Philip Marlowe Movie Week: Farewell, My Lovely

Back again amateur flatfoots for Day 4 of Philip Marlowe Movie Week. As you know, it is best if Marlowe is handled by a tough guy. Someone scrappy, smart and handsome doesn't hurt. To be honest I would have never picked Eliott Gould to play Marlowe but truth be told he did a fair job. This time around we have a vintage rough and tumble fella in the form of Robert Mitchum tackling the role and with all it entitles. This is Farewell, My Lovely.

Sheesh, almost nodded off there.

This is the second adaptation of Raymond Chandler's novel closer the the source material unlike the original Murder, My Sweet in 1944 with Dick Powell. In a town with police corruption, hotels rented by the hour or the month, gambling dens, and murder over jewel heists, Marlowe is always there for the little guy.

We join Marlowe (Robert Mitchum of Out of the Past, The Night of the Hunter, El Dorado, Cape Fear, The Yakuza and The Big Sleep) in a shabby room at a rundown flophouse. Sitting with him Lt. Nulty (John Ireland of Gunslinger, No Time to Kill, The Cheaters, Rawhide and Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat) listening to Marlowe telling the assorted details of the past few days of his case. A gorilla of a man in a suit named Moose Malloy (Jack O' Halloran of King Kong, Superman, Superman II, Dragnet and The Hero and the Terror) stringently insisted that Marlowe was for hire to track down his former girl Velma. The only lead they have is now a black owned bar. Malloy keeps talking about not seeing his girl for 8 years. Easily an ex-con Malloy loses his patience and starts tossing bouncers and at 6'6" that is not that difficult. Marlowe watches his back but again they didn't find Velma and no one seemed to know one way or the other.

The lady or the liqueur?

Working an additional case is over murder name of Lindsay Marriott (John O' Leary of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, All the President's Men, Airplane! And The Last Starfighter). With a little know-how, Marlowe figures out that Marriot was in the blackmail racket. Still looking for Velma, Marlowe sees both cases just getting muddled with a sojourn attempting to make sense of any of the half truths, double crosses and homicides piling up.

Shockingly enough, Marlowe has several attempts with his life with a visit with an infamous madame in a brothel to a gunfight on a gambling boat, Philip is convinced he has really stepped in it now.

Can Marlowe solve this ongoing conspiracy and collection of murders? Is the whole city against him with every crooked cop looking to punch his ticket?

A few points about the flick. While Marlowe is in his thirties in the novels, Mitchum was 58 playing the character. Mitchum is also the only actor to play Philip twice on screen, this film and The Big Sleep in 1978. This was Jerry Bruckheimer's first full production after only have two previous credits as an associate producer.

The 70s moved to revival of the film noir and hard-boiled detective movies with the same feel as Chandler's novels like Gumshoe, Chinatown and The Black Bird. Marlowe's wheels was a black 1940 Buick Special. Kinda wish they hit up Mitchum for Marlowe years prior.

Wouldn't mind retiring out here.

Philip Marlowe Movie Week: The Long Goodbye

Welcome back sleuth spotters for Day 3 of Philip Marlowe Week. A slight break yesterday as my co-host and I were working on Rotten Ramblin' On's sixth podcast. So while we did battle with a barrage of B-Movies, the film of the day got skipped. You have my apologies, gentle readers. With that in mind let's get back to the gumshoe known as Marlowe. This time around of all people Eliott Gould steps in the shamus' shoes and it might be a tight fit. Based on the 1953 novel The Long Goodbye, Philip helps a buddy of his across the border to Mexico only to get pinched by the cops the moment he walks in the door back home. Accusations of murder, conspiracy and aiding and abetting. This is The Long Goodbye.

Bloody finicky cat!

Our neo-noir (a more current film using elements of film noir such as style, theme, content and even media that has not been in use since the 1940s and 1950s) opens with Marlowe (Eliott Gould of M.A.S.H., Harry and Walter Go to New York, A Bridge Too Far, The Muppet Movie, The Devil and Max Devlin, E/R, Bugsy and Ocean's Eleven) having to feed his very finicky cat (Morris the Cat) when his best friend Terry Lennox (MLB All-Star Jim Bouton) asks Marlowe for a lift from L.A. To Tijuana. Hope he is getting some gas money out the deal. No sooner does Marlowe return home he is met by two detectives accusing Lennox of murdering his wife Sylvia. The two jog his memory but Marlowe refuses any cooperation thinking it is a bum rap so they toss him in the jug for three days for obstruction.

That's not Gene Wilder!!

