The Long Goodbye: Deconstructing Vietnam-era America

Entry Number: 3

Film: The Long Goodbye

Year Of Release: 1973

Director: Robert Altman

Rating: ?

*Warning: Major spoilers*

If you haven't, go watch this movie first, and then come back to this review.

Robert Altman is a satirist. M*A*S*H satirizes the South Korean war by comparing base camp to a summer camp. The Player satirizes the film industry by using many Hollywood in-jokes, and also has 65 celebrity cameos. And then we have his grandest and biggest work Nashville which satirizes the big, beautiful mess that is America. Altman also loved deconstructing genres. The most famous example is McCabe And Mrs. Miller which deconstructs the western genre by flipping every cliche on it's head. The Long Goodbye is a mixture of both these things. It takes a good look at melancholic, confused and alienated Vietnam-era America, while also deconstructing the film noir.

Only Robert Altman would dare to portray one of the most famous detective characters of all time as a mumbling confused loser. The Long Goodbye was based on the novel by Raymond Chandler, which was in a series of books about detective Philip Marlowe. The story starts with Marlowe driving his friend Terry Lennox out of the country, only to find out the next day that he was escaping the country because he had murdered his wife. The police arrest Marlowe, but he is released shortly after because Lennox is dead. When trying to solve the murder, he is thrown into a plot involving a drunk writer and a violent gangster.

Philip Marlowe is often known as a calm and cool badass, mostly due to Humphrey Bogart's iconic performance as him in The Big Sleep. But in The Long Goodbye, he is a mumbling and confused loser. The film was rather negatively received when it came out, and you could say that is because of it's portrayal of an American icon, but I do think the poster plays a part in it's criticism. The poster is one of the most badass ever made, but it doesn't quite fit with the film starting with Elliott Gould's Marlowe feeding his cat for 10 minutes.

And as much as I love the calm cool of Humphrey Bogart's Marlowe, Elliott Gould's Marlowe is the definitive best for me. If this film didn't have Elliott Gould's towering performance, it would not achieve the same levels of greatness. He makes a complete loser cool, mostly due to the perfect comedic timing and charm of his performance. But the greatness of his performance can be found in the quiet melancholic undertones. Constantly pointing out the irony of everything, and mumbling "It's OK to me" to himself, there are without any doubt undertones of sadness in his performance.

The opening scenes tell you perfectly about the whole film. It starts with our confused detective from the 1950's waking up in 1970's California. He tries to feed his cat, constantly mumbling to himself while he is doing it too, showing his isolation, but realises he is out of cat food, and goes to buy some. He discovers that they are out at the store too, and tries to speak with an employee, but fails to communicate. He returns home, and tries to speak to his yoga-obsessed neighbors, but once again fails to communicate.

The reason for all this confusion, melancholia, sadness, alienation and misunderstanding is the backdrop of the film. There is a reason that all the classic film noirs (The Maltese Falcon, The Third Man, Out Of The Past, Double Indemnity, etc.) where all made during and after World War II. They reflect the darkness of their era with their shadowy cinematography and shady characters. The backdrop of The Long Goodbye is the Vietnam war.

There also heavy undertones of violence in the film, especially violence against women. Most notably is the mistreatment of Eileen Wade, the wife of an alchoholic writer. The scene where gangster Marty Augustine smashes a coke bottle into a woman's face is one of the most shocking moments of violence in cinema history. And the murder of Sylvia Lennox is so brutal it isn't even shown. Robert Altman makes comedies, but he knows when to stop joking.

The coke bottle shot is one of many memorable shots from the film. The cinematography from Vilmos Zsigmond is superb. Other shots that really stay with you are Marlowe walking alone on the road towards the end of the film, and Eileen and Marlowe talking while her alcoholic husband is drowning himself in the background.

But the best shot in the whole film is also in my favorite scene. Roger Wade, the alcoholic writer, needs to discuss something with Eileen, and asks Marlowe to take a walk on the beach while they talk, and while they angrily discuss, we see Marlowe's beach walk reflected in the window. Not only is it very impressive composition, but it's also incredibly emotional. It's so melancholic that I could cry.

The score by John Williams (yes, that John Williams) is also amazing. It includes a million variations of the song which the film borrows it's name from. It's a creative and experimental score, once again proving Williams' genius.

Music plays a big part in The Long Goodbye, as one of the most important parts is the mini harmonica. During a visit to a hospital, a wounded man gives Marlowe a mini harmonica, and Marlowe says he will practice it for him. A man playing the harmonica for the wounded is the perfect description of the film noir. In the end, the sound of the mini harmonica is drowned out by the song "Hooray for Hollywood", a possible jab at the film industry.

My favorite part of the film is the cats and the dogs. The film starts with Marlowe feeding his cat, and right before he goes on his journey, his cat disappears. The cat symbolizes normality. Throughout his journey, Marlowe encounters dozens of dogs. The dogs symbolize people who have lost their normality from being used and betrayed by the society they live in.

The film ends with Marlowe realising that Lennox is alive and has used him all along. Through his journey, he has lost his normality. He has been used like a dog. He finally stops mumbling "It's OK with me", and shoots Lennox. Before he shoots, he says to Lennox: "I even lost my cat".

In the end, Marlowe's tale is a tragic one. He is lonely and has a profound sense of melancholia, but he is a decent and good man overall. But the angry and confused society he lives in throws away his normality, and doesn't even let him look back. In the end, he didn't even get to say the long goodbye to his past life.

Rating: 10/10

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