The Long Goodbye is a 1973 American neo-noir crime film directed and co-written by Robert Altman. It is an adaptation of the novel The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, written by Ernest Hemingway in 1936. Set in Africa’s Serengeti National Park, it stars Katharine Hepburn as an aging trophy hunter who stalked her husband (Spencer Tracy) for three weeks before he shot himself during their hunting trip.
The “the long goodbye 4k restoration” is a 1973 American neo-noir crime film directed by Robert Altman. The film stars Elliott Gould and features Sterling Hayden, George Segal, Scatman Crothers, John Hillerman, and Bob Balaban. It was written by Raymond Chandler’s grandson James Ellroy. The film was shot in black and white on location in Los Angeles using anamorphic widescreen cinematography.
Verdict
Summary
The Long Goodbye is a fascinating reimagining of Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe novels, done in a gritty, vulgar, and hotter 1970s manner. Altman’s meandering technique never gives the picture a grounding feeling of immediacy, and a sense of excess length drags down the movie’s pace a little. Still, if you like private eye films or Marlowe adaptations, this is well worth your time.
Plot:
Private investigator Philip Marlowe becomes engrossed in a case involving a buddy who is suspected of murdering his wife.
Review:
Private investigator Philip Marlowe (amusingly portrayed by Elliot Gould) leads a pleasant lifestyle with his cat and a group home of hippy girls who spend their days practicing yoga in the nude, always hungover and indifferent to life. This might be considered paradise for some. This is how things are for Marlowe. When his friend Terry Lennox (Jim Bouton) pays him an unexpected visit, he gives him a midnight ride to Mexico, but when he returns the next morning, Marlowe is arrested by a pair of detectives and told that Terry murdered his wife and that Marlowe is being investigated as an accessory after the fact. Instead of waiting about, Marlowe conducts some investigating and is recruited by the wife of a washed-up author (played by Sterling Hayden) to locate her husband, who may be a prisoner at an alcoholics anonymous facility of some kind. The writer turns out to be related to his friend Terry, but when Terry is found dead in Mexico, Marlowe has a lot of doubts, particularly when a thug arrives at his home seeking the money Terry stole from him. With all of this bad luck heaped against him, Marlowe will have to figure out what’s going on… might find himself pushing up daisies as a result of Terry’s poor decisions one final time.
The Long Goodbye is a continually interesting reinvention of Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe novels, done in a grittier, more profane, and sexier 1970’s manner, from director Robert Altman and writers Leigh Brackett (The Empire Strikes Back). Altman’s meandering technique never gives the picture a grounding feeling of immediacy, and a sense of excess length drags down the movie’s pace a little. Still, if you like private eye films or Marlowe adaptations, this is well worth your time. Throughout the film, a theme song performed by different artists plays nonstop on the soundtrack. The modest score was composed by John Williams. Also, keep an eye out for a young Arnold Schwarzenegger in a little part as a gangster.
The Long Goodbye has been published on Blu-ray in a new 4K version by Kino Lorber, with an audio commentary by cinema historian Tim Lucas and a slew of other material carried over from earlier editions, including a feature with both Altman and Gould. The movie has never looked or sounded better, so if you’ve been hanging on to your old MGM DVD as I have, now is the time to replace it.
Watch This Video-
The “The Long Goodbye (1973) Kino Lorber Special Edition Blu-ray Review” is a film about Raymond Chandler’s classic novel. The film is directed by Robert Altman and stars Elliott Gould, Sterling Hayden, and Joan Hackett. Reference: the long goodbye (dvd).
Related Tags
- the long goodbye blu-ray review
- kino lorber blu-ray list
- the long goodbye arrow blu-ray review
- kino lorber the long goodbye
- best kino lorber blu rays
