Marlowe

source: Marlowe

In this rather dull mystery movie, James Garner does...something. Hell I only watched this movie for the bruce Lee part! Yes this film has the legendary Bruce Lee in it and he shows off in what I think is his greatest film performance. Though he may be in the film for only about 10 mins at least, he leaves his mark and it shows. Although his exit from the film is quite harsh, it'll make you laugh or yell at the tv screen no less. After which, unless your a fan of Garner, you should turn off the movie. After all that's what I did (hey what's a movie where Lee's exit is really uncalled for?) Lee's performance 10 out of 10. Marlowe in it's self, 5 out of 10.

Shifting Chandler's private eye to the '60s seems to work fairly well, although I still miss the film noir look of the gritty '40s melodramas with either Humphrey Bogart or George Montgomery as Marlowe. In addition, filming this one in color to take advantage of some Los Angeles locations, was not necessarily the best idea. JAMES GARNER works well as Marlowe, although I still prefer the dry delivery of Humphrey Bogart and his one-liners in THE BIG SLEEP. But Garner is at his physical peak and makes a persuasive private detective on the trail of someone's missing brother. Along the way, he gets involved with the usual assortment of disreputable characters who occupy seedy hotel rooms and the shady side of town. With a supporting cast that includes CARROLL O'CONNOR, JACKIE COOGAN and RITA MORENO (as a *), it's a stylish updating of Chandler's novel, "The Little Sister". And let's not forget BRUCE LEE who does a Karate job on Garner's office wall and furniture. Too many of the early scenes drag and it's an hour into the story before the plot gets any livelier. In short, the plot remains rather flat and devoid of any real urgent suspense in spite of the fact that it deals with ice pick murders. Summing up: Despite the okay performance from Garner, it remains a flabby exercise in suspense, lacking the terse quality of Chandler's stories and doesn't really perk up until the last ten minutes.

This is a mish-mash where the original cynical Marlowe of the late 40s meets the laid-back and careworn private detective of the 60s. We move from all those shadows that dominated the noir films to the bright lights of the swinging 60s. And it doesn't really work; nor should it. To me, it comes over more as a satire on the originals with plenty of good one-liners and a surreal couple of scenes with Bruce Lee. The storyline is too complex to set out here and I suspect there will be many differing versions of just what the story actually is. Not that that matters too much as I think it may be better simply to see it as a satire or, perhaps, a parody. Gayle Hunnicutt was out of place although Rita Moreno maybe makes up for that. Garner is, well, Garner. See it as a curiosity rather than as something that is important or significant in the history of film.