Tue 19 Mar 2019
A PI Mystery Movie Review: MARLOWE (1969).
Posted by Steve under Mystery movies , Reviews[7] Comments
MARLOWE. MGM, 1969. James Garner James Garner (Philip Marlowe), Gayle Hunnicutt, Carroll O’Connor, Rita Moreno, Sharon Farrell (Orfamay Quest), Kenneth Tobey, Bruce Lee. Screenplay by Stirling Silliphant, based on the novel The Little Sister by Raymond Chandler. Director: Paul Bogart.
From beginning to end, the movie follows the book almost as closely as it could be done, starting with PI Philip Marlowe being hired by a young girl from Kansas to find her brother Orrin, who has come to L.A. to find work. But even though the story’s the same, and (so I’m told) some of the dialogue is the same, something’s missing. This is not the story Raymond Chandler wrote. Not the way I visualized it. It’s difficult to put into words, but if you watch the trailer below, I think you’ll see what I mean. (Hint: Bruce Lee.)
What the movie is, to my way of thinking, more than anything else, is James Garner starring in an extended episode of The Rockford Files. It’s his story on the screen, not Chandler’s.
The story does get darker and a lot more noirish as it nears the end, which is slightly different from the book, as I recall, but not so much as it makes any difference. Not that any of these observations make the movie bad, I hasten to add, and if you’re a Garner fan, I think you very well may love this movie. If you’re a Chandler fan, perhaps not as much.
March 19th, 2019 at 5:39 pm
There is some good material in this, notably Carroll O’Connor and Ken Tobey as the cops Garner deals with, and above all a bravura performance by Rita Moreno. And the cast when they get to deliver the Chandlerian dialogue well.
Most people disagree, but well done as they are the Bruce Lee scenes really take me out of the Chandler mood.
Though the film is fairly expensively done it has a faint made for television feel, and I can’t help but thinking it all would have worked better set in the period it was written in without that tacky late sixties look and feel.
March 19th, 2019 at 9:56 pm
Nothing you say do I disagree with, David. The movie’s OK, with some good scenes here and there, but no more than that. What this movie made me want to do, more than anything else, was to go find my copy of THE LITTLE SISTER. It’s been a few years now. Time to read it again.
March 19th, 2019 at 11:07 pm
Garner does not work as Marlowe, and accommodating his personality damages the narrative. There have been many Marlowe’s over the years, but Only Bogart and Powell work for me. Not that some of the other haven’t been solid enough performers, but you cannot cast Robert Morley as Jesse James.
March 20th, 2019 at 6:30 am
Steve, I saw this 1st run in a movie theater, pre-ROCKFORD, and I had the same reaction you did:Okay flick, some fine perfs (particularly William Daniels as a busy lawyer) but just didn’t have the Chandler mood.
December 23rd, 2020 at 5:18 pm
Rita Moreno steals this movie away from everyone else in the cast except perhaps the gorgeous Gayle Hunnicutt. Just my private opinion. They were all capable actors but Moreno gleamed brighter than the rest, from where I stood.
December 23rd, 2020 at 8:33 pm
I’m going to have to watch this one again. Thanks for the nudge!
October 30th, 2021 at 11:05 pm
By-the-by: it’s startling –when I pause to consider it –just how many of my all-time favorite classic movies, carrot-topped Hollywood stalwart Kenneth Tobey has appeared in.
What a workhorse.