The Sunday Morning Movie Presents: Farewell My Lovely (1975) Run Time: 1H 35M

Welcome gentle readers to another installment of the Sunday Morning Movie. Today we have a Phillip Marlowe story for you: Farewell My Lovely. It stars Robert Mitchum and Charlotte Rampling.

Reviews:

RogerEbert.com says:

It is, indeed, the most evocative of all the private detective movies we have had in the last few years. It is not as great as Roman Polanski’s “Chinatown,” which was concerned with larger subjects, but in the genre itself there hasn’t been anything this good since Hollywood was doing Philip Marlowe the first time around. One reason is that Dick Richards, the director, takes his material and character absolutely seriously. He is not uneasy with it, as Robert Altman was when he had Elliot Gould flirt with seriousness in “The Long Goodbye:” Richards doesn’t hedge his bet.

And neither does Robert Mitchum, in what becomes his definitive performance. Mitchum is one of the great screen presences, and at 57 he seems somehow to be just now coming of age: He was born to play the weary, cynical, doggedly romantic Marlowe. His voice and his face and the way he lights his cigaret(sic) are all exactly right, and seem totally effortless. That’s his trademark. In a good Mitchum performance, we are never aware he is acting. And it is only when we measure the distances between his characters that we can see what he is doing.

The Guardian says:

Raymond Chandler’s second Philip Marlowe novel has been filmed three times: first in disguise as the 1942 B-movie The Falcon Takes Over, next as the excellent noir thriller Murder My Sweet (1944) starring Dick Powell, and third as this elegant neo-noir with a perfectly cast Robert Mitchum, at 58 the oldest actor to play Marlowe. It appeared during a period of nostalgia for the interwar years (along with The Great Gatsby, The Sting, The Way We Were, Chinatown) and is set in 1941 during the months leading up to Pearl Harbor. To a bluesy score by David Shire, Marlowe goes down the mean streets of a Los Angeles lit by John A Alonzo to resemble paintings by Edward Hopper. He’s searching for Velma, the missing moll of gangster Moose Malloy, and following Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak for the Yankees. He’s a weary figure, aware that his chivalric values are becoming unfashionable in a changing world. Character takes precedence over suspense in this elegiac movie.

Classic Movie Reviews says:

In the novel “Farewell, My Lovely” 1940 by Raymond Chandler, Philip Marlowe was 30-something. When this film was made, Robert Mitchum was 57. It has been reported that many people thought that Mitchum was too old and out of shape for this role. Film critic Gene Siskel wrote that Mitchum “plays Marlowe with a delicious ease. He sounds just like Marlowe should sound.” I have to say, after watching this again, Mitchum knocked it out of the park.

Mitchum said that producer Elliott Kastner wanted Richard Burton for the role of Marlowe. This would have been a crime against moviedom.

I really enjoyed this movie. I am getting into Mitchum, expect some more of his movies in the future. He is perfect as the jaded, weary Phillip Marlowe. I don’t understand how anyone could think he was too old for the part; his mature, granite-like features are perfect.

This was my first experience with Charlotte Rampling. Wow. She is luminescent, she has an almost supernatural beauty. Five stars for the movie overall.

Director: Dick Richards

Notable Actors: Robert Mitchum, Charlotte Rampling, Harry Dean Stanton, Sylvester Stallone

Plot (Spoilers!):

Private investigator Philip Marlowe (Mitchum) is tasked to search for Velma, the lost love of “Moose” Malloy. Malloy, a bank robber, has recently been released from a seven year stint in prison. Following a lead, Marlowe finds the woman in an insane asylum outside of LA but is surprised to learn that his lead was false, it’s not the right woman. Malloy, having murdered a night club owner in an unrelated incident, has gone to ground.

In the middle of his search, Marlowe is hired to accompany a man who is to rendezvous with some jewelry thieves and pay them a ransom for an expensive necklace. The man, Marriot, want’s Marlowe around as security. The exchange goes south, though, Marlowe is knocked unconscious and awakens to find the police on the scene and Marriot shot dead. Marlowe is brought in for questioning and is told that Malloy has fled the city. The cops tell Marlowe is to cease his search for Velma. Marlowe moves on to investigating the death of Marriot.

A lead leads him to the home of Baxter Grayle, a powerful man in LA politics. There he meets Helen, Grayle’s wife, who was a friend of Marriot. Helen hires Marlowe to find out who killed Marriot. When he returns to his office, Marlowe is knocked out and taken to a brothel where the madam questions him about the location of Moose. A struggle ensues and Marlowe is drugged and left locked in a room. When someone comes to check on him, Marlowe overpowers the man and escapes to confront the madam. Unsuccessful in his attempts to wrest information from her, Marlowe flees the brothel when an underling murders the madam.

Helen reaches out to Marlowe and invites him to a posh party. At the party, Marlowe is approached by a powerful criminal Brunette who, along with everyone else, wants to know where Moose is and is willing to pay well for the information. A former friend of Velma’s tells Marlowe that Velma wants to meet with Malloy and arrangements are made. It turns out to be an ambush.

Things start to come together for Marlowe and he tells the cops that Brunette knows what is really going on. Moose and Marlowe make there way to Brunette’s boat to confront him. Helen is there and it turns out she is Velma. She has been conspiring with Brunette to protect her identity. Velma shoots the entranced Malloy and Marlowe kills her in turn. The cops show up and Marlowe leaves, even more tired and jaded than he was before.