The cops tell him that Lennox killed himself as a guilty conscience so they spring him. Marlowe calls it bull but what can you do? After a quick drink at the bar, Marlowe checks in with Eileen Wade (Nina van Pallandt of American Gigolo, Cutter's Way, The Sword and the Sorcerer, Time Out and Tales of the Unexpected) on a missing person's case. Her husband has up and left and the police really don't seem to have any interest in this, given the copious amounts of runaways, homicides and car thefts so they have a lot on their plate as it is. This blonde bombshell claims her husband Roger (Sterling Hayden of The Asphalt Jungle, The Killing, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and The Godfather) while a brilliant novelist tends to go on drunken tears and be missing for days on end but this time he has been gone for too long. Eileen needs Marlowe to suss him out, hose him down and get him home. Sounds like a cake walk, right? Interestingly enough, the late Lennoxes also used to reside on the same neighborhood right up the beach. Coincidence?

Roger's behavior is erratic hiding over in a mental facility and the doctor seems to be holding him there against his will. Wade blurts out to Marlowe that he knew the Lennoxes socially to a level that gets Marlowe thinking there is a lot more to Terry's suicide and Sylvia's murder. Should Marlowe keep stepping on toes and peeping through windows for the truth? Does he let his friend's death go overlooked?

A few points of interest in the film. As this is a Roger Altman movie, the camera is always in motion. The man never believed in static shots (a shot on an person, place or thing that has no action and is held still, later inserted from editing) Gould completely improvised the police custody scene when he smears fingerprint ink all over his face and dialogue surrounding most of it.

Both David Carradine and Arnold Schwarzenegger are uncredited in the film as David is Dave a.k.a. Socrates, a guy being held for smoking some doobage and Arnold is a strong arm and at 6'3" that could make about anyone cringe. Sterling Hayden wrote his own scenes and his character's home was actually Altman's house. The gorgeous car Gould is driving around is a 1948 Cabriolet Lincoln Continental Convertible that was actually his car.

This film is one of five Gould made with Altman including: MASH, The Long Goodbye, California Split, Nashville and The Player. Not too shabby, huh?

 

Giving the copious amounts of nudity in the film I would skip letting the kids watch it.

Live-in mob delivery.

Philip Marlowe Movie Week: Marlowe

Hey cats and kittens welcome back for Day 2 of Philip Marlowe Movie Week. Now while I felt that Robert Montgomery would not have been my choice for Marlowe he did meet the task of the character despite his slightly flat performance. But let us journey to the year 1969 instead. Away from the black and whites that captured the mystique of the film noir but we will give Metro-color a chance. What happens when our favorite peeper gets a missing person's case which ties into a martial arts master giving his office the Johnny Depp makeover followed by a double homicide? A whole lot of trouble. This is Marlowe.

Your autograph, Bruce Lee or it's two to the liver!!!

Based on Chandler's exceptional 1949 novel The Little Sister our star studded cast unwind the tale of a missing brother leading to blackmail a double homicide with an ice pick and more than a few pummels for our favorite flatfoot.

Our story opens with Marlowe casing the shabby hippie commune looking for Orrin Quest (Roger Newman of The Edge of the Night, Guiding Light, Annie Hall and Passions) Marlowe (James Garner of The Great Escape, Maverick, The Rockford Files, Murphy's Romance, Fire in the Sky, My Fellow Americans and The Notebook) hired a dishy young thing Orfamay Quest (Sharon Farrell of Man from U.N.C.L.E., A Lovely Way to Die, The Love Machine, It's Alive, Hawaii Five-O and The Stunt Man) whose coy demeanor seems off to Marlowe needs him to find her missing brother as the family has not heard from him in over a month.

With a milk run of a case Marlowe is not expecting anything spectacular for his time but oh brother is he ever wrong. The trail is not very warm but does provide with a few lead of two fellas that may or may not know anything to this mysterious Orrin. Running into a resident of the commune Grant Hicks (Jackie Coogan of The Kid, Mesa of Lost Women, Cowboy G-Men and The Addams Family) who knows more than he is saying but doesn't really admit to knowing Orrin. After conversing and smacking the manager for a pass key, our sleuth goes back to see the manager only find the hotel ledger missing sheets and the manager taking the ten count nap from here to eternity with an ice pick driven into his neck. Presumably he was mistaken for an ice block.

Marlowe talks to the last man the manager did turning out to be a Doctor Largardie (Paul Stevens of The Mask, Another World, Patton and Battle for the Planet of the Apes) who does not deny but doesn't confirm his chat with the manager and he drops the name Grant Hicks when he is off the case. Ms. Quest is making her way out as Hicks calls Marlowe for some info from another hotel just five minutes from his office. With a new lead in the works Marlowe is back on the case when checking with the hotel dick (bodyguard/detective you pervs) to clarify if the call was kosher. The door is unlocked and Hicks seems disposed of when Marlowe is bonked on the head with a .32 with the owner of a pair of dishy legs driving a high end Jaguar convertible in the heart of a recession??

Lt. Archie Bunker wants another beer.

