... are the casual ingredients of the movie. Despite Elliott Gould being a real character, his cat Kitty is still the star in the starting scene of food preparation in the middle of the night, when it behaves in a demanding and disrespectful manner as only cats can.
For some reason this quite unusual story opener already captured me and gave me the feeling that this would not be one of the ordinary, straight forward detective stories. The rest of the movie confirmed me in this adjudgment.
I have to admit that my expectations beforehand were not all too high, but I was interested to see a movie featuring Mr. Cool Elliott Gould. It was a good decision. I especially liked Mr. Altman's idea to transfer the Raymond Chandler story from the 50's to the 70's which gives the movie a certain flower power feeling. Only Philip Marlowe himself, who is always dressed in a black suit, does not seem to have quite made the leap in time. I would say that this was done on purpose in order to stress the independence of the Philip Marlowe character and to keep in touch with the Raymond Chandler trademark.
What about the cigarettes, you may still want to ask. Well, Marlowe is constantly smoking in this movie. Whenever one cigarette is finished the next one is lit. Are there really matches that can be lit that easily on normal house walls, as it is practiced by Marlowe in the movie? To me the smoking is quite overdone and even annoyed me to a certain degree.
Insignificant for the movie but somehow still worth mentioning: an uncredited appearance of Arnold Schwarzenegger in a part without a single word. Keep your eyes open in order not to miss the moment.
For some reason this quite unusual story opener already captured me and gave me the feeling that this would not be one of the ordinary, straight forward detective stories. The rest of the movie confirmed me in this adjudgment.
I have to admit that my expectations beforehand were not all too high, but I was interested to see a movie featuring Mr. Cool Elliott Gould. It was a good decision. I especially liked Mr. Altman's idea to transfer the Raymond Chandler story from the 50's to the 70's which gives the movie a certain flower power feeling. Only Philip Marlowe himself, who is always dressed in a black suit, does not seem to have quite made the leap in time. I would say that this was done on purpose in order to stress the independence of the Philip Marlowe character and to keep in touch with the Raymond Chandler trademark.
What about the cigarettes, you may still want to ask. Well, Marlowe is constantly smoking in this movie. Whenever one cigarette is finished the next one is lit. Are there really matches that can be lit that easily on normal house walls, as it is practiced by Marlowe in the movie? To me the smoking is quite overdone and even annoyed me to a certain degree.
Insignificant for the movie but somehow still worth mentioning: an uncredited appearance of Arnold Schwarzenegger in a part without a single word. Keep your eyes open in order not to miss the moment.