Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye -- What Makes This Movie Great? (Episode 190)

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Disclaimer: All reasonable comments are welcome, including reasoned disagreements. You will be banned for foolish talk, harassment, and hate speech on sight; it's a tremendous waste of life. I believe in freedom of association and, by extension, freedom of dissociation from you.

[@betsyrocks]

Altman had a fantastic run in the 70s. So many excellent movies.

[@omercohen9352]

Thanks so much, brilliant. Since you mentioned night moves, would love to hear your opinion on that one.

[@nedmerrill5705]

There's a lot of internal dialog in the novel. How do you capture this? By having the main character mumble and talk to himself was Altman's solution. As far as the portrayal of the idle rich in the mid-1970s, compare this film with Shampoo.

[@clumsydad7158]

bought dvd, what a fantastic flick, has its own character, humor, and philosophy ... the rooftop penthouse dump with the elevator up to the female sirens - that whole setting alone rife with imaginative interpretations. sterling hayden excellent foil for gould. gould marching to his own drum; an existential portrait confined to his own strange dimensions. fyi - subsequently stumbled upon little murders on youtube; another eccentric and humorous gem, and also gould in another quirky turn supported by an electric ensemble complimented by marcia rodd, vincent gardenia and a d. sutherland sighting as a wacky minister.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

thank you!

[@r.a.mpictures]

I loved this so much, the first time I saw it! I recently graded this into black and white, and I love it even more... it's crazy how much colour can change a movie, and in my opinion it suits it even more, giving it the neo noir detective thriller feel.

[@ametora1231]

Can you do a director profile of Robert Altman? I've never seen an Altman film but his films seem to be revered since so many people on those Criterion Closet videos always list an Altman film. It seems like most of them are not available on streaming.

[@B_baldy]

Been waiting for this video, the long goodbye is my favorite movie of all time.

[@glennmcqueen9475]

hey Marlow

[@ageofmich]

man, i forgot to watch it, when it was leaving criterion.

[@CcJjGg_]

I think its on tubi or pluto

[@LearningaboutMovies]

it should come back around to the channel. They tend to pull movies in the collection on and off the channel.

[@Joev94497]

It’s currently on Prime video

[@caasi4969]

What are your three favourite Altman films?

[@CcJjGg_]

McCade and Mrs Miller, Nashville, and Popeye

[@LearningaboutMovies]

Anybody should answer this question. I haven't seen hardly any of his movies after 1990 -- this will happen as I go through the 1990s decade on letterboxd. Answer right now for me is this movie, Nashville, and Buffalo Bill.

[@willd6215]

Shortcuts (is brilliant) The Player McCabe and Mrs Miller

[@brandonhamaguchi]

3 Woman Nashville The player The long goodbye

[@brandonhamaguchi]

Is great how the main character sees the new generation as something alien, can't understand

[@brandonhamaguchi]

Looooved this movie, but [spoiler] isn't a stretch that he kills his friend at the end? To me the character wouldn't go that far, is not believable within the movie universe.

[@clumsydad7158]

it's an interesting question, but I found it coherent as despite gould's 'go with the flow' portrayal and don't give a damn facade, he actually has a moral code underneath. he appears not to have much affinity for worldly attachments, but does have a job to do, and in those things he seems to see them thru. but, yes, i need to watch the movie again soon to understand better.

[@commonwunder]

The long goodbye has everything you might want to admire in an auteur made, early seventies movie. Who couldn't resist a film sold by the director as... 'A satire in melancholy'. Yet there's a reason it flopped and that reason still perpetuates. It's just not that interesting, or more importantly, Gould's just not that interesting. Elliott Gould as the lead is 'smarmy' cool, which feels sadly inauthentic. Just lazy, rather than inscrutably, beaten and worn down. By whatever it is that relentlessly tires fictional private dicks down. He may be a walking-talking anachronism, but if the actors charisma is plastic and fake... then the entire movie will echo his charmlessness. He's no Alain Delon, Robert Mitchum or Humphrey Bogart. He's... Elliot "I play everything in the same slow-witted key" Gould. The film becomes pure 'surface style' and if you wanted to peek under its hood... there's no engine, no beating heart. It promises a lot and all of the praise must stem from critics that can see through Gould's presence, to something elusive and tangental. Something glinting 'knowingly' somewhere else on screen? Whatever it is... if this film wasn't in the cannon of... 'directed by Altman'. No one would still be talking about it.

[@clumsydad7158]

a 'satire in melancholy', quite intriguing description. i think you hit it in your first line - it is auteur, so if you compare it to some other slick noir style, that could be the wrong measuring stick. it's def a 70s interpretation, and i think one that's rich for its own unique existential interpretation of sorts. as in everything, it's certainly a question of tastes. need to watch another time myself for sure.