His run-in with the local law via Lieutenant French (Carrol O Connor of Point Blank, Kelly's Heroes, All in the Family, Archie Bunker's Place, In the Heat of the Night and Mad About You) lead to Grant Hicks not being who he claimed an a low ranking skell with delusions of grandeur and a claim ticket for a photo lab. Marlowe's honey gives him a license plate for the jag turning out to be starlet Mavis Wald (Gayle Hunnicutt of Scorpio, Target, The Legend of Hell House, Philip Marlowe, Private Eye and Savage in the Orient). The claim check leads to some racy snaps of Mavis making a bit of face time with a notorious man. Chatting with Mavis' friend Dolores (Rita Moreno of Singin' in the Rain, Westside Story, The Electric Company, Oz and Happily Divorced) and offers his assistance to the sticky situation Ms. Wald is in.

Is Orrin's disappearance and two stiffs connected with Ms Wald? Will there be more bodies to be found and will one of them be Marlowe's?

A few tidbits about the film now. The late Roger Ebert found this film to flip flop from comedy to hard boiled detective while I myself felt it kept the tone of the character. Marlowe has a sharp mind and a smart lip that gets him into more scrapes than most. Apparently Ebert would have preferred it star Humphrey Bogart and it be written by Faulkner rather than Garner's approach.

This is also the first appearance to the American viewing audience of this martial artist fellow Bruce Lee or something other. I hear he may have been in films and TV. Yes I am kidding! Unclench already! He gets to play a villain strong arm which is tough for a guy at 5'7" but I would probably crap my pants this man sent to whip my ass. Bruce also supplied his own clothes he got from Rodeo Drive because the costumes looked not his style. I can respect that. 

Director Paul Bogart (no relation to Humphrey) who worked primarily in TV series and TV movies was really on the ball as this was only his second movie and kept the film fast paced and loose. Now while that may not have been the route Howard Hawks would have chosen, it does not make it any less valid nor this any less Marlowe through and through.

Sorry, we don't have any openings for Rockford right now.

Philip Marlowe Movie Week: The Brasher Doubloon

Hey cats, welcome to the scene that is Day 1 of Philip Marlowe Week. We don't take no eggs laying their meat hooks on our dolly birds. You jake with that??!!

Sorry just digging the slang. This time around Marlowe has been called out to Pasadena to a manor of impressive proportion for a wealthy widow for what appears to be a simple snatch and grab case but as usual, simple is never the likelihood in Marlowe's life. This is The Brasher Doubloon.

Ahh Cryptkeeper!! Oh, it's just you Mrs. Murdock.

Marlowe (George Montgomery of Orchestra Wives, Cimmaron City, Samar and Battle of the Bulge) is treated to clip and rude behavior on the behalf of the loaded widow Mrs. Murdock (Florence Bates of Rebecca, Portrait of Jennie, On the Town and A Letter to Three Wives) who speaks of the Brasher Doubloon, a rare and extremely valuable coin from her now late husband's collection. Hinting about the identity of the thief but refuses to tell Marlowe who, Marlowe has had about enough of her screwy behavior. Merle (Nancy Guild of Somewhere in the Night, Black Magic, Little Egypt and Lux Video Theatre) practically pleads for Marlowe to take the case and states Murdock isn't all that bad and has been quite generous to her as an example. Reluctant to even look into the case, Marlowe returns to his office to find a gunsel name of Eddie Prue (Alfred Linder of The House on 92^nd Street, Canon City, Guilty of Treason and The Invisible Boy) who tries to strong arm him away from the case and invite him to see his boss but Marlowe too fast and smart for our thug, tosses him on on his ear.

Elisha Cook, you get up right now!

Taking the case out of spite and suspecting Murdock's wet smack of a son, Marlowe interrogates Leslie (Conrad Janis of Aiport 1975, The Happy Hooker, Mork & Mindy, Sonny Boy, Murder, She Wrote and Bad Blood) finding his company about as enjoyable as a root canal but can't get a firm grasp on the little greaseball. He then visits a coin dealer by the name of Elisha Morningstar (Houseley Stevenson of Native Land, Dark Passage, Moonrise and All That I Have) who tells Marlowe he did in fact glance at the coin in question and did inform Mrs. Murdock that someone attempted to sell it but is holding out for a bit more lettuce before he gives up the name. Marlowe realizing this canary won't sing, sneaks out but stays within ear shot as Morningstar gets on the blower and gabs with a shamus name of George Anson. Finding his whereabouts, Marlowe drops in on Anson only to find him resting... in peace.

