MARLOWE

US, 1969, 96 minutes, Colour.
James Garner, Gayle Hunnicutt, Carroll O’ Connor, Rita Moreno. Sharon Farrell, William Daniels, Jackie Coogan, Kenneth Tobey, Bruce Lee.
Directed by Paul Bogart.

Marlowe is based on Raymond Chandler’s novel The Little Sister (filmed later with John Savage).

James Garner is a 1960s-style laidback Marlowe, not dissimilar from his portrayal of Rockford on the television series The Rockford Files. There is a good supporting cast including a grief performance by Bruce Lee.

Many actors have portrayed Philip Marlowe on screen including Dick Powell, Humphrey Bogart, Robert Montgomery and Robert Mitchum.

This is a familiar crime film, similar to a number of films during the 1960s. Paul Bogart also directed Dean Martin in Mr Ricco.

1. Was this a good private eye thriller? What are the main conventions of this kind of film? How well were they illustrated? Used well? The significance and impact of the title? the focus on the man? the individual? The private eye detective as a hero? The quality of the mystery, the mystique, of the kind of film and the man? Raymond Chandler's hero, Philip Marlowe?

2. How suitable was James Garner for this role? His type of personality for a private eye? His droll and comic manner? The quality of the dialogue, the humour and Marlowe as a person, as an American hero doing hie job, involved in good and evil? Did the film develop his character much?

3. How well structured was the film? The initial clues, especially the quality of the credit sequences? Audience involvement in the mystery? The quality and revelation of the clues? The tying up of loose ends? How well did the film involve the audience in its mystery?

4. Comment on the atmosphere of private eye films: the sordid atmosphere, ambition and crime, violence? Was this authentically presented in this film? The impact in the film for audiences? The role of the various women in the film? Their introduction and relationships? Mavis and her success, her glamour, her love for her family, her love for Steel Grave? The victim of the other women? of jealousy and violence? The significance of her pursuit of Marlowe, her tantrum, the revelation of the truth about her, audience reaction to her finally? the uglier side of the family? Her relationship with her brother and the pressure on Mavis? Dolores and her jealousy and deceit? Her relationship with Xavier Idle, inevitable villainess? jealousy, the significance of the finale, the tying up of loose ends during the strip dance, her being killed?

5. The role of gangsters? Rick Carter and the inevitable violence? Quest and the blackmail? The nature of the murders and the victims?

6. The picture of the police apropos of private eyes? Trying to do their jobs and administer justice, keep their tempers? The conflict sequences between the police and Marlowe, their meaning?

7. The role of the doctor, his connection with the gangsters, with Dolores?

8. What was the final impact of this film? How significant a film?