Marlowe

 I see that Prime has a new Marlowe movie out. I chose to watch the 1969 movie of the same title directed by Paul Bogart, written by Raymond Chandler and Stirling Silliphant, starring James Garner, Gayle Hunnicutt, Carroll O'Connor, and Rita Moreno. Jackie Coogan, William Daniels, Bruce Lee, and Kenneth Tobey are among the others I recognized in the film.

Marlowe has a problem. Orfamay wants him to find her brother. He gets a lead that takes him to a fleabag hotel. He doesn't find the brother, but he does find Jackie Coogan with a bad toupee. 

Coogan says he'll give him information if he gets any. As Marlowe leaves the hotel, he discovers that the clerk acquired a new piercing while Marlowe was upstairs--an ice pick in the brain. Marlowe returns Orfamay's $55 retainer. She's insistent, but Marlowe sends her on her way. 

At this point, or maybe after the next part, Marlowe gets a visit from Bruce Lee.

Lee does some minor remodeling on Marlowe's office and offers him a wad of cash to do nothing for a while, to not be looking for anyone. When Marlowe refuses, Lee goes into full contractor remodel mode, breaking everything in sight, including a leg of Marlowe's desk, the wall, and the glass in the door. We know we haven't seen the last of Lee.

Coogan calls from the Alvarado Hotel. He's got info on the missing brother and is offering a hundred dollars if Marlowe gets right over. Marlowe thinks it smells hinky, but goes anyway. The piercing craze must be catching on because Coogan has adopted the affectation by the time Marlowe finds him. His inspection of the new accessory is cut short by a short woman in black with a firearm. When he fails his saving throw to charm, she whacks him with the weapon and flees the scene. The hotel detective sees her run out and gets the license plate on the jag she's driving. Marlowe will later get that information and his girlfriend will let him know it belongs to the movie star Mavis Wald, played by Gayle Hunnicutt.

Marlowe does his own investigation before the cops show up and discovers that Coogan's toupee hides a ticket to a photo shop. Marlow later gets the pictures and see that they're photos of Mavis with Steelgrave--who was suspected of perfecting ice pick murders in Chicago or somewhere (I forget the place).

When Marlow goes to Mavis' apartment, he find Rita Moreno.

Mavis rejects his offer to help, but her boyfriend, whose name rhymes with heelgrave, has a couple goons explain things to him by ripping up his jacket in the search for photos and delivering a number of educational punches to his midsection.

Always resourceful, Marlowe goes to Mavis' manager or the relevant guy at the movie studio and gets the studio to hire him. Bill Daniels plays the guy.

At no point did Daniels break into song about the Declaration of Independence or try to pull rank as the school principal. 

Marlowe means to stir up Steelgrave and therefore takes his girl to Steelgrave's restaurant. He is told there's a telephone call for him, which he recognizes as a way to get him alone, and ends up on a balcony with Wong (AKA Bruce Lee). We totally see what's coming--but enjoy it anyway--when Marlowe dodges Lee's flying attack and the dragon enters a battle with gravity, which lands the final blow of the fight.

I forget why, but Marlowe goes to a doctor who may have had something to do with the missing brother. It may have been that Orfamay told him her brother was there.

Marlow has a chat with the doc who offers him a cigarette--which inspires an irresistible urge in Marlowe to spend several hours smelling the carpet.

When Marlowe has absorbed all the carpet odor he can take, he stumbles out of the room and hears a couple shots. He goes up the stairs to embrace the missing brother who staggers out to plant an ice pick in Marlowe's back. Brother takes his final exit down life's stairway with a bullet or two helping him on his way.

Carroll O'Connor, the police lieutenant (and this probably happened earlier in the show than where I'm putting), is getting a little weary of dead bodies turning up in Marlowe's vicinity. He has questions about why Marlowe's card was found on Jackie Coogan's body. Also, I forget when, Rita Moreno pays Marlowe a visit and they have one of the most interesting kisses I've seen on film.

SPOILER ALERT -- this movie is over 50 years old, but I'll bet most of you haven't seen it. If you plan to see it and don't want to know the end game, skip down to this point: ***

 

 

Marlowe goes home to find Orfamay trashing his place in a search for the missing photos. The detective had discovered a picture at the missing brother's place showing him, Orfamay, and Mavis as siblings. Mavis shows up and the sisters go bitter-sibling-girl-fight and it becomes clear that Orfamay was supposed to get a cut of the blackmail money that brother was supposed to get from Mavis. When brother didn't contact her soon enough, she came to California with her greedy cleats on. She sold out brother to Steelgrave for a grand and sent Marlowe over to intervene before Steelgrave could kill brother--but it hadn't worked out that way.

Later, Rita Moreno finds Marlowe to let him know that Mavis is at Steelgrave's and is in trouble, asking for him. She drives him to the place and leaves. He finds Mavis alive and stunned. Steelgrave may have been stunned earlier--just before the bullet in his chest left him very unalive. Marlowe tries to save the day by getting her out of there and staging the scene as best he can.

 Archie O'Connor isn't having it and tells Marlowe that he's not nearly a big enough meathead to buy this scene. He orders Marlowe arrested, even taking