Farewell, My Lovely (1975 film)
Encyclopedia
Farewell, My Lovely is a neo-noir
Neo-noir
Neo-noir is a style often seen in modern motion pictures and other forms that prominently utilize elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in films noir of the 1940s and 1950s.-History:The term Film Noir was coined by...

 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 directed by Dick Richards
Dick Richards
Dick Richards is an American film director, producer and writer.After working as a photographer, Richards went on to direct commercials. His career in film began by writing and directing a western, The Culpepper Cattle Co. , and continued with such films as Farewell, My Lovely , March or Die , and...

 and featuring Robert Mitchum
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...

 and Charlotte Rampling
Charlotte Rampling
Charlotte Rampling, OBE is an English actress. Her career spans four decades in English-language as well as French and Italian cinema.- Early life :...

. The picture is based on the novel Farewell, My Lovely
Farewell, My Lovely
Farewell, My Lovely is a 1940 novel by Raymond Chandler, the second novel he wrote featuring Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe. It was adapted for the screen three times.-Plot summary:...

(1940) by Raymond Chandler
Raymond Chandler
Raymond Thornton Chandler was an American novelist and screenwriter.In 1932, at age forty-five, Raymond Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in...

.

Plot

Set in Los Angeles in 1941, against a seamy backdrop of police corruption, cheap hotel rooms, illegal gambling and jewel trafficking, private detective Philip Marlowe
Philip Marlowe
Philip Marlowe is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler in a series of novels including The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. Marlowe first appeared under that name in The Big Sleep published in 1939...

 is holed up in a hotel room and growing more weary by the hour. As he explains to his police lieutenant friend Nulty: "I've got a hat, a coat and a gun, that's it."

Marlowe has been hired by a huge and surly ex-convict, Moose Malloy, to find his old girlfriend Velma, whom he hasn't seen in years. At the same time, Marlowe is investigating the murder of a client who was a victim of blackmail and a stolen necklace made of jade.

While encountering connections to both cases, Marlowe develops an attraction to the married but seductive Helen Grayle. As the body count mounts, Marlowe survives numerous attempts on his life which include being drugged and held captive by a psychotic madam. The action comes to a head with a shootout on a gambling boat off the L.A. coast.

Cast

  • Robert Mitchum
    Robert Mitchum
    Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...

     as Philip Marlowe
    Philip Marlowe
    Philip Marlowe is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler in a series of novels including The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. Marlowe first appeared under that name in The Big Sleep published in 1939...

  • Charlotte Rampling
    Charlotte Rampling
    Charlotte Rampling, OBE is an English actress. Her career spans four decades in English-language as well as French and Italian cinema.- Early life :...

     as Helen Grayle
  • John Ireland
    John Ireland (actor)
    John Benjamin Ireland was an actor and film director.-Biography:Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, he was raised in New York City from the age of 18. He started out in minor stage roles on Broadway...

     as Lt. Nulty
  • Sylvia Miles
    Sylvia Miles
    -Early life and career:Miles was born Sylvia Reuben Lee in New York City, the daughter of Belle and Reuben Lee, a furniture maker....

     as Jessie Halstead Florian
  • Anthony Zerbe
    Anthony Zerbe
    Anthony Jared Zerbe is an American stage, film and Emmy-winning television actor. Notable film roles include the post-apocalyptic cult leader Matthias in The Omega Man, a 1971 film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel, I Am Legend; Milton Krest in the 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill;...

     as Laird Brunette
  • Harry Dean Stanton
    Harry Dean Stanton
    Harry Dean Stanton is an American actor, musician, and singer. Stanton's career has spanned over fifty years, which has seen him star in such films as Paris, Texas, Kelly's Heroes, Dillinger, Alien, Repo Man, The Last Temptation of Christ, Wild at Heart, The Green Mile and The Pledge...

     as Detective Billy Rolfe
  • Jack O'Halloran
    Jack O'Halloran
    Jack O'Halloran is an American ex-boxer and actor.-Boxing:O'Halloran was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Fighting as "Irish" Jack O'Halloran out of Boston, Massachusetts, he was a heavyweight boxing contender active from 1966 to 1974...

