On Dec 8, 2007, at 2:35 PM,
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com wrote:
> Actually this week Robert Ebert reviews Farewell My
Lovely in his 4
> star Great Movie reviews. Here is a sampling of his
praise for
> Farewell, and I agree with everything he
says.
Actually, that's a thirty year old review. And while I can
see the attraction (hell, I like the film too) of FAREWELL
(another remake that doesn't suck), I've always felt it's
more a tribute to the genre than a contribution. Mitchum is
great in it (as are several of the other performances) but
it's a performance that's thirty years late -- although they
use his age well. And yes, the film is, as I've said before,
well crafted, but it too often feels like the fussy period
piece it is, unlike, say, CHINATOWN.
Mitchum's moral exhaustion, though, is a nice complement to
Gould's in THE LONG GOODBYE, as if by the seventies, after
the crash and burn of sixties idealism and the stench of
Watergate and Vietnam, we all knew Marlowe's maintenance of
his rigid code and notions of honour would inevitably eat
away like cancer at a man's soul. There's nothing really
comparable to Powell's brashness, Bogart's randy
flirtatiousness, or Montgomery and Garner's insufferable
smugness in either THE LONG GOODBYE or FAREWELL MY LOVELY,
and I don't think that's coincidence. In the last thirty
years or so, the P.I. has become increasingly gloomy and
resigned; even more ineffectual than Marlowe or spade ever
were.
The Pope may scoff, but I think of the two films as sharing a
common theme. Fortunately, one has fedoras in it so we can
tell them apart.
And the beat goes on. Certainly, since FAREWELL MY LOVELY,
there have been several (but never enough) private eye films
worth seeing.
I'd throw in NIGHT MOVES (or did that come just before?),
MEMENTO, TWILIGHT, THE LATE SHOW, THE TWO JAKES and GONE,
BABY, GONE as some of the great P.I. films we've had since
then. And interestingly, only one is a period piece, although
they all pay heed to the past and the traditions of the genre
in various ways. And they all are more-or-less downers.
It's also worth noting that only one is actually based on a
book.
Kevin Burton Smith www.thrillingdetective.com
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