The Long Goodbye

One of the most labyrinthine and controversial neo-noirs ever made, Robert Altman’s satirical masterpiece deconstructs the Philip Marlowe legend for a selfish, self-obsessed 1970s Hollywood. Elliott Gould shines as a rumpled, cat-food-buying Marlowe who is cast adrift when his best friend (Jim Bouton) is accused of murder and flees to Mexico. As Marlowe untangles a web of alcoholic novelists, dangerous gangsters (Mark Rydell), and family secrets, he discovers that loyalty is a meaningless relic. Sterling Hayden is dazzling as a self-destructive writer caught in the chaos, and an early appearance by Arnold Schwarzenegger adds to the film’s cult status. Fatalistic and bleakly funny, it shattered the blueprint of the traditional detective story and influenced countless modern subversions, most famously The Big Lebowski.