MovieChat Forums > Marlowe (2023) Discussion > This could be amazing…

This could be amazing…


Or horrible. Hoping for the former. 😁

reply

Good cast and director, but they all seem a bit old, I hate to sound ageist but I don’t picture Phillip Marlowe as an old guy in his 70’s.

Maybe it'll be something like Mr Holmes? Marlowe's last case.

reply

Neesom can play it younger, so not worried about the pedigree.

reply

I can't picture Neeson as Phillip Marlowe but I hope it works and they can reproduce the Bogart/Powell era atmosphere.

reply

Well that seems unlikely but it could still work.

reply

or the Robert Mitchum one.

reply

Despite being a huge fan of Bogart, who nailed the role in The Big Sleep, I believe that Dick Powell, of all people, was the best screen Marlowe of all of them. Before watching Murder, My Sweet, I assumed it was going to be lousy, because there was no way Powell, who I only knew as "the juvenile" in musicals and from comedic roles, could ever pull off a character like Marlowe. How wrong I was.

reply

Best Marlowe IMO was Powers Boothe in the HBO series. But the scripts wrre weak

reply

That was a great series. I don’t think the scripts were weak at all. They were short stories or novellas by Chandler. Red Wind is one of my favorites - “There was desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch.”

I also loved The King in Yellow. Anyone know where you can stream these?

reply

Season 2 is available on Amazon Prime.

I bought the entire series on DVD a few years back. IMO the heavily adapted stories don't holdup; Boothe's performance does

reply

Agreed that Powell was good

reply

Alan Ladd in The Blue Dahlia was really good. It isn’t Marlowe but it was written by Chandler. I still like best Bogart as Marlowe and as Sam Spade. I’ve watched both The Big Sleep and Hammett’s Maltese Falcon a million times. I didn’t realize Dick Powell was before Bogart. I think people forgot Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye with Elliott Gould. It was a very good movie in the 70s. Gould also does the audiobooks. I think Neeson will be great as Marlowe especially next to Diane Kruger.

reply

or the James Garner on with Bruce Lee

reply

I'd bet against it. They never can do this right. Neeson is not a character for that time.

reply

I think he would have been a good choice for Marlow once - might be a bit old now. But I've just realised Neil Jordan is the director so that makes it a little more interesting.

reply

If you mean film can't get Marlowe right, then we agree. The Big Sleep is great, but it's not Marlowe. Tho I say Powers Booth captured the essence in the HBO series from the 80's. However, the scripts were weak.

reply

Neeson as Philip Marlow? Neil Jordan directing? Intriguing for sure

reply

Both could use a solid hit. I'm glad to see Neeson in a more dramatic role for once.

reply

No, this looks good. Thanks for letting us know. I love everything Raymond Chandler and although this isn’t - it’s based on a book called The Black-Eyed Blonde by renown author John Banville, under Benjamin Black. Kruger is amazing. Neil Jordan is amazing and Neeson can be if he’s given good material and quit remaking other movies already made in Europe that were already great. This will be LA in the 50s. We have to wait until December. I will see if the book is any good. Love stuff like this.

reply

Just about every movie ever made could have been amazing ... yet the vast majority of them are awful.

reply