Who's Jim Doherty?
I sorta liked Gould's quirky, zoned out performance as
Marlowe in THE LONG GOODBYE, actually. It was at least an
honest attempt on Gould and Altman's part to re-think the
character in a more contemporary period. How would a Marlowe
fare in a world that could only view him as a relic, a
throwback to a very different era? It wasn't entirely
successful (a lot of people-- including Jim -- hate it) but I
think it was at least a noble failure.
1969's MARLOWE, on the other hand, has to be looked upon as a
failure, a cowardly and awkward cut-and-paste of, as Chris
put it, "a
'40s-ish story in a 1969 setting." There was no attempt to
update Marlowe -- they just plunked him into the wrong
decade, and ran like hell. It would have been far better off
as a period piece, where Garner might have totally rocked the
joint. That hound dog look, that deceptively lazy, smart ass
attitude, his size and build -- he's the great Marlowe that
could have been. I wonder what he would have looked like in a
fedora?
Still, Garner got the last laugh. THE ROCKFORD FILES,
arguably the best and most influential TV eye ever, came
along a few years later.
--
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