Classic Tuesdays: The Long Goodbye

Starring: Elliott Gould, Nina Van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, Henry Gibson, Mark Rydell
Director: Robert Altman
Screenplay: Leigh Brackett

Elliott Gould “gives one of his best performances” (Esquire) as a quirky, mischievous Philip Marlowe in Robert Altman’s “fascinating and original” (Newsweek) send-up of Raymond Chandler’s classic detective story. Co-starring Nina Van Pallandt and Sterling Hayden and written by Leigh Brackett (The Big Sleep), The Long Goodbye is “a gloriously inspired tribute to Hollywood” (The Hollywood Reporter) with an ending that’s “as controversial as it is provocative” (Los Angeles Times)!

Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe (Gould) faces the most bizarre case of his life when a friend’s apparent suicide turns into a double murder involving a sexy blonde, a disturbed gangster and a suitcase full of drug money. But as Marlowe stumbles toward the truth, he soon finds himself lost in a maze of sex and deceit – only to discover that in L.A., if love is dangerous … friendship is murder.

“[Altman] attempts the impossible and pulls it off.”

– Vincent Canby, New York Times

“Elliott Gould in the lead seems to relish the joke of serving up Marlowe in a radically different way.”

– Michael Thomson, BBC