"Philip Marlowe, Private Eye" (1984) TV series 1984-1986

Director:

Peter R. Hunt

Seasons:

1 | 2

Release Date:

27 April 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery

Plot Keywords:

Detective | Private Detective

Awards:

7 nominations

Cast

Powers Boothe

...

Philip Marlowe (11 episodes, 1983-1986)

Runtime:

USA:60 min | 60 min (11 episodes)

Country:

UK | Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

David Wickes TV

Quotes:

Philip Marlowe: Hollywood's the kind of town where they stick a knife in your back and then have you arrested for carrying a concealed weapon.

The 1983 Episodes Were By Far the Best

Long before Sex in the City or Six Feet Under, HBO proved itself to be at the cutting edge of television when it released several episodes of Philip Marlowe, Private Eye, with Powers Boothe as the best Marlowe in film history (even better, in my view, than Humphrey Bogart, Dick Powell and Robert Mitchum). He's so authentic, so dead-on perfect, that I can't read Chandler's Marlowe stories without thinking about him. The episodes that aired in 1983 were, in my view, far superior to the series in 1986. The writing was better, the story lines were tighter, and they had a gritty, noirish atmosphere that made you think of Los Angeles in the early 1940s. Unfortunately, the 1986 episodes did not have the same Chandleresque seedy Los Angeles feel. For years, I watched and re-watched the original episodes on videotape, but--alas--I've long since lost those taped episodes and I haven't been able to find copies of them ever since. Let's hope HBO re-releases them on DVD. This was television at its absolute finest.

post-script: After writing this review, I discovered that the episodes are indeed available on DVD. What a great day I'm having!