Farewell, My Lovely (1975)

Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe is hired by paroled convict Moose Malloy to find his girlfriend Velma, former seedy nightclub dancer.

Director:

Dick Richards

Writers:

David Zelag Goodman (screenplay), Raymond Chandler (novel)

Stars:

Robert Mitchum, Charlotte Rampling, John Ireland

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Mitchum	...	Marlowe
Charlotte Rampling	...	Mrs. Grayle / Velma
John Ireland	...	Nulty
Sylvia Miles	...	Mrs. Florian
Anthony Zerbe	...	Brunette
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Billy Rolfe
Jack O'Halloran	...	Moose Malloy
Joe Spinell	...	Nick
Sylvester Stallone	...	Jonnie
Kate Murtagh	...	Amthor
John O'Leary	...	Marriott
Walter McGinn	...	Tommy Ray
Burton Gilliam	...	Cowboy
Jim Thompson	...	Mr. Grayle
Jimmy Archer	...	Georgie (as Jimmie Archer)

Storyline

This, the second adaptation of Raymond Chandler's novel, is much closer to the source text than the original - Murder, My Sweet (1944), which tended to avoid some of the sleazier parts of the plot - but still concerns private eye Philip Marlowe's attempts to locate Velma, a former dancer at a seedy nightclub and the girlfriend of Moose Malloy, a petty criminal just out of prison. Marlowe finds that once he has taken the case, events conspire to put him in dangerous situations, and he is forced to follow a confusing trail of untruths and double-crosses before he is able to locate Velma.

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Plot Keywords:

jazz music | reference to joe dimaggio | boy | investigation | shot to death | 

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Taglines:

I need another drink ... I need a lot of life insurance ... I need a vacation ... and all I've got is a coat, a hat, and a gun !

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Genres:

Crime | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 August 1975 (USA)

Also Known As:

Adiós, muñeca

Filming Locations:

S.S. Catalina, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

EK, ITC Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film spent several days shooting on location at the Harold Lloyd estate. When Mitchum goes to meet Rampling at her place, the two are actually relaxing in Harold Lloyd's opulent office/den. The estate was used in a number of films during that period, including Shampoo with Warren Beatty, the Schwarzenegger vehicle Commando and an episode of the TV series Columbo.

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Goofs

The story is told in July 1041, but the hooker is reading a Whiz Comics dated Oct. 31 (and is a real replica of the 1941 issue).

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Quotes

Helen Grayle: To hell with polite drinking.

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Connections

Featured in The Man Who Shot Chinatown: The Life and Work of John A. Alonzo (2007)

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Soundtracks

I've Heard That Song Before
Words and Music by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn

User Reviews

Robert Mitchum at his hard boiled best.

This re-make of Raymond Chandler's work has the edge on the 1944 film. Robert Mitchum's face fits the film perfectly. His ageing hard boiled-looking features look like a relief map of the Rocky Mountains! In this movie Mitchum was as good he has ever been. He got better as he got older. What I also liked was the haunting but soulful musical score, at the beginning and at the end.

In the closing scene an atmosphere of rising crisis that seems to hang in the air; created by the soulful musical score. Marlow with the case all wrapped up and himself at a loose end; in the amusement centre playing the machines, picks up a discarded newspaper with "Tokyo" in bold print as the front page headline. Was this the late hours of the 6th of December in Los Angeles? A sailor and his girl, and a soldier in the background makes it seem so. Both the sailor and the soldier, and the whole of America blissfully unaware, that a Japanese armada has shaped a easterly course

across the North Pacific. That scene coupled with the soulful musical score is like a forlorn-sounding and doom-laden overture to what is about to happen with surprising and devastating suddenness on the following but quiet Sunday morning in Hawaii. It is not surprising that one of the songs is titled, "Sunday".