Mark,
Re your comments below:
> In addition, you have repeatedly said the
Altman
> showed contempt for the
> material. Where is your evidence? You
criticize
> Terrill for making a
> crack about ethics police, tell him there's no
need
> to be saracastic,
> but is it any better to be dismissive
without
> evidence, as you are?
Aside from the evidence of the movie itself, which should
make Altman's attitude obvious on its face, Altman's
comments, that Marlowe is a loser, that he wanted to put
Marlowe to rest for good, certainly indicate a contempt for
the character. And since that character is possibly the most
archetypal character in the genre, his contempt for the genre
is a reasonable inference.
> Is an exploration of a genre which
includes
> questioning its continued
> viability necessarily contemptuous or an
insult?
It was a movie, not a master's thesis. The point was to tell
a story. That's the point of any genre piece.
If it's no longer viable as a genre, people will no
longer listen (or watch, or read) the story.
As for the private eye genre still being valid or
"relevant" at the time Altman made the film, well, of course
it was, at least in terms of public acceptance.
Films like HARPER, MARLOWE, GUNN, SHAFT, et. al.,
released in the years immeidately preceding TLG, and films
like CHINATOWN, THE DROWNING POOL, FAREWELL MY LOVELY, et.
al., relased in the years immediately following TLG, are
evidence that the private eye story still had an audience.
And that's just in movies. Parker's Spenser started around
this time in prose. THE ROCKFORD FILES and HARRY O started
around this time on TV. There was no "need" for a film that
deconstructed the genre in order to revitalize it.
Altman, instead of using the film medium to tell Chandler's
story, used Chandler's story to criticize the genre. If he
wanted to criticize the genre, he didn't have to use
Chandler's novel as a vehicle.
> I'd say any genre
> needs to be examined in order to stay vital.
Was
> Altman's McCabe and
> Mrs. Miller a contemptuous insult to the
western
> genre it explored?
Genres stay vital by continuing to tell stories well. That's
the ONLY way they stay vital. And yes, M&MM was a
contemptuous insult to the western.
> Also, you're putting it all on Altman. What
about
> Leigh Brackett? Yes,
> Altman's films are highly improvisational, but
they
> have scripts. And
> the script for The Long Goodbye was written by
Leigh
> Brackett, the
> co-scripter of Big Sleep and writer of
the
> Chandleresque No Good from a
> Corpse.
I've already commented on Brackett in another post.
> She wrote a very interesting essay
(printed
> in Big Book of
> Noir) about the need for changes to the Marlowe
of
> Big Sleep and gives
> the reasons for the specific ones they made in
Long
> Goodbye. There is
> nothing to indicate she thought the latter film
was
> an insult to
> Chandler or contemptuous of the genre. As a
matter
> of fact, she ends
> the essay by saying:
>
> "In its first release, the film was greeted, by
some
> critics, with the
> tone of outrage generally reserved for those
who
> tamper with the Bible.
> This seems just a bit silly to me. I'm an
old
> Chandler fan from way
> back, probably farther back than a lot of
the
> critics. He was a
> powerful influence on my own work in those
years.
> But I don't feel that
> any sacrilege was being committed. And I doubt
that
> Chandler himself
> would have regarded every aspect of his work as
Holy
> Writ.
>
> "I think he might even have liked Altman's versin
of
> The Long Goodbye."
>
> Where is the contempt you so cavalierly
proclaim?
> Is Brackett
> contemptuous of Chandler, Marlowe and the
genre?
I think she knew, in her heart of hearts, that the critics
who savaged the movie in its initial release were right, and
was trying to sell herself, as much as anybody who read the
essay, a bill of goods.
JIM DOHERTY
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