December 14, 2014, 3:30 p.m. — The Long Goodbye (1973), The Party (1966)
The Long Goodbye
1973. USA. Directed by Robert Altman. Screenplay by Leigh Brackett, based on novel by Raymond Chandler. With Elliott Gould, Nina Van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, Mark Rydell, Henry Gibson. After toying with film noir in his early film and television work, Altman made his major contribution to the genre with this sun-drenched, Technicolor Raymond Chandler adaptation. Gould’s chain-smoking Philip Marlowe is like a mumbling Rip Van Winkle awaking 30 years out of date in 1970s Los Angeles. Ceaseless, arbitrary camera movement creates a sense of uneasy voyeurism, and a jazzy John Williams/Johnny Mercer title song plays over and over as an inescapable, fatalistic motif. 112 min.