With a body on the ground, Marlowe knows this is linked to the coin and has to duck the cops for confidentiality's sake alone regardless what an ass his client is. Finding the coin at a pawnshop Marlowe prepares to head to his client with Merle calls him telling them Mrs. Murdock found the coin and that he is let go from the case. Before he can really make heads or tails (COIN JOKE) of the situation gunsel bright boy brought a playmate with him, saps Marlowe and drags him off to gambler/casino operator Vince Blair, insisting that the coin is belonging to him because of such arrangements. Between pummels, a dead body or two and avoiding getting on the bad end of black jack, Marlowe has his work cut out for him?

Who else has to die for this coin? What isn't Mrs. Murdock saying?

A few points about the film now. This adaptation hails from Chandler's novel The High Window. Interestingly enough the flophouse was the Gladden Apartments where Raymond wrote the novel which it is based on, lived there for 30 prior the film was shot at.  Fred MacMurray, Victor Mature and Dana Andrews were all at one point cast for Marlowe when the studio settled for George Montgomery as his final flick under his 20^th Century Fox contract. Seems almost flattering.

This film almost seems like a remake of the 1942 film Time to Kill which was a Michael Shayne P.I. film, so not sure what happened there.

Hmm?  Sorry didn't hear a thing you were saying, I was glancing at your boobs.

Philip Marlowe Movie Week

A fine hello there all out there in the social media viewing! As you are reading this blog, no doubt you have a sense of refinement, cultured tastes and savvy with what you choose to entertain yourself. Of course given last week was about over the top gore gags and thinly veiled plots that encompassed girls running around with little to no clothes on and the uber killing machines tracking them down in plot device environment, one does have to comment on that. I, for one shall not be alienating you of course.

Ahh so glad I got the office facing into the Yoga studio.

This week I thought we needed to recapture that Film Noir feel. (the term in cinema that describes crime dramas that are driven by cynicism and sex that was hailed primarily from the 1940s to latter 1950s) One of the most predominant characters of this genre is a certain functioning alcoholic P.I.by the name of Philip Marlowe. First appearance being from the novel The Big Sleep this fictional gumshoe has been in 8 novels, 4 screenplays, 23 short stories, at least two radio plays, radio shows formatted from the 1940s to the late 1950s.

Doing stints in movies and television, our hero chases women, whiskey and bourbon and not necessarily in that order. While he prefers his coffee black, his chess games from books and his camels unfiltered, there lurks a healthy dose of pessimism, ego and razor sharp mind. He likes his chess complicated and his poetry fascinating. He has seen more murders than most cops and dealt with more corruption than a budding senator. The last collection of Marlowe's TV appearances was in 2011 with Toby Stephens at the helm.

With this in mind, I thought it was be interesting to see different actors tackle the same role in their own way. Sadly I cannot review Humphrey Bogart in the Big Sleep or Dick Powell in Murder, My Sweet as I have already reviewed both those flicks prior. So sip from that bottle of rye, dodge those fists and bullets, don't be a patsy for the dame and always have a match ready to light.

Dammit fellas it is my Klondike bar, you get your own!

A Dash of Film Noir: Lady in the Lake

Welcome back all to Day 5 of A Dash of Film Noir Week and we will end this week on a bit of an unusual camera POV.  Yes this entire film is shot through the eyes of the lead actor which sounds a bit like a horror movie but is in fact a Point of View shot.  The supporting cast will intentionally seem to break the fourth wall and stare at the camera and speak as though you are the hardboiled detective struggling to get to the truth.  With the exception of a few exterior shots this film is entirely shot in POV and there is little to no soundtrack attached to it.  So grab your snacks and soft drink, droop in your seat and take this all in.  This is Lady in the Lake.

 

This suit cut me right?

Adrienne: Do you fall in love with all of your spoilers?

Marlowe: Only the ones in skirts.

Director and lead actor Robert Montgomery (Made on Broadway, The Mystery of Mr. X, Riptide, No More Ladies and Trouble for Two) chose a different approach to this Raymond Chandler novel turned film.  The subjective view allows you to see the film and story coil out through Marlowe’s eyes.  All the actors stare directly at the camera and give you the feel that you are asking the questions and taking no grief.    Our story begins Marlowe submitting a murder story for the Kingsby Publications Inc.  He gets an invite to the publication to chin wag about his story but it comes quite clear that it is only a ruse for a job.  So much for the Great American Novel I guess.   Adrienne Fromsett (Audrey Totter of The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Set-Up, Man in the Dark, Champ for a Day, Massacre Canyon and Man or Gun) is the executive publicist that wants to hire Marlow to find the wife of her boss Derace Kingsby (Leon Ames of Meet Me in St. Louis, The Thin Man Goes Home, The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Absent-Minded Professor and The Monkey’s Uncle) who has been missing for the better part of a month after sending a telegram stating she is off to Mexico to divorce him and marry a schmoe name of Chris Lavery.

Santa??!

