Aging and world-weary private eye Phillip Marlowe (superbly played by Robert Mitchum) gets hired by hulking brute Moose Malloy (a credible portrayal by Jack O'Halloran) to find his missing girlfriend Velma. However, this deceptively simple case ultimately proves to be a lot more complicated than anticipated.
Director Dick Richards, working from a sharp script by David Zelag Goodman, keeps the intricate and absorbing story moving at a steady pace, offers a flavorsome evocation of the 1940's period Los Angeles setting, and astutely captures an arrestingly sordid and downbeat tone without going overboard on the sleaziness. Better still, Richards avoids sentimental nostalgia by refusing to sugarcoat the more harsh social realities of the 1940's, with the issue of racism in particular being addressed head on.
Mitchum brings a winning blend of dry wit, rumbled grace, and bruised integrity to the character of Marlowe, who yearns to find something worth saving in a rotten world. The rest of the topflight cast are likewise on the money excellent: Charlotte Rampling makes for a deliciously sly and seductive femme fatale as the enticing, yet duplicitous Helen Grayle, Sylvia Miles contributes a heartbreaking turn as booze-sodden rundown floozy Jessie Halstead Fabian, and Anthony Zerbe cuts a suavely sinister figure as slimy mobster Laird Brunette, plus there's praiseworthy work from John Ireland as the hard-nosed Detective Lieutenant McNulty, Harry Dean Stanton as crooked low-rent scuzzball Detective Billy Rolfe, John O'Leary as the effeminate Lindsay Marriott, Kate Murtagh as formidable brothel madam Frances Amthor, and Joe Spinell, Burton Gilliam, and Sylvester Stallone as a trio of vicious thugs. In addition, such folks as Richard Kennedy, Harry Caesar, Logan Ramsey, and Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith pop up in small roles. John A. Alonzo's sumptuous cinematography gives this picture a glittery neon look. David Shire's lush score hits the smooth jazzy spot. Essential viewing.
Director Dick Richards, working from a sharp script by David Zelag Goodman, keeps the intricate and absorbing story moving at a steady pace, offers a flavorsome evocation of the 1940's period Los Angeles setting, and astutely captures an arrestingly sordid and downbeat tone without going overboard on the sleaziness. Better still, Richards avoids sentimental nostalgia by refusing to sugarcoat the more harsh social realities of the 1940's, with the issue of racism in particular being addressed head on.
Mitchum brings a winning blend of dry wit, rumbled grace, and bruised integrity to the character of Marlowe, who yearns to find something worth saving in a rotten world. The rest of the topflight cast are likewise on the money excellent: Charlotte Rampling makes for a deliciously sly and seductive femme fatale as the enticing, yet duplicitous Helen Grayle, Sylvia Miles contributes a heartbreaking turn as booze-sodden rundown floozy Jessie Halstead Fabian, and Anthony Zerbe cuts a suavely sinister figure as slimy mobster Laird Brunette, plus there's praiseworthy work from John Ireland as the hard-nosed Detective Lieutenant McNulty, Harry Dean Stanton as crooked low-rent scuzzball Detective Billy Rolfe, John O'Leary as the effeminate Lindsay Marriott, Kate Murtagh as formidable brothel madam Frances Amthor, and Joe Spinell, Burton Gilliam, and Sylvester Stallone as a trio of vicious thugs. In addition, such folks as Richard Kennedy, Harry Caesar, Logan Ramsey, and Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith pop up in small roles. John A. Alonzo's sumptuous cinematography gives this picture a glittery neon look. David Shire's lush score hits the smooth jazzy spot. Essential viewing.