Robert Altman's films aren't to everyone's taste (mine included) but he always tries to do things freshly and originally. Sometimes he goes off the rails especially when he's written the script but here he works from Leigh' Brackett's adaptation of a Raymond Chandler novel - terrific source material. Everything is fresh: Elliot Gould (in good form) as Marlowe, chain smoking in his suit, looking for cat food, sticking up for an old friend. Mike Rydell is electric as a thug looking for Marlowe's mate; Sterling Hayden impresses as a boozy writer. I even liked Nina van Pallandt as the femme fetale.
Some of Altman's tactics tend to distance the viewer emotionally from the film - me at any rate - so maybe it doesn't have the power it could have. But then it would be less interesting to watch. The story is easy to follow - with all the sexy adaptations of classics we have today it's hard to see what all the fuss was about when this came out, but I guess it was too new back then. Many memorable moments: Gould and his perenially nude neighbours, Rydell and the coke bottle, Hayden and Gould getting drunk together, the climax.
No comments:
Post a Comment