Adrienne states she had seen Lavery in Bay City not long ago.   Marlowe drops in to see Lavery and he attests to no knowledge of this trip to Mexico then socks Marlowe.  A black gunky fog comes over Marlowe and he wakes up in jail where he is grilled by Captain Kane (Tom Tully of The Caine Mutiny, The Lineup, Love Me or Leave Me and Coogan’s Bluff) and his snarky lieutenant DeGarmot (Lloyd Nolan of The House on 92^nd Street, Two Smart People, Martin Kane, Special Agent 7 and 77 Sunset Strip) with Marlowe claiming confidential client clause.  With a brisk warning from Kane not to muddy his waters Marlowe is back on the streets.

 Back on the trail of Lavery, Marlowe learns of the body of a woman in the lake owned by Kingsby, and his caretaker was charged with the murder of his wife.  Fromsett believes that  Kingsby’s wife is the real killer given the hatred Muriel and she had.  Finding Lavery’s apartment, his landlady steps out of his house holding a revolver she claims to have found.   Hoofing up the stairs Marlowe discovers Lavery shot numerous times in the shower of all places and a handkerchief with the monogram “A F”. 

The plot thickens as Marlowe is fired by Fromsett only to be hired by Kingsby to find his wife.

The first-person camera technique is a little throwing.   At any moment I am expecting a zombie or mutant to come at me and I have to frag ‘em with a BFG.  A clever effect that we do not see Montgomery unless he looks in a mirror but the concept wears on the nerves and it got a bit annoying for me.  Also there didn’t feel like there was any chemistry between Montgomery and Audrey Totter.  The love angle felt forced and unrealistic.  Not one of the best Marlowes in my opinion.

Chief O' Hara beats the town drunk....AGAIN.

A Dash of Film Noir: Murder, My Sweet

Alright you cats and kittens wrap your peepers around this; to Day 4 of A Dash of Film Noir Week.  Seems our favorite flatfoot Philip Marlowe has got himself mixed up in a tawdry tale of lies, larceny, a bit of theft and of course a dishy femme fatale.  Will he come out on top or will he be left holding the bag and taking the rap?  If you want the low down I suggest you be packing some heat, watch who you get pally with and don’t end up the patsy.  This is Murder, My Sweet.

 

Call the zoo. There's a gorilla on the loose.

Phillip Marlowe: I caught the blackjack right behind my ear. A black pool opened up at my feet. I dived in.  It had no spoiler.  I felt pretty good- like an amputated leg.

Our talking picture opens up in a sweat box, lamp full on in Marlowe’s mug and three buzzers working him over to get to what they think is the truth.  Feeling like a duck in a shootin’ gallery Marlowe (Dick Powell of Too Busy to Work, 42^nd Street, Twenty Million Sweethearts, Hard to Get, Right Cross and The Band and the Beautiful) has been informed his involvement about the events up to a couple of murders.  Flimsy as the evidence is the department is fixing Marlowe for a rope under the neck so Marlowe makes like a canary and sings his sad song.

A tasty but dangerous dish to be had.

Chasing down a lost husband for a tomato Marlowe was getting nowhere with it when in walks a 6’5” beast of a man named Moose Malloy (Mike Mazurki of Nightmare Alley, Dark City, Some Like It Hot, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Mob Boss), claims he is missing his bird after a seven year stretch in the joint.  Says the looker ain’t been around to chat with him in six years and he wants her found.  With arms the length of a football field our dapper fellow seems determined to find Velma (Claire Trevor of Texas, Street of Chance, The Woman of the Town, Born to Kill and Key Largo). Marlowe reluctantly takes the case so as to not upset King Kong and starts pounding the pavement on the lookout for this missing lady.   No sooner does he make a little headway, a fancy dan in a daisy suit shows up in his office needing to buy back some stolen swag on the QT so Marlowe plays tag along and that’s when things get a bit blurry.

Director Edward Dmytryk (Golden Gloves, The Blonde from Singapore, Seven Miles from Alcatraz, Behind the Rising Sun, The Caine Mutiny and The End of the Affair) was deemed Hollywood’s golden boy when it came to the pictures.  People loved or hated him for his anal retention but he was a director that could get the film in on time, under budget and still wow the viewing public.  Writer John Paxton (My Pal Wolf, Cornered, Crack-Up, Rope of Sand, The Wild One and Pickup Alley) managed to adapt Raymond Chandler’s novel bringing it to the black & white in the a nice steady stride with the right amount of suspense and thrills. 

Dick Powell’s portrayal of Marlowe was so eerie that Raymond Chandler himself felt he had the right stuff for the character. Not a overtly tall fellow but a short and scrappy guy who was quick witted, sassy and packed a decent right cross.

Look Mr. Bogart, don't get steamed if they called me first.

