Marlowe (1969) – Film Review

Director: Paul Bogart
Cast: James Garner, Gayle Hunnicutt, Carroll O’Connor
Certificate: 15

By Sarah Morgan

It’s a bit of an understatement to say that when it came to creating dark crime thrillers, Raymond Chandler really knew what he was doing – it’s a bit like describing Harry Kane as merely a bloke who knows how to score goals.

Chandler was, nevertheless, the brains behind so many classic stories, including The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely and The Long Goodbye. They are landmarks in hard-boiled detective fiction, and they’ve all been turned into movies too.

The Little Sister, from 1949, is less well known, as is its big screen version, which was simply retitled Marlowe and has a perhaps surprising leading man – James Garner. Marlowe is usually a rather downbeat character, as depicted by the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Dick Powell and Robert Mitchum, but as those of us who grew up watching The Rockford Files know, Garner always had more of a twinkle in his eye.

“Incriminating photographs”

Nevertheless, if you’re unfamiliar with Chandler’s work, Garner probably appears to deliver a decent performance – it’s full of his customary charm at any rate. The story has been updated too, to the late-1960s, when the film was made.

We first meet Marlowe after he’s been hired by a young woman to find her missing brother. His case takes him to a hippie commune, and later brings him into contact with a troubled if successful actress, an exotic dancer, a dodgy doctor and all manner of other weird and wonderful characters.

Marlowe’s life is under threat on several occasions, and while the hunt for the elusive sibling is what kick-starts the tale, it’s blackmail, incriminating photographs and their negatives that prove crucial to his investigation.

Funnily enough, there is a Bogart at work here – sadly not Humphrey, but director Paul. He handles the action well, and the film itself is reminiscent of other thrillers made around the same time, in terms of their look at any rate, including Harper, which starred Paul Newman, and John Boorman’s unrivalled classic Point Blank. I was also left wondering if Clint Eastwood saw the film before making Dirty Harry, because his cop and Marlowe appear to share the same wardrobe.

“Darker touch”

This film, however, isn’t as impressive as any of those other movies. It needed a darker touch, or perhaps not calling the central character Philip Marlowe might have worked better – Garner just isn’t anybody’s idea of the man Chandler created, and that’s coming from someone who generally enjoys the actor’s work.

The supporting cast is, however, impressive, including a young Bruce Lee who basically appears, destroys everything in his path, and then leaves in a memorable fashion – he’s already got ‘star’ written all over him, despite having only a few minutes of screen time. Rita Moreno, Gayle Hunnicutt, Carrol O’Connor, Jackie Coogan and William Daniels, who recently celebrated his 99th birthday, also feature.

Marlowe is a frustrating film for me – it’s so close to being a masterpiece, but just misses the mark. Still, it’s an interesting entry in both the crime genre and late-1960s productions. This Blu-ray edition comes with a collectors’ booklet featuring new writing about the subject, which is both enlightening and entertaining.

Sarah Morgan( Writer )

Sarah Morgan studied film journalism at post-graduate level with the BFI and has been writing about TV and film for PA Media’s newspaper, magazine and new media customers since 1996. She’s also written for a wide range of other publications, both online and in print, including the book Offbeat and Intermission magazine, and is a regular contributor to the Talking Pictures TV podcast. When she isn’t watching movies, she’s collecting and reading vintage crime and horror paperback books or, for her sins, watching her beloved Sheffield Wednesday.

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