Double Feature

The Long Goodbye

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.

Night Moves

L.A. detective Harry Moseby (Gene Hackman) has problems. Missing persons and bedroom stakeouts are no match for his glory days as a pro football player. His wife is having a not-so-secret affair. And while sorting things out, he takes on the case of a runaway teenager that may be a lot more than he can handle. Director Arthur Penn, who worked with Hackman on Bonnie and Clyde and Target, guides this spellbinding, first-rate thriller where solutions to murderous riddles don’t come easily. Joining Hackman and Penn are two actors just starting out on the road to stardom: James Woods and Melanie Griffith. The stars come out – and so does the excitement – when the Night Moves. (Warner Bros)