Indeed, Altman said that he was far more inspired by Chandler's letters and diaries in making this film than the original novel. Author Avatar: Roger Wade is made into one for Raymond Chandler in the film.Appeal to Worse Problems: A variation of the 'starving children in Africa' argument: when the cat doesn't want to eat, he says, 'What about all the tigers in India they're killing because they don't got enough to eat?'.Angry Guard Dog: The Wades' dog is never violent, but it is always barking angrily whenever Marlowe is around.Ambulance Cut: Marlowe runs into the street, gets hit by a car, and we cut to the ambulance.Wade-who, ironically, was the murderer in the book. In the movie, she's nowhere to be found, and instead Altman has Marlowe strike up a complicated relationship with Mrs. Chandler's purpose for her was to be the 'Princess in Sour Dress' to Marlowe's Knight in Sour Armor, and their parting near the novel's end forces the detective to begin questioning his once-firm love of isolation. She's the sister of Terry's late wife, and shares Marlowe's doubts that Terry killed anyone-and thus, becomes Marlowe's ally and uneasy assistant in his investigation. Adapted Out: Most blatantly, Linda Loring-the classy yet just-as-snarky-as-Marlowe lady who Marlowe meets during his investigation in the novel.Adaptational Villainy: Terry Lennox is the murderer, after all! While the novel didn't exactly have this character come across as particularly clean by the end, lying to your friend and letting him deal with the consequences still isn't as bad as murder.Adaptational Heroism: Eileen Wade is not the Femme Fatale she is in the book.The role of Terry Lennox is played by Jim Bouton, a former Major League Baseball pitcher far better known for his famous baseball memoir, Ball Four. Things get even more complicated when crime boss Marty Augustine ( Mark Rydell) comes to Marlowe's apartment demanding $355,000 that Lennox was supposed to deliver but instead has absconded with.Ī pre-stardom Arnold Schwarzenegger has a non-speaking part as a Mook. Meanwhile, Eileen Wade (Nina van Pallandt) hires Marlowe to find her missing husband, the noted author Roger Wade ( Sterling Hayden)-and it turns out that the Wades' Malibu home is right down the beach from the Lennoxes'. This winds up getting Marlowe in hot water with the LAPD, when it turns out that Lennox's wife Susan was murdered and Terry is the prime suspect.

Marlowe's old friend Terry Lennox comes by in some sort of trouble, asking for a ride to Tijuana, which Marlowe provides. It was adapted from Raymond Chandler's 1953 novel of the same name by Leigh Brackett (who had earlier co-written the most famous film version of Chandler's The Big Sleep). The Long Goodbye is a 1973 film directed by Robert Altman and starring Elliott Gould as detective Philip Marlowe.

The long goodbye philip marlowe