MovieChat Forums > The Long Goodbye (1973) Discussion > Cinematography

Cinematography

posted 14 years ago by Eumenides_0
7 replies | jump to latest

I didn't pay much attention to the movie's cinematography, since I was mesmerised with the awesome dialogue, but there's a scene that stood out for me. It's when Marlowe visits Eileen and Roger the day after returning him home. Roger asks Marlowe to go to the beach while he talks to his wife. And while the couple is talking we can see, reflected on the window, Marlowe standing next to the sea. That was such an incredible scene. Was anyone else impressed by it?

This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.

[–] franzkabuki 14 years ago

I was impressed by it - I think both of the beach scenes (the good old fashioned man-to-man drinking party that followed the moment described above as well as Wade walking into the dark raging sea) are some of the best in the film. But then again there´s hardly a scene I do not like; even the controversial ending feels right as it grows organically out of the character. And then it´s of course all neatly bookended with the 40´s music blasting on the soundtrack again - just as it did before Marlowe woke up in the beginning - as he disappears down the road, presumably back to the era in which he belongs.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] Eumenides_0 14 years ago

The ending was controversial?

I thought it fit like a glove. How else could the story of a friend who betrays a friend end?

This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.

[–] franzkabuki 14 years ago

"I thought it fit like glove".

Totally agree. Looking at what others have been posting on this board, however, it seems that quite many don´t - hence the controversy.

I already quoted it once on another thread, but it´s worth repeating because it brings it to the point so eloquently - sez Eric Henderson of Slant Magazine: "Still, for all the film´s revisionism, one tenet of the film noir genre remains a holdover, existing in Altman´s film without revision or irony. For a man to be betrayed by another man when the two held a previously honorable agreement is a moral crime, punishable by death. However, when a man is betrayed by a woman, it´s so taken for granted and upsets his worldview so little, it´s hardly worth a whisteling tune on the harmonica". I think Chandler might just have approved.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] Squeeth2 13 years ago

~~~~~I thought it fit like a glove. How else could the story of a friend who betrays a friend end?~~~~~

You could kill yourself, like Withnail did on one of the early scripts. Killing Lennox was worse than bottling the moll. Killing lennox turned Marlowe into him.

Marlon, Claudia and Dimby the cats 1989-2005, 2007 and 2010.

[–] Eumenides_0 13 years ago

Marlowe didn't seem very upset about turning into Lennox. You can't expect fiction to stick to our moral values. That's why it's interesting: if every character behaved as we expected them, why should we bother to watch them? Fiction isn't here to teach us morals. I thoroughly enjoyed Marlowe's decision - it made every bit of sense in the story's context.

This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] 13 years ago

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