12/29/18 Farewell my Lovely

Post date: Dec 29, 2018 10:24:34 PM

"Farewell my Lovely" is a 1978 adaption of a 1940's Philip Marlowe story written by Raymond Chandler. It is a period piece shot beautifully by John A. Alonso who also shot the period Detective movie "Chinatown"(coming soon) a year earlier.

This was not the first time the story was adapted. The first was converted into a movie that was a vehicle for George Sander's character Falcon. I haven't see it so I cannot comment on it. The second was called "Murder my Sweet" and it was shot in the late forties starring baby-face Dick Powell of 42nd Street fame. Powell never really convinced me that he was the hard boiled detective. I kept expecting him to burst into song. Also I felt that the narrative to "Murder My Sweet" was not interesting and the dialog was dull.

An interesting parallel can be made with Robert Altman's adaption “The Long Goodbye” (1973). I have never been a fan of Altman. His pacing is slow and his dialog is dull. He calls it naturalistic. He likes to overlap people talking at the same time so you can not understand anyone. In "The Long Goodbye", he casts goofy actor, Elliot Gould, as the hard boiled detective. It makes Dick Powell look like a natural. In addition, there is very little dialog in the movie. Gould spends the entire time looking around and you spend the entire time watching his face for any hint of expression or motivation. What I found interesting was Altman's explanation on the commentary track. His Marlowe was a 1940's character that slept for thirty years and woke up in the 1970's. Sure enough at the beginning, he is waking up from a sleep and the apartment next to him is a wild swinging 1970 party. But that is it for conflict. Unfortunately for the movie, Altman describes Marlowe as morally ambiguous. Morally ambiguous characters are from the 1970's, not the 1940's so Altman repeats himself.

Even though, "Farewell My Lovely" was set in the 1940's, the main character was not the honorable Marlowe played by Bogart in the "Big Sleep" who knew right from wrong. Marlowe from "Farewell My Lovely" was a solid 1970 anti-hero. He was tired, Tired of the corruption, the lies, and the death. He only propelled himself forward out of determination.

"Farewell my Lovely" perfectly casts Robert Mitchum as the tired Marlowe. It is structured as a flashback where Mitchum can narrate the story. I particularly like the line where he tries to convince himself to stand up. The result is equally as satisfying as "Out of the Past".