Amazon.com Essentials:
Raymond Chandler's cynically idealistic hero, Philip Marlowe,
has been played by everyone from Humphrey Bogart to James Garner--but
no one gives him the kind of weirdly affect-less spin that Elliott
Gould does in this terrific Robert Altman reimagining of Chandler's
penultimate novel. Altman recasts Marlowe as an early '70s L.A.
habitué, who gets involved in a couple of cases at once. The
most interesting involves a suicidal writer (Sterling Hayden in a
larger-than-life performance) whom Marlowe is supposed to keep away
from malevolent New-Ageish guru Henry Gibson. A variety of wonderfully
odd characters pop up, played by everyone from model Nina Van Pallandt
to director Mark Rydell to ex-baseballer Jim Bouton. And yes, that is
Arnold Schwarzenegger (in only his second movie) popping up as (what
else?) a muscleman. Listen for the title song: It shows up in the
strangest places. --Marshall Fine