     as Moose Malloy
  • Joe Spinell
    Joe Spinell
    Joe Spinell was an American character actor, who appeared in numerous films in the 1970s and 1980s.-Biography:...

     as Nick, Brunette's thug
  • Sylvester Stallone
    Sylvester Stallone
    Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...

     as Jonnie
  • Kate Murtagh as Frances Amthor
  • John O'Leary
    John O'Leary
    John O'Leary may refer to:* John O'Leary , Irish nationalist who was imprisoned in England during the nineteenth century*John O'Leary , former Irish Fianna Fáil party politician and TD for Kerry South...

     as Lindsay Marriott
  • Walter McGinn as Tommy Ray
  • Jim Thompson
    Jim Thompson (writer)
    James Myers Thompson was an American author and screenwriter, known for his pulp crime fiction....

     as Judge Baxter Wilson Grayle

Production

Mitchum reprised the role of Philip Marlowe
Philip Marlowe
Philip Marlowe is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler in a series of novels including The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. Marlowe first appeared under that name in The Big Sleep published in 1939...

 three years later in The Big Sleep
The Big Sleep (1978 film)
The Big Sleep was the second film version of Raymond Chandler's 1939 novel of the same name. The film was directed by Michael Winner and stars Robert Mitchum in his second feature film portrayal of the detective Philip Marlowe. The cast includes Sarah Miles, Candy Clark, Joan Collins, and...

although that film was set in the present day and in England rather than shot as a period piece in the detective's customary setting of Los Angeles.

Marlowe's client, Moose Malloy, is played by Jack O'Halloran, a former professional prizefighter. Sylvester Stallone, in an early role prior to Rocky
Rocky
Rocky is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and both written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It tells the rags to riches American Dream story of Rocky Balboa, an uneducated but kind-hearted debt collector for a loan shark in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...

, has a small role as an employee of the brothel's sadistic madam (played by large actress Kate Murtagh).

Jim Thompson, author of popular crime novels like The Getaway
The Getaway
- Film :* The Get-Away, a 1941 remake of the 1935 crime film Public Hero No. 1* The Getaway , a 1972 film adaptation of the novel, starring Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw...

and The Grifters, appears in the film as Judge Grayle.

Critical response

Film critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

 gave the film a positive review and wrote, "These opening shots are so evocative of Raymond Chandler's immortal Marlowe, archtypical private eye, haunting the underbelly of Los Angeles, that if we're Chandler fans we hold our breath. Is the ambience going to be maintained, or will this be another campy rip-off? Half an hour into the movie, we relax. Farewell, My Lovely never steps wrong...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
The Long Goodbye (film)
The Long Goodbye is a 1973 neo noir, directed by Robert Altman and based on Raymond Chandler's 1953 novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Leigh Brackett, who co-wrote the screenplay for The Big Sleep in 1946...

. Richards doesn't hedge his bet.

The staff at Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

was more critical of the film, writing, "Farewell, My Lovely is a lethargic, vaguely campy tribute to Hollywood's private eye mellers of the 1940s and to writer Raymond Chandler, whose Phillip Marlowe character has inspired a number of features. Despite an impressive production and some firstrate performances, this third version fails to generate much suspense or excitement."

Film critic Dennis Schwartz believes that actor Robert Mitchum was well cast and wrote, "The film's success lies in Mitchum's hard-boiled portrayal of Marlowe, its twisty plot and the moody atmosphere it creates through John A. Alonzo's photography. Los Angeles looms as a nighttime playground for hoods, beautiful women and suckers ready to be taken by all the glitzy signs leading them astray."

Awards

Nomination
  • Academy Awards
    Academy Awards
    An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

    : Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Sylvia Miles; 1976.
  • Edgar Allan Poe Awards: Best Motion Picture, David Zelag Goodman; 1976.

