-----Original Message-----
>From: Patrick King <
abrasax93@yahoo.com>
>Sent: Jan 26, 2007 1:50 PM
>To:
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Re:The Long
Goodbye
>
I find Altman's The
>Long Goodbye a dull, half hearted attempt
made
>primarily to help Elliott Gould change his
image.
What a bizarre suggestion. For all the reasons that that
movie may have been made, I'm certain that changing Elliot
Gould's image was not a prime motivation for anyone
concerned. Certainly not the people spending millions of
dollars to make a motion picture.
Even
>in this, the film is a failure.
Of course it is. Because that was no one's intention. If
anything, Gould's casting was an attempt to bring another
dimension to Marlowe. A third dimension. In this I believe
they succeeded.
The only film that
>really captures the essense of Chandler's LA
is
>Bogart's The Big Sleep, and even this was ruined
by
>the Hayze Office and their censorship
policies.
If you think Chandler's LA is a Hollywood soundstage, I guess
this would make sense. And I'm not sure that the Hays' office
can be blamed for much with The Big Sleep. Hawks got away
with some pretty racy stuff there. And for someone
complaining about Evil Hollywood's manipulation of Chandler's
untouchable storylines, I'm surprised that the fact that
large chunks of the movie were reshot to capitalize on
Bogart/Bacall's marriage doesn't send you through the roof.
The decision to shoot new scenes pushed the release date from
1944 to 1946. Those scenes don't appear in Chandler's text
and seem to have little to do with the movie and more to do
with satisfying an audience that reads movie tabloids.
Where's the fidelity to the story that you are looking for in
that?
I agree with others that MURDER MY SWEET is a superior film
and would add FAREWELL, MY LOVELY in there as well. Between
the two of them they cover that one novel pretty well and I
think they are both more faithful to the spirit of Chandler
than TBS. (For the record, I also believe that a close
examination of THE LONG GOODBYE will also reveal more
fidelity to the spirit of Chandler's work than does THE BIG
SLEEP.) But TBS DOES have Bogie and Bacall. And it is a very
fun movie. I don't get a big feel for LA out of it
though.
These
>stories can all be remade with fidelity to the
plot
>and the era to great advantage. Anything less will
be
>the usual Hollywood 'rush with the flush,' and
others
>will be having this same discussion 20 years from
now
>about how good the originals are and how
stupid
>producers are to screw with their basic
elements.
>
>Patrick King
>
There is very little rush in Hollywood. If anything,
producers these days are overly cautious. And often too many
cooks spoil the stew. But the thing people who love books
should remember is that a movie has to draw in a crowd much
larger than the number of people who read the book in
question. This is why most decisions to alter material - for
better or worse - are made. To draw the largest audience
possible (or in Altman's case, to simply make the best movie
he could - based on his own artistic instincts). It would be
nice if movies could be custom fit to the individual audience
members out there, but the only way that will happen (at this
time, at least) is if those people go out and make their own
movies.
Try it sometime.
It ain't as easy as it looks.
TL
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 30 Jan 2007 EST