Farewell, My Lovely

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A few weeks ago, we talked about The Long Goodbye. Brilliant -- at least in my opinion. But purists sure disagreed. "We are fedora." film noir fans said.

Well here's a neon-drenched, booze smelling, modern noir that treats Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe exactly as you would have imagined him from reading the books:

Hard to argue with that clip. It's just the first few seconds of the film. I'm happy to say the film holds up to the strong open. Of course it's not as brilliant as Chinatown (released a little more than a year before this one) which dealt with larger issues. In fact it seems downright old fashioned compared side by side. But it's a great film -- and not done with a wink like so many other Chanderesque films of that time. Really.

You'd think Robert Mitchum was a bit too old for the part, but they hit the age question head on in that opening clip. Mitchum's world-weary voice overs and attitude makes you wonder why he didn't play Marlowe in the 40s, 50s and 60s too. Professionally Mitchum would set himself on cruise control not long after this one. But this, The Yakuza and especially the Boston neo-noir The Friends of Eddie Coyle showed Mitchum could really deliver when he wanted to.

In addition to Mitchum, there's Charlotte Rampling as the femme fatale. Rampling is having quite a third act as an actress. Model beautiful in the 1970s she's apparently resisted the urge for plastic surgery and has aged just right. Recently, she was the best part of the unfortunate end of TV's Dexter and played the worlds worst grandma in the haunting film noir I, Anna in 2012. She's quite good in Farewell, My Lovely. Mitchum clashed with the disciplined actress:

"The girl on the picture,"[Mitchum] said, "was Charlotte Rampling. She was the chick who dug S-and-M in 'The Night Porter.' She arrived with an odd entourage, two husbands or something. Or they were friends and she married one of them and he grew a mustache and butched up. She kept exercising her mouth like she was trying to swallow her ear. "I played her on the right side because she had two great big blackheads on her left ear, and I was afraid they'd spring out and lodge on my lip. There were no tea breaks on THAT set."

Pulp writer Jim Thompson (The Grifters, The Killing, The Getaway) plays Judge Baxter Wilson Grayle in his only film role. Some will recognize John Ireland. Probably known for his westerns, Ireland was the lead in tons of minor noirs like Open Secret and Railroaded!

The most notable supporting actor is Sly Stallone playing a thug (his part is considerably bigger than Arnie's bit in The Long Goodbye).

Sylvia Miles is fantastic in her role too. Check out how sympathetic Mitchum is to the old burlesque dancer. She was nominated for an Oscar for her role.

A few pieces of trivia:

Producers originally wanted Richard Burton for the part of Marlowe, but he was tied up with other work. Mitchum walked off the set (or was fired for drinking) of an Otto Preminger film Rosebud and was quickly snatched up for the role in Farewell, My Lovely. Mitchum's dark pinstripe suit (with no available backup) was originally made for Victor Mature during the 40s. He hated wearing "Victor Mature's old farted-up suit." Does anyone know what film Mature wore it in? Although the film took place in the 40s, the sequel The Big Sleep took place in the 70s. And it's horrible. Amazingly, Mitchum would be the first actor to play Marlowe in two films. The Chandler story was first made into a film as The Falcon Takes Over with George Sanders (but not playing Marlowe but The Falcon). Murder, My Sweet was made shortly after that. Mitchum's recommendation before filming Farewell, My Lovely? "I suggested we buy up the rights to Murder, My Sweet with Dick Powell, re-release it and go to the beach."

Luckily, Mitchum didn't. It a film that's not to be missed. Top shelf Raymond Chandler.

Robert Mitchum quite wittily narrates as well as acts in this rather dry adaptation of Raymond Chandler's novel. He's the curmudgeonly PI eking out a living off the back of familial discord and martial peccadilloes. After saving him from an hail of bullets, "Marlowe" is engaged by the monosyllabic "Moose" (Jack O'Halloran) to help him track down his missing gal "Velma". The thing is, once his investigations begin to bear fruit he discovers himself in quite a pickle. She has moved on, and up, and has no desire to be found or to have her past life paraded in front of her new husband. Moreover, en route to his solution he also finds himself embroiled in some additional machinations with "Marriott" (Anthony Zerbe) who offers him an huge $15,000 just to hold his hand at a a dodgy blackmail exchange. Of course that doesn't go to plan and as the body counts start to mount up, he realises that the two jobs are perilously connected. Not as perilous for him as for poor old "Jessie" (a scene stealing but underused Sylvia Miles) who used to hang out with the missing "Velma" and should probably just have kept her head down. Meantime, his harassed police pal "Nulty" (John Ireland) is under increasing pressure to sort this mess out, and if that means throwing "Marlowe" to the wolves, then all the better for the powers that be. As these internecine threads all start to knit together, it's not too difficult for him (or us) to realise who has most to lose here, and is pulling the murderous strings. It's quite a decent story and Mitchum is always competent enough in these hard-man, boozy cynic, sort of roles, but Charlotte Rampling is really unconvincing and Zerbe totally one-dimensional as the pace of the film just never really gets out of first gear - despite there being plenty in the book to intrigue us. It's probably a thriller than would have delivered better forty years earlier, in monochrome, with more seediness and grime. As it is, there's something all a bit too sterile and verbose about it. It's all quite watchable but nothing special.