Philip Marlowe Week: Nevada Gas

Well folks it is Friday and just time enough for one more adventure with our favorite flatfoot.  Seems like work has been piling up on Marlowe and he hasn’t been spending time enough with his lady friend Annie Riordan (Kathryn Leigh Scott of Dark Shadows, House of Dark Shadows, The Great Gatsby, Brannigan and Parasomnia) so it looks like he may have a little competition in the henhouse.  So pull the cork on that bottle of rye and pour me a tall one.  This is Nevada Gas.

 

Portrait of the sleep deprived

Lt. Magee: Can he sing me a spoiler?

Philip Marlowe: You ask him right and he’ll sing you an opera.

A hotshot lawyer out of Reno, Hugo Candless (Bill Bailey of Superman, Superman II, Outland, Balto and Just Visiting) is encroaching on L.A. as his new power base of law.  The guy has a sophisticated wife, a mansion in Bel-Air and all the grace and charm of a cop beating on a suspect but with the animal savvy to know where to park his money winds up in the ocean and Lt. Magee is quick to point the finger at an old two bit punk Marlowe sent up the river 10 years ago. 

Not only are we lost but I left the meter running..hahahahaha!!!!

Marlowe is not convinced and ignores Magee’s warning even after Magee tells him of two out of town torpedoes coming to do a job.  Maybe the bullet has Marlowe’s name on it and maybe not.  In his line of work, death threats are just part of the thankless job but Marlowe keeps his eyes peeled.

Ms. Riordan is entertaining a gentleman caller assistant lawyer from Candless’ firm George Dial (John Terry of The Living Daylights, Full Metal Jacket, Of Mice and Men, Trauma, Lost and Brothers & Sisters), a slick mover and shaker around town making certain every major star and starlet gets the best representation money can buy.  After meeting him Marlowe looks like he wants to play whack-a-mole with this cat’s head but just chocks it up to being a rival for Annie’s affection.

We've gotta hit the buffet before W.C. Fields does!!

Following the trail of bread crumbs it is looking less likely that “Mops” Prizzi is the one calling the shots on these attempts when Marlowe is jumped by two hoods and tossed into a car.  Not sapped hard enough Marlowe notices the smell of bitter almonds and realizes the car’s ventilation has been rigged to pump cyanide into the back seat.  Narrowly escaping the car and putting his two new playmates on the slab, Marlowe connects the dots to where this all started and finds he doesn’t like what adds up.

Friggin' squirrel darted out in front of me!

I have just a few fun facts for you about the episode now.  Candless’s limo is a prestine 1933 Touring Limousine from Rolls Royce.  Personally I fancy the 1937 Rolls Royce Phantom but that’s just me. 

The Wilcox Building acting as the Police precinct was constructed in 1895 and is remembered as home of two of L.A.’s oldest institutions; The California Club which was based in the first top two floors and Southwestern Law School. After the Sylmar Earthquake in ’71 the upper four stores were complete destroyed and the only original content to the building is the basement and the ground floor seems to jut out to the street.  Guess it is true when they say, “They don’t make ‘em like they used to.”

Philip Marlowe Week: Finger Man

Back again kids with that flatfoot for hire and it seems he is having a difficulty with clients…keeping them alive that is.  Seems the town has got it in for Marlowe and he has to figure how to get back in the City of Angels’ good graces.  So grab those binoculars, keep your rod handy and prep for the worst.  This is Finger Man.

Sorry McGee I am always this pretty.

Philip Marlowe: It was Friday the 13^th; I’ve been hit with a subpoena to testify in the Grand jury in the spoiler killing.  A traffic accident on the highway already made me 20 minutes late.  Last thing I needed was to be signed in as contempt of court.

Marlowe finds himself in as a star witness to the biggest homicide in the town in 20 years.  The special investigator for the Governor’s life is being threatened by letters and phone calls. The investigator’s wife demands protection for her husband but Lt. McGee says they cannot give protection to a man who does not want it so he suggests she hire Marlowe.  Marlowe keeps tabs on the investigator until he takes a meeting out to a house watched over at least two gunsels one of which Marlowe can identify in court.

Porkins??!!!

With a weekend to kill, Marlowe is considering a holiday when an old friend and former numbers make an appearance.  “Lucky” Lou Harmer (Christopher Muncke of The Spy Who Loved Me, How Sleep the Brave, D.A.R.Y.L. and Haunted Honeymoon) plans to hit a casino and wants some muscle in case he scores big. With his date Sally Glen (Gayle Hunnicutt of Marlowe, Scorpio, The Legend of Hell House and Target) they plan to make the scene.  Marlowe gets sapped and his .38 long barrel gets lifted, his head ringing like a four alarm bell only find out Harmer got a .38 driven in his heart.

