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| The Long Goodbye |
Altman's update on the 'private-eye' genre casts the marvellously sardonic Elliott Gould in the role defined a generation earlier by Humphrey Bogart (in Howard Hawks'
The Big Sleep, which Brackett co-scripted).
With a neat and ready line in 'smartass' quips, Gould's dishevelled, latter-day Marlowe antagonises cops, goons and even his own clients (who include the suitably fetching Nina Van Pallandt as the requisite femme fatale) at every turn.
But beneath the surface cynicism and self-reflexive repartee of Altman's elegantly constructed film, lies a stinging morality tale concerned with the nature of loyalty and betrayal.
Imported print.
