Jim wrote:
> That doesn't seem to be as true of Altman's THE
LONG
> GOODBYE. To the degree that the people who go
to
> movies based on Chandler novels are Chandler
fans,
> then THE LONG GOODBYE's financial and critical
failure
> (and it was a flop in both respects when
first
> released), contrasted with the financial and
critical
> success of, say, FAREWELL, MY LOVELY two years
later,
> suggests that there were far more Chandler fans
who
> disliked TLG, than Shakespeare fans who disliked
WSS.
Now we're counting tickets sold to justify art? And who's
driven to discuss FARWWELL MY LOVELY with much passion these
days. It's a nice enough piece of well-mounted and
well-crafted fluff that I find quite enjoyable, but let's
face it: Mitchum got to the party thirty years too late and
the fussy attention to detail makes it seem like a museum
piece at times. It's Marlowe in aspic.
And it pales in comparison to the Dick Powell version,
probably the best adaptation of Chandler so far.
And as for THE LONG GOODBYE being a supposed critical flop,
that's not necessarily so either. Granted, it got several
mixed and guarded reviews, but it also got the thumbs up from
some fairly well-respected critics (if anyone can respect a
critic) such as Roger Ebert and Pauline Kael.
"Don't be misled by the ads, The Long Goodbye is not a
put-on. It's great fun and it's funny, but it's a serious,
unique work."
-- The New York Times
And since then, it's certainly weathered a lot of the
original knee- jerk criticism from Chandler fetishists, who
seem to have no problem liking Hawks' BIG SLEEP, in its own
way as much a diversion from the source material as THE LONG
GOODBYE.
I mean, Marlowe as a stud, trading double entendres, flirting
with a cabbie and boinking a bookstore clerk on the floor of
her shop during surveillance? Compared to that, Altman and
Brackett's Rip Van Marlowe actually seems more faithful to
the spirit and essence of the character in many ways, even if
the world Marlowe finds himself in has been stood on its
head.
Kevin Burton Smith www.thrillingdetective.com
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