Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
Farewell, My Lovely (1975), directed by Dick Richards.
First review
Another version of the great Chandler story.
Robert Mitchum is older than Marlowe as written, but gives a tremendous performance: the ageing PI, tired and sad-eyed. My favorite scene: he takes a bottle to an ex-singer in her grimy slum house. They sit, drink, sing her old songs and she has a good cry. It's fine filmmaking.
The seedy club and tenement settings, where Marlowe spends so much of his time, are nicely rendered, with a rich score evoking Chandler's LA.
Charlotte Rampling is a suitably dangerous beauty. The other villains seem a bit light to me, although I enjoy the monstrous madam. Compared to the 1944 film -- Murder, My Sweet (1944) -- the plot is in some ways closer to the book, but in others not.
Way too much gunplay: Marlowe kills three people. In all the books put together he killed only one: Canino in The Big Sleep (1946).
Brief nudity. Sylvester Stallone has a small non-speaking part. In the earlier film we deduce the Marriot character is gay from his clothes, cologne and precise manner; here we have that but they also call him a fairy.
A few years later Mitchum did a modern day The Big Sleep set in London. It's poor compared to this film and to the original Bogart version.
Second review
I confess I am not liking this as much now. It seems cheaper and more awkward than I remember, something cramped in the framing with dull lighting.
It is a rewrite of the book and is much scrambled, still retaining some elements of the original:
"Florian's" is a black joint at last.
No Anne Riorden.
Amthor in neither psychic nor quack, but a bordello madam.
All the actors who have played Moose Malloy dress well, which is difficult for a big man.
Marlow's office is done properly with an outer waiting room and an inner room with his desk.
He should carry an automatic, not a revolver.
This is the only version to feature the clue of the whiskey stain on the business card. It links the two mysteries together.
We have an exact date: June 22, 1941, HITLER INVADES RUSSIA.
A rich set of supporting actors: John Ireland, Anthony Zerbe, Harry Dean Stanton, Joe Spinell, Sylvester Stallone.
Jim Thompson (Mr Grayle) was a noted crime writer -- The Killer Inside Me, The Grifters.
Introducing Jack O'Halloran (Moose Malloy), who would go on to become a Superman villain.
The monstrous madam is Kate Murtagh, immortal for appearing on the albumn art for Supertramp's "Breakfast in America":
Photographed by John A. Alonzo:
Score by David Shire:
Filmed previously as The Falcon Takes Over (1942) and Murder, My Sweet (1944).
Available on Blu-ray from Shout Factory. The region 1 DVD is out of print and had a cropped image.