Sally shows up to Marlowe’s office with 25,000 gees, Harmer’s winnings and a sob story.   Marlowe gets a well armed invitation by enough muscle to rival Gold’s Gym.  He meets with the brilliant mob boss running the show, Frank Dorr (William Hootkins of Star Wars, Flash Gordon, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Batman).  He offers Marlowe a scotch neat and the deal of countermanding his official statement and have it stricken from the record and in return he gets his gun back and gets to keep the 25,000 gees as a bonus.  Eloquent as always Marlowe tells him to stick it which leads to him shooting his way out of Dorr’s compound.  Now Marlowe has to dodge the cops, deal with the mob and clear his name before the long arm of the law tosses him in the jug.

Damn hat keeps slipping.

I have just a quick couple of notes on this episode if you will.   Marlowe’s ride is a 1934 Ford Two Door Sedan powder blue.   The chairs and desk in Dorr’s office are Wolfgang Hoffmann creations, I believe they were recreations for the episode given the extreme value that furniture fetches but I do not have those details.  I can’t do everything for you people!  Sheesh.

Philip Marlowe Week: The King in Yellow

Hey there sports fans and guess what?  Today due to yesterday being a bit crazy we have a two for two Philip Marlowe episodes.  This is my humble way of saying sorry for not going through with a write up on Tuesday.   Well not every assignment is cushy or laced with dignity as Marlowe is given the less than glamorous role of house dick.  No that is not a dirty term as it was most department stores and hotels hired a p.i. to watch their interests and make sure there were no shenanigans or robberies.  So strap on that shoulder rig and keep your black jack handy.  This is The King in Yellow.

Aww pipe down already, Louie Armstrong!!

Philip Marlowe: The best way to admire that spoiler is on the radio.

There are the bail jumpers, the jealous wives and the long lost relatives that come in the door but sometimes work can be a little slow.  Every now and then you got to swallow your pride and act as security.  It pays the bills and the hotel rooms are usually nicer than one’s apartment.  Philip is watching over the Carlton Hotel and it was duller than a night in Salt Lake City.  With a few second story men and some pickpockets roaming the joint, there really wasn’t much to be concerned with.    

Y'know Moonlight Serenade?

With a night hot enough to peel the paint, tempers were flaring just as much when the Windy City’s top horn blower King Leopardi (Michael Billington of The Onedin Line, Edward the King, The Spy Who Loved Me, Spearhead, The Quest and KGB: The Secret War) starts gadding up in the hallways with his trumpet; only this is no Gabriel to play the kids to sleep.   Marlowe and Leopardi have a tussle and Marlowe sends him to bed with a goodnight smack across the chops.

The next morning our chart climber was made number one with a bullet draped in his bed.  Marlowe has to figure out who aced the King but the line of suspects range from a jealous lover to irate managers.  Digging around for clues, Marlowe finds a threatening note that leads him to a cold case of his and a mysterious motorcyclist that trades gunshots with him.   Bodies and clues keep piling up like firewood for the winter but no closer to the reasons behind them; Marlowe chats with dishy dame with a great set of…pipes Kitty Delorme and confirms what a pig Leopardi was and how he tried to nail anyone and anything that wasn’t glued down or set on fire.

 

Hmm weird grocery list. 

Just some fun filled facts for friends.  The Royal Apartments where Marlow goes to see Kitty Delorme (Nancy Wood of The Pirates of Penzance, The Lonely Lady, Scandalous and Supergirl) is the same building and apartment room where Elliot Gould portrayed Philip Marlowe in the 1973 full length feature: The Long Goodbye.   The cycle that our mysterious motorcyclist is romping on is a 1928 Indian 402 which was a souped up version of the Scout with a twin downtube frame and stronger crankshaft than the Ace.

Philip Marlowe Week: The Pencil

Alright you cats and kittens pay attention.   We are back with more of that low down peeping tom Philip Marlowe.   Now that mug was on a milk run sneaking and peeking for a wandering husband when our shamus gets a ring up from a cop buddy Lt. McGee to hand something that needs a little muscle.  So roll up your sleeves, make sure that 38. snub has been cleaned and oiled.  This is The Pencil.

Gentleman caller or snoop? You decide.

Philip Marlowe: It was a hot damp August day and you couldn’t keep your neck dry with a spoiler.

Chasing after a wayward husband at the discretion of his client Marlowe feels like he is cooling his heels, chomping at the bit for some real work but you take the cases you have been given and you never look twice at the cabbage upfront.   Boy this slang is addictive.  Marlowe makes his way to the Wilcox Ave station because McGee (Billy Kearns of Purple Noon, The Trial, Playtime and Marathon Man) drops another referral in his lap.  Seems a bookmaker skimmed the wrong stack and now the mob want to grease the guy and collect their percentage.  The mob is funny that way.   Sal was sent a pencil from this organized crime syndicate signifying they are gonna rub him out with a couple of hired torpedoes.   This guy needs protection until he can breeze out of town, possibly out of the country.  

Starting crooning like Gene Austin or scram.

