Sun 24 Dec 2017
A PI Television Pilot Review by David Vineyard: MARLOWE (2007).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[6] Comments
MARLOWE. ABC / Touchstone, TV Movie/pilot, 2007. Jason O’Mara (Philip Marlowe), Adam Goldberg, Clayton Rohner, Jamie Ray Newman, Amanda Righetti, Lisa LoCicero, Marcus A. Ferraz. Teleplay by Greg Pruss & Carol Wolper, based on the character created by Raymond Chandler. Directed by Rob Bowman.
“Trouble is my business.â€
Slick pilot for a series that never developed, Marlowe features Jason O’Mara (Agents of SHIELD) as Raymond Chandler’s metaphor-and-simile-laden private eye, a good man in the mean streets of 21rst Century Los Angeles, and O’Mara’s tough, human, wounded Marlowe is easily the best thing about this well-intentioned updating of the classic character.
Marlowe is following a playboy his client suspects is having an affair with his wife when he hears a scream and Traci Faye (Jamie Ray Newman) comes running from the man’s home. Inside Marlowe finds the man he is following dead.
When the police arrive, in the person of Marlowe’s cop pal Frank Olmer (Adam Goldberg), they arrest Tracy for the murder, and when they have to let her go, she comes to Marlowe for help, thus the little dialogue above between Marlowe and his sexy mothering secretary Jessica (Amanda Righetti).
Before long Marlowe has stumbled on a crooked real estate development deal, taken a dive into that famous “black pool†thanks to psychotic Zack Battas (Marcus A. Ferraz), and ended up locked in his car with no way out in the middle of oncoming freeway traffic. He also resists seduction by his client’s wife (Lisa LoCicero) and does not resist Tracy before he uncovers the lies and deceptions leading to the real killer.
There are some good lines that show the people involved at least know their Chandler:
“That and your general disdain for women who can’t start a sentence without using the word ‘I’.â€
I’m divided on this one. On the one hand O’Mara makes for an attractive and human Marlowe — there is one very good scene between he and the actress playing his client where he loses his temper and in doing so sees the frightened little girl under the seductive exterior — and the plot is actually much more complex than usual for television in keeping with Chandler.
On the other Marlowe is very much a fish out of water in 21st Century LA, and no one but O’Mara seems to be doing much more than going through the motions, though Newman has that one good scene, and Adam Goldberg is good as his world weary cop buddy. At times everything seems too bright and fresh and new to be classic Marlowe (his office is more 77 Sunset Strip than the Bradbury Building and his secretary more Velda from Mike Hammer than anything in Chandler).
Over all I recommend it with reservations, if only for O’Mara’s humane Marlowe, it is one of those what might have been situations, where you can see it being very good or going very wrong fast.
That’s not half bad, which is pretty much what you can say for this pilot, and considering, that is more of a recommendation than it may sound.
December 24th, 2017 at 9:30 am
This is an enjoyable review, of a film I’ve never heard of. Thank you!
Jason O’Mara is a prolific Irish actor, who’s appeared in everything from the Royal Shakespeare Company to voicing Batman in many animated films.
Right after Marlowe he was he police hero in LIFE ON MARS. This was the American version of a (very) off-trail British detective series. The hero is mysteriously transported back to the 1970’s from the present to the 1970’s, and stuck there. He has to make the best of it, and resumes his police career there. The British 1970’s are depicted as a nightmare of dirt, low technology, squalor and regressive social attitudes. The series is more disturbing than fun. But it is truly “something completely different”.
Director Rob Bowman did many of the best episodes of CASTLE.
His THE DOUBLE DOWN is perhaps the best place to start watching CASTLE, for new viewers. Some of his best episodes flirt with science fiction explanations of events: PUNKED, LINCHPIN, TIMER WILL TELL.
December 24th, 2017 at 12:12 pm
Robert Altman had shown Marlowe was very much a fish out of water in 1973 LA, so it’s surprising he wasn’t floundering and gasping for breath in 21st Century LA! That’s aside from Marlowe having a secretary here – the whole thing about Marlowe was that he was a modern Sir Isumbras – a solitary knight errant.
December 24th, 2017 at 12:46 pm
I had a very different point of view in my review.
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=38710
Most surprisingly the entire pilot is still available to view on my review.
The two reviews show how critics can see the same thing two different ways. I disliked this a lot. I thought O’Mara was more standard TV PI and upbeat than Chandler’s Marlowe. I described his secretary as going to the “Effie Perrine Secretarial School” and David went with Velda of Mike Hammer. Both are right but really show what PIs David and I favor.
I liked the story and plot but found the director never captured Chandler’s Los Angeles.
While we disagreed, I did enjoy David’s review.
December 24th, 2017 at 1:29 pm
I read everything I can by David Vineyard and this too is a fine review of a product I hope I never have the misfortune to see. Product is the word. I love Raymond Chandler. Who don’t? But it always ends the same when other writers and mediums are brought in because that’s when Marlowe, Mike Hammer, James Bond, Mack Bolan and most of the other “series icons” go from being the distinctive creations that drew attention in the first place to being just another generic Product. Why are they calling this guy Marlowe? Same reason they’re calling Daniel Craig James Bond and the hero of 600 pulp novels Mack Bolan. Hey, folks have to make $ & I’m no hypocrite. I’ve written Mack Bolan and Sherlock Holmes stories, none of which could ever be mistaken for the work of Don Pendleton or Sir Arthur. They were product that publishers could sell…but, except in name, I’m not sure they had much to do with the originals. There will always be a ready audience for hero-oriented fiction. I just wish they’d come up with new names for their “new” protagonists.
December 24th, 2017 at 2:29 pm
4. Stephen, I agree. Today we face endless reboots, remakes, sequels, and characters living beyond their creators. There are reasons for this as you pointed out.
TV is in a remake frenzy. But it is not the first time. In the 50s TV remade nearly every successful radio show because there was more demand than there was original production. During the increase from 3 channels to 6 and many new cable networks in the
80s-90 there were so many remakes that there is a book about them “Television Fast Forward” (aka “Television Series Revivals”). And today there are over 450 originals scripted TV series on the air, all fighting to get noticed. There is some good creative shows on that few are aware of such as SYFY’s THE EXPANSE but CBS announces a new STAR TREK and no one can escape reading or hearing about it.
The other reasons to keep trying to modernize Marlowe, Bond, Spenser, and all the rest is they are our folk tales. The tales of our past we past down to our children. These belong with Cinderella, Bambi, Holmes, Shakespeare, and the many characters of the past. We try to create stories with those characters that have touched us. Sadly, it is usually to our disadvantage to use someone else’s character than to create our own.
This version of Marlowe would have been better as an original than using Marlowe’s name, but it would have got less of a chance to be noticed without the Marlowe name.
December 24th, 2017 at 8:03 pm
I don’t disagree this would have been better as an original, something I cut for length from the original review. But it is what it is and better than it had any right to be.