MovieChat Forums > Marlowe (1969) Discussion > Frankly, Garner should be the best Marlo...

Frankly, Garner should be the best Marlowe

posted 17 years ago by rpniew
36 replies | jump to latest

With no disrespect intended for Bogart, Mitchum, or Powell, Garner SHOULD have proven the best Marlowe. In reading the Chandler originals, one finds that the "tough guys" -- Bogie, for example, have a problem with the wisecracks; they just couldn't find that perfect note of humor that comes naturally to Garner and is very close to the novels. Unfortunately, in spite of his performance, the film itself is entertaining but sub-par and did not invite any returns of Garner to the role. On the other hand, I guess we can forgive it, to some degree: it was "The Little Sister", for crying out loud, probably Chandler's weakest.

[–] dustinthewind25 17 years ago

Garner's great in this.

I've seen all the Marlowes you mentioned, and I like Powell's the best.

[–] rpniew 17 years ago

I like Powell, but he gets just a little too "cute" in the final scene.

[–] Dudley_S 17 years ago

I like Powell, but he gets just a little too "cute" in the final scene.

Blame it on the script, more than anything else. I suspect the studio was afraid that, without a sappy ending tacked on (out of nowhere), audiences would find that film too much of a downer. (That same underestimation of their audience led them to retitle "Farewell, My Lovely" to "Murder, My Sweet" in its US release.)

As to Garner's portrayal, Time Magazine's review at the time noted (correctly, I believe) that he "has the wisecracks down pat, but lacks an essential toughness" for the role. I'm not sure whether I blame him for this so much as the script itself. Rather than filming it as a contemporary piece, I'd have liked to see how it would have played with Garner in a 40s setting.

Regards,
Dud

[–] benjamin_davison 17 years ago

Agreed Garner even looks how I expected Marlowe to look, Tall, dark, brauny, chiseled, it's a shame really. Actually I would love them to have a proper go at Chandler's books in a series with say Christian bale in the lead.

[–] rpniew 16 years ago

This is a bit off the wall, but I think maybe thirty years ago someone might have considered using Charles Grodin as Marlowe. I just reread "The Big Sleep" and for some reason I could see him handling the wisecracks and the sarcasm perfectly. True, we isn't a "tough guy,", but Marlowe wan't really all that physical. He spent most of his time getting the crap kicked out of him anyway.

[–] shadschroeder 16 years ago

I love this movie and James Garner in it. I remember watching it when I was a kid at the movie theater in Cape Charles, Virginia and deciding then that I wanted to be a private eye.

But I still think Robert Mitchem was perfect (okay, maybe a bit old) as Marlowe in Farewell, My Lovely. I'm still trying to forget his Big Sleep, though.

[–] coldwind9 16 years ago

Wow. Rpniew, you may have something. Of all the people I think of as Marlowe, and I've seen them all and none of them are 100% correct, Grodin might have come pretty close. I guess we'll never really know...

[–] dhmason6155 16 years ago

I think Mitchum was the best Marlowe ever. It should have been him instead of Bogart in The Big Sleep. Too bad when he finally got around to playing him, it was too late, he was too old and, for some reason, it was in the wrong city (London).

Get me a meeting with Spielberg.

[–] filmklassik 13 years ago

Sorry but you're only half-right, mason. Mitchum's execrable THE BIG SLEEP was set in contemporary London, that's true, but the wonderful FAREWELL MY LOVELY, from 3 years before, was set in 1940s Los Angeles.

Mitchum made a terrific Marlowe, but then so did Bogart, Garner and, in his own shambling, hardscrabble way, Elliot Gould.

[–] flask 16 years ago

I prefer Powell as Marlowe, but Mitchum was a close second. If only Mitchum had been cast as Marlowe at a younger age circa Out of the Past (1947). Even so, no actor has fully captured the emotional depth of Raymond Chandler's literary protagonist.

[–] rick-220 16 years ago

For me James Garner was to Marlowe what Roger Moore was to Bond. Too lighthearted and "funny" but not cynical and tough enough. He just doesn't radiate any danger...

voting history: http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=629013

[–] notesfromunderground 15 years ago

I also liked Gould's performance as Marlowe in The Long Goodbye. He was funny, but also dark. Plus, I love the ending to the film version of The Long Goodbye as it is just such a down ending. Oh, and I've always thought that either Tom Hanks or Russell Crowe would make a really good Marlowe. I don't have a favorite Marlowe portrayer however as I though they all were good in their own ways.

[–] bradjanet 15 years ago

I rather like "The Little Sister", certainly the sourest in tone of the Chandler novels ... I liked it better than "Lady in the Lake" and "The High Window" ... I guess tastes vary.

I'd like to see a remake of this done in period, with an A director ...who would be a good Marlowe from the current crop of actors? ... James Gandolfini would have been good a few years ago, but is getting a bit too old for the part.

But you ARE Blanche ... and I AM.

[–] TV Boy 15 years ago

Very interesting ... this conversation is very much the same one we Spenser fans have over Robert Urich vs. Joe Mantegna. Urich is the sentimental favorite of many fans (a la Bogart), but Mantegna "got" Spenser's humor and was able to carry it across in his performances (Garner).

No one here mentions Powers Boothe as Marlowe. I enjoyed him in the HBO TV eps from the '80s.

[–] SatyrIX 14 years ago

honestly, i find Garner has the curious distinction of never, ever presiding as the lead in a great movie. judging from the trepidatious remarks on this post, i have to believe this film also basically sucks, in spite of the great names attached. if someone can dissuade me from following the Garner rule with a noteworthy exception, i'd be open to it.

[–] dustinthewind25 14 years ago

I take it you wouldn't count "a" lead (not "the" lead) in Great Escape.

But frankly you have a point, and I didn't realize it til your post prompted me to browse through his filmography.

Doesn't take away from the fact that he's hugely entertaining in Rockford and Maverick.

[–] filmklassik 13 years ago

Sorry, Satyr. Even if your "never presiding as the lead in a great movie" premise is true of James Garner (and I'm frankly a little dubious, actually), why I wonder is the only alternative to a "not great" movie a movie that, in your parlance, "basically sucks"?

And by the way, Garner is as prominent as anyone in THE GREAT ESCAPE, which was indisputably brilliant, and is also the lead in the terrific DUEL AT DIABLO, SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF and THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY.

[–] Muskox53 12 years ago

Not to mention THEY ONLY KILL THEIR MASTERS (despite the terrible title, a wonderful clever film).

[–] Muskox53 12 years ago

Correction: just re-watched TOKTM, and it wasn't nearly as good as I had remembered it. And the problem was mostly Garner (and the script); he's not got the emotional range or charisma to sustain a 2 hour film. Too bad!

[–] carolineno 10 years ago

Oh I loved that when I was a kid. There were several Doberman movies at the time, what a crazy trend.

[–] nte1igentwon 13 years ago

Elliot Gould was great in The Long Goodbye.

[–] rpartrid-2 10 years ago

in my opinion the worst marlowes were george montgomery and robert montgomery - I liked dick powell and humphrey bogart; elliott gould and powers boothe the others not so mucch. Being elderly I remember marlowe being played by Van Heflin and later Gerald Mohr

[–] rpartrid-2 10 years ago

Too clarify they played the role on the radio version - and both were credible largely because of their voices