Movie "Rei"-commendation: The Long Goodbye (1973)

The Long Goodbye

The first image you think of when you hear the name Philip Marlowe is the fedora-clad, gruff and tough P.I. so indelibly manifested by the Bogie back in 1946's "The Big Sleep". Several other notable actors have worn the skin in other film and TV adaptations of Raymond Chandler's novels with similar approaches and varying degrees of success.

Certainly not as the unemployed soft spoken, cat loving, neurotic Jewish P.I., as masterfully interpreted by Elliott Gould at the height of his early career.
But that's why it works.

This dude spends the first 10 minutes of the film trying to find something to feed his picky cat at 3 a.m. and lives next to an apartment full of half baked and fully naked chicks to whom he poses no threat to.

The film has a surprising amount of winning factors going for it among the cast and crew - many who had yet to make their mark on cinema:
1. Screenplay by Leigh Brackett.
This bitch actually wrote the 1946 The Big Sleep film adaptation as well [I guess she really likes Chandler] and possibly, more famously also wrote "The Empire Strikes Back" [with Lawrence Kasdan].
2. Film score composed by John Williams.
Yeah, JOHN WILLIAMS. Only a few years away before hooking up with some little known Jewish television director on some movie about a shark; who would, in effect, go on to run his name to his homeboy George Lucas for his movie about a space opera. Yeah, I wonder whatever happened to him...
3. Cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond.
Well, no one really pays any attention to cinematographers so for the uninitiated, this guy basically defined the look and feel of films in the burgeoning New Hollywood scene of the 1970's. Partial list of film credits to his name: Deliverance, Close Encounters of the Third Kind [Academy Award'd!], The Deer Hunter, De Palma's Obsession and Blow Out. Rage on.
and last but certainly not least...
4. Early uncredited on-screen appearance by Arnold Schwarzenegger!

Shortly after this scene, he is instructed to strip all his clothes - which he dutifully does to reveal his yellow Hulkamania briefs. No lie. Way to make your film debut! I see a bright future ahead for you, AHNOLD.


26 years later and it still stands the test of time.
-Rei