Marlowe makes an appearance to his client Mrs. Yeager (Lucy Lee Flippin of Annie Hall, Police Academy 2: The First Assignment, Flashdance and A Perfect World) to tell her husband is out of the picture and naturally she takes the truth very well.  While left ranting, raving and foaming at the mouth like a mad dog, Marlowe takes his cue to vamoose and head into the office.   Grabs a rod in case there is more heat than the day is long he heads out to meet his client at the Hotel Bennett but laughing boy shows up, dishes out 5000 gees and starts barking orders.  

His newest client Sal Vaccaro (David Healy of Joe 90, Patton, Supergirl and Labyrinth) cooked the books so much you think he had a Webber Grill and score more clams than Pismo Beach.   Marlowe offers a better hideout at the Hotel Rex; a dingy dive that doesn’t bother with a credit check to let you in while he rustles up some transportation out of the country.  

Afternoon Miss, I'm selling a subscription of me.

Now I just have a few tidbits and observations about this episode.   This is the first episode of Season 1 and it also introduces Marlowe’s main squeeze and Gal Friday Annie Riordan (Kathryn Leigh Scott of Dark Shadows, House of Dark Shadows, The Great Gatsby, Brannigan, The Greek Tycoon and Voice of the Heart), a no nonsense gal with some street smarts, a heart of gold and eyes on our shoofly.  The plane that brought the hit men into town is oddly enough a Lockheed Constellation and is an anachronism given they were not used in service until 1943.   PLANE OF THE FUTURE!!!!  What was common then was either a Boeing or Douglas DC-2 but I just thought it was a fun fact and not stepping on toes.

Philip Marlowe Week: Blackmailers Don't Shoot

Alright mugs lissen up.  This booze swilling sleuth with a knockout right hook is hot on the case, see? What he don’t know is in this card game the deck was already stacked against him…Er sorry I really just enjoy that colorful chatter…ahem this time around in 1986 Home Box Office (HBO to youse chumps) began developing Raymond Chandler’s (Novelist of Farewell, My Lovely, Double Indemnity, Murder, My Sweet, The Big Sleep and Lady in the Lake) short stories into 45 minutes of hardboiled detective action!  What’s hard boiled mean?  Sheesh you been living under a rock?  Hard boiled is a term for Crime Fiction commonly police drama but more often enough a private investigator.   With that being said, This is Blackmailers Don’t Shoot.

Alright you ask for directions next time!

It was a spoiler. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window.

In this town you can’t always pick and choose your clients; especially when rent is due.  Marlowe (Powers Boothe of The Emerald Forest, Extreme Prejudice, Nixon, Frailty, Deadwood, 24 and Justice League) is keeping his eyes on a dame who may be in trouble.  A new high society gal actress with a twinkle in her eye and name of Rhoda Farr (Melody Anderson of Flash Gordon, Dead &Buried, Firewalker and Jake and the Fatman).  Seems his client feels her life is in danger due to her lifestyle of champagne and wild nights on the gossip column. 

Dishy but comes off colder than a penguin on an iceberg.

No sooner is Marlowe on the case he is threatened by a big shot director to be tossed out on his ear to have a gunsel brandish a rod to put two in his liver.  Not afraid of a little roughing up, Marlowe feels it is best to check in with his client local racketeer mob boss Lucky Landrey (Allan Royal of Night Heat, Falcon Crest, They Came from Outer Space and Bloodknot) who can’t make the scene with her on the news pages but the couple are still bananas about each other in spite of Farr’s career.

Now I have just a few highlights about the episode itself.  While most of the locations are around Sunset Blvd and Paramount studios, the atmosphere is was truly captures this time piece.  The speakeasy belonging to Johnny Tango, the gorgeous cars of the era fully restored to factory look and appeal, bungalows of Piscane Blvd opted for scenes rather than the usual rental spots all encompassing this look into another time and place.  The posh threads to the slinky dresses, the glitz and glamour are but an understatement to the dark and dreary storyline complimenting one another so well.

How in the Sam Hill did I get caught up in this?

  

The screen treatment from Raymond Chandler’s short story was managed by collaboration of writers Jeremy Hole (Control, Diamonds, Night Heat, Emily of New Moon and Verdict in Blood), Jesse Lasky Jr. (Secret Agent, Reap the Wild Wind, Samson and Deliah and The Ten Commandments) and Pat Silver (Pirates of Tortuga, Crime and Passion, Land Raiders and Forbidden Sun).    They captured the very essence of Chandler’s grimy drab world and gave it life to the small screen.

  Powers Boothe is the pinnacle Philip Marlowe in that he is not overtly handsome and looks as though he could handle himself in a scrape.  Not down playing Humphrey Bogart’s portrayal in the Big Sleep at all, I simply found Boothe to be the right man for the gig.