Claysaba
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
filippaberry84
I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Calum Hutton
It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...
PimpinAinttEasy
I needed a drink and all the bars were closed - Raymond ChandlerFarewell, My Lovely is a film that can be enjoyed for the visuals alone, especially the awesome set design. Dick Richards the director treats us to a pallet of neon, blue and yellow lights. even though some of the rooms and alleyways are dinghy, you wish that you lived during the time. The lush score by David Shire (who also did the score for The Conversation) evokes the smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke in a bar.Robert Mitchum is very good as Marlowe, though maybe a bit too old. Obviously a lot of the clever dialogues were written by Chandler for his novel. The plot is preposterous but the dialogues and the visuals keep you going.Jack O Halloran who played Moose Malloy didn't really cut it. Nobody can replace Mike Mazurki in Murder, My Sweet (1944). Sylvester Stallone makes an impression in a guest appearance as one of the heavies who kidnaps Mitchum. Charlotte Rampling was smoking hot though I'm not sure if she looked very American. I liked this film a lot.(8/10)
Woodyanders
Aging and world-weary private eye Phillip Marlowe (superbly played by Robert Mitchum) gets hired by hulking brute Moose Malloy (a credible portrayal by Jack O'Halloran) to find his missing girlfriend Velma. However, this deceptively simple case ultimately proves to be a lot more complicated than anticipated.Director Dick Richards, working from a sharp script by David Zelag Goodman, keeps the intricate and absorbing story moving at a steady pace, offers a flavorsome evocation of the 1940's period Los Angeles setting, and astutely captures an arrestingly sordid and downbeat tone without going overboard on the sleaziness. Better still, Richards avoids sentimental nostalgia by refusing to sugarcoat the more harsh social realities of the 1940's, with the issue of racism in particular being addressed head on.Mitchum brings a winning blend of dry wit, rumbled grace, and bruised integrity to the character of Marlowe, who yearns to find something worth saving in a rotten world. The rest of the topflight cast are likewise on the money excellent: Charlotte Rampling makes for a deliciously sly and seductive femme fatale as the enticing, yet duplicitous Helen Grayle, Sylvia Miles contributes a heartbreaking turn as booze-sodden rundown floozy Jessie Halstead Fabian, and Anthony Zerbe cuts a suavely sinister figure as slimy mobster Laird Brunette, plus there's praiseworthy work from John Ireland as the hard-nosed Detective Lieutenant McNulty, Harry Dean Stanton as crooked low-rent scuzzball Detective Billy Rolfe, John O'Leary as the effeminate Lindsay Marriott, Kate Murtagh as formidable brothel madam Frances Amthor, and Joe Spinell, Burton Gilliam, and Sylvester Stallone as a trio of vicious thugs. In addition, such folks as Richard Kennedy, Harry Caesar, Logan Ramsey, and Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith pop up in small roles. John A. Alonzo's sumptuous cinematography gives this picture a glittery neon look. David Shire's lush score hits the smooth jazzy spot. Essential viewing.
slightlymad22
Continuing my attempt to go through all of Sly's filmography in order, I settled down to watch "Farewell My Lovely" tonight. Plot In A Paragraph: Set in 1941, Private Eye Philip Marlowe's (Robert Nitchum) attempts to locate Velma, a former dancer at a seedy nightclub and the girlfriend of Moose Malloy (Jack O Halloran) a criminal just out of prison. Marlowe finds that once he has taken the case, events conspire to put him in dangerous situations, and he is forced to follow a confusing trail of untruths and double-crosses before he is able to locate Velma.Quite a bit in to the opening credits, Sly gets 'Co starring' billing after Joe Spinnell (Gazzo from "Rocky") and an introducing credit for Jack O Halloran (Non from "Superman" and "Superman 2") Sly doesn't appear until 47 minutes in, has a couple of scenes and doesn't have any dialogue. So getting a Co starring credit is generous to say the least. There is a lot to like in "Farewell My Lovely" and it is a movie I would own, even without it being part of my Sly collection. A great voice over (Something missing from a lot of modern day movies) by Mitchum, O Halloran is imposing and intimidating as Moose, and Harry Dean Stanton has a great role too.I was talking to Ridgo in the Lords Of Flatbush thread about 'Flatbush' being a soothing movie, helping us nod off if we have a touch of insomnia. "Farewell" is another to add to that list, just lay down and listen to Mitchum's voice-over it is very calming.It has a few problems with certain scenes, but that is the fault of director Dick Richards, not the cast. It's easy to see why he didn't have a long career as a director. Mitchum not only punched him, he dragged him on to Pacific Coast Highway and said "Let's see if you can direct traffic." Then on "March Or Die" both Gene Hackman and Carherine Deneuvue both hit him, then in 1986 Burt Reynolds knocked him out cold whilst filming "Heat" in Las Vegas. Six Movies and five punch outs!! Says it all.
cluciano63
I am a fan of Mitchum's acting, although I wish they had put him in a Chandler movie earlier in his career. He is kind of set into his image by the time this film was made; he had the cowboy down, and then the slightly seedy offbeat character like this one.One funny thing I read in a bio on RM; the suit he wears in the film (the only costume he wears) is an original from the costume department from the 1940's and had Victor Buono's name in it; RM complained it stunk the whole time he was in it. Also the scene when he sings with Jessie (Sylvia Miles) the former saloon singer, was an ad-lib scene, the song chosen on the spot since he knew the words. They got the rights to use it cleared later.I'm not quite sure if it was filmed in color, or if the version I saw this week was a colorized one; seems like it should have been done in black and white, and I was almost sure it was. It loses a lot of atmosphere in color, in any case.In any case, it is a decent piece of entertainment with pretty good acting by all, though some of the characters seem to hardly be acting at all. Of course that is Robert Mitchum's style and claim to fame.
