Elliott Gould is a rumpled, rambling version of Raymond Chandler’s Phillip Marlowe in The Long Goodbye, Robert Altman’s free-spirited adaptation of the iconic detective tale. A private eye out of time in the hippy Hollywood Hills of the early 70’s, Marlowe ingrains himself in a twisted mystery to save a long-time (and newlydead) friend’s reputation. Sterling Hayden co-stars as a neurotic, violent Hemingwayesque writer whose alcohol-addled memory may hold the key to Marlowe’s mystery.
“Raymond Chandler’s sentimental foolishness is the taking-off place for Robert Altman’s heady, whirling sideshow of a movie, set in the early-seventies L.A. of the stoned sensibility.” – Pauline Kael, The New Yorker
“Altman’s achievement has been to make a tough, funny, hugely entertaining movie that acknowledges its Chandler origins without ever turning into an anachronism… It’s an original work, complex without being obscure, visually breathtaking without seeming to be inappropriately fancy.” – Vincent Canby, The New York Times
Kim Morgan interviews Elliott Gould for the New Beverly blog.
