Under the Spotlight: Elliott Gould’s iconic portrayal of Philip Marlowe in ‘The Long Goodbye’
The protagonist of the detective novels of Raymond Chandler, Philip Marlowe, is synonymous with the very profession of the private eye. First arriving in Chandler’s debut novel, Marlowe has been portrayed in a number of cinematic works, most notably by Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep. While many consider Bogart to be the quintessential Marlowe, one ought not forget Elliott Gould’s brilliant turn as the fictional private detective in Robert Altman’s 1973 The Long Goodbye.
Gould had previously worked with Altman in his 1970 war comedy film M*A*S*H and gave a brilliant performance as Captain Trapper John McIntyre. However, with The Long Goodbye, the New York City-born actor doubled down on his quality for Altman and delivered a version of Marlowe that masterfully reinvented the character in the 1970s.
Two and a half decades after Bogart had played the private eye in The Big Sleep, Gould subverted the hardboiled qualities of Bogart’s Marlowe and crafted an easy-going, chain-smoking Los Angeles detective with a comic edge and an affable charm. For instance, The Long Goodbye begins with Marlowe going out to get some food for his cat and some brownie mix for his hash-loving, partying neighbours, a far cry from the kind of Marlowe we might expect to be stressed out over a case at his desk.
Even upon stumbling across a murder case surrounding his friend Terry Lennox, his wife and a notorious alcoholic novelist, initially becoming one of its suspects, Gould’s Marlowe treats the whole ordeal – as well as his mistreatment by the police – with an air of unbridled cool and indifference. Mumbling his way through the case, Marlowe adopts a sense of relatability, even amid the moral corruption and violence of the 1970s.
In addition, Gould managed to almost anachronistically misplace his version of Marlowe, a man known for his work in the 1940s who strangely finds himself in the drug-addled world of ’70s Los Angeles. By slouching and bumbling along the sunny boulevards of the City of Angels and switching between genuine detective intrigue and an almost stoner-like disillusionment, Gould turns The Long Goodbye from a hardboiled detective novel to a satirical masterpiece that still manages to retain its criminal tension.
Gould’s Marlowe really feels like the observing conduit between the audience and the case at hand. His detachment from the supporting cast allows for the film’s events to occur in front of him, with the detective only becoming really involved when he absolutely needs to, even when he’s faced with the Hemingway-esque intensity of Sterling Hayden’s Roger Wade or the seductive qualities of Nina van Pallandt’s Eileen.
The case at the core of The Long Goodbye takes on a surreal, dream-like quality that seems to end just as quickly as it departs, making us feel like Gould’s Marlowe has merely thought the whole thing up, even with all its violence, deceit, alcoholism, suicide and infidelity. As the film ends, Marlowe fittingly pulls out his harmonica and plays it as he skips down the road to the final credits, another case somehow cracked despite his affectless air.
In sum, Elliott Gould’s version of Philip Marlowe in Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye redefines the iconic fictional character into a man with a whimsical charm and scorn for the authorities. Departing from the stereotypes of a private detective, Gould delivers a performance that points out the changing of the times in the mid-20th century, one that stands as a powerful subversion of Raymond Chandler’s legendary character.
