Review: Farewell, My Lovely


Solid 1975 Dick Richards (the average horror flick “Death Valley”) version of the Chandler classic has a well-cast Robert Mitchum as a somewhat jaded Phillip Marlowe (though his voice-over narration is sadly not very well-written), as the dick investigates the apparent disappearance of hulking Jack O’Halloran’s girl. Charlotte Rampling is extremely underrated as the film’s alluring femme fatale. Some say she’s aping Lauren Bacall in the earlier film version, personally I thought she was doing the standard icy Rampling thing, and doing it well). Underrated character veteran John Ireland is rock solid as one of the few honest cops, with Harry Dean Stanton a less moral cop. Good roles for slimy Anthony Zerbe (sadly not in the film enough, playing a hood), Best Supporting Actress nominee Sylvia Miles (it’s her best work), and a trio of thugs played by Joe Spinell, grinning Burton Gilliam (the railroad boss from “Blazing Saddles”), and a young Sly Stallone (Kate Murtagh is also excellent as their physically imposing employer).



Based on the Raymond Chandler (“Double Indemnity”) novel, the mystery is not as incoherent as these things can be sometimes, but as a consequence, you’ll work out a certain someone’s real identity very quickly, and it’ll be way before Marlowe works it out, unfortunately. A shame, because everything else is essentially on-target here. Still, there’s not much wrong here. The screenplay is by David Zelag Goodman, who worked on “The Eyes of Laura Mars”, another film where there was little mystery to the mystery.



Rating: B-

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