective Philip Marlowe. It starts in 1945 with Dick Powell in MURDER, MY SWEET (changed from FAREWELL MY LOVELY) which is closely followed by Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall’s THE BIG SLEEP (shot in 1944 but released in 1946). Flash forward almost a quarter of a century to 1969’s MARLOWE with James Garner set in then contemporary LA. Even more contemporary was 1973’s THE LONG GOODBYE with Elliot Gould in Robert Altman’s extremely unorthodox take on the character and private eye movies in general. Finally, Robert Mitchum starred in two very different versions. One is a remake of FAREWELL MY LOVELY (with the title restored) from 1975 which is a beautifully evocative recreation of the 1940s while 1978’s remake of THE BIG SLEEP is transplanted to contemporary London and is better than its reputation.
Of the 3 movies that attempt to update Philip Marlowe, the 1969 version with James Garner is the most successful. Unlike the other 2 where the detective seems like a fish out of water, James Garner’s effortless take on the character makes it easy to believe that Marlowe could be a contemporary of the “Age of Aquarius”. In addition to Garner the film is filled with choice character bits from old pros like Kenneth Tobey and Jackie Coogan as well as memorable moments from up-and-coming performers like Bruce Lee and Carroll O’Connor. There’s also a remarkably sexy turn from WEST SIDE STORY star Rita Moreno. The screenplay by Stirling Silliphant captures most of Chandler’s iconic dialogue and the direction by TV specialist Paul Bogart (no relation to Humphrey) moves the story along in a straightforward but effective manner. This is another made on demand DVD-R which means no extras but the transfer is fine and in the proper aspect ratio which looks great on a flatscreen TV.
The Capsule Critic 