Previous Adaptations

See: Farewell, My Lovely -- Film adaptations

The novel had been adapted for the screen twice before: in 1942, as The Falcon Takes Over
The Falcon Takes Over
The Falcon Takes Over, also known as The Falcon Steps Out, is a 1942 black-and-white mystery film directed by Irving Reis. The film was the third, following The Gay Falcon and A Date with the Falcon , to star George Sanders as the character Gay Lawrence, a gentleman detective known by the sobriquet...

directed by Irving Reis
Irving Reis
Irving Reis, born May 7, 1906, in New York City – died July 3, 1953, in Woodland Hills, California, was a radio program producer & director, and a film director.Reis was the creator of the experimental anthology program on the radio, Columbia Workshop...

 and featuring George Sanders
George Sanders
George Sanders was a British actor.George Sanders may also refer to:*George Sanders , Victoria Cross recipient in World War I...

 as The Falcon
The Falcon (literary character)
The character of Gay Stanhope Falcon, also known simply as The Falcon, was created in 1940 by Michael Arlen in his short story, "Gay Falcon", which was first published in 1940 in Town & Country magazine...

 in place of Philip Marlowe; and in 1944, as Murder, My Sweet
Murder, My Sweet
Murder, My Sweet is a 1944 American film noir directed by Edward Dmytryk, and starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, and Anne Shirley. The film was released in the United Kingdom under the title Farewell, My Lovely, which is the title of the 1940 Raymond Chandler novel it is based on, and also the...

, featuring Dick Powell
Dick Powell
Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.Despite the same last name he was not related to William Powell, Eleanor Powell or Jane Powell.-Biography:...

 as Marlowe and directed by Edward Dmytryk
Edward Dmytryk
Edward Dmytryk was an American film director who was amongst the Hollywood Ten, a group of blacklisted film industry professionals who served time in prison for being in contempt of Congress during the McCarthy-era 'red scare'.-Early life:Dmytryk was born in Grand Forks, British Columbia, Canada,...

.

Mitchum would go on to play Marlowe again in another movie, 1978's The Big Sleep
The Big Sleep (1978 film)
The Big Sleep was the second film version of Raymond Chandler's 1939 novel of the same name. The film was directed by Michael Winner and stars Robert Mitchum in his second feature film portrayal of the detective Philip Marlowe. The cast includes Sarah Miles, Candy Clark, Joan Collins, and...

, becoming the only actor to play the character in two different feature films. Actors who played Marlowe in earlier movies include Dick Powell
Dick Powell
Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.Despite the same last name he was not related to William Powell, Eleanor Powell or Jane Powell.-Biography:...

 (1944), Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....

 (1946), Robert Montgomery
Robert Montgomery
-Public officials and clergymen:*Robert Montgomery , or Robert Montgomerie, Archbishop of Glasgow, 1581–1585*Sir Robert Montgomery , Irish-born British Colonial official in India...

 (1947), George Montgomery
George Montgomery
George Montgomery was an American painter, sculptor, furniture craftsman, and stuntman who is best known as an actor in western style film and television....

 (1947), and James Garner
James Garner
James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...

 (1969).

Soundtrack

An original motion picture vinyl soundtrack album composed by David Shire
David Shire
David Lee Shire is an American songwriter and the composer of stage musicals, film and television scores. The soundtrack to the movie The Taking of Pelham 123 and parts of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack such as Night on Disco Mountain, an adaptation of Modest Mussorgsky's Night on Bald...

 was released in 1975 by United Artists Records
United Artists Records
United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...

. The album contained 11 tracks.

Track listing

  • 1. Main Title (Marlowe's Theme)
  • 2. Velma / Chinese Pool Hall / To the Mansion
  • 3. Mrs. Grayle's Theme
  • 4. Amthor's Place
  • 5. Mrs. Florian Takes the Full Count
  • 6. Marlowe's Trip
  • 7. Convalescence Montage
  • 8. Take Me to Your Lido
  • 9. Three Mile Limited
  • 10. Moose Finds His Velma
  • 11. End Title (Marlowe's Theme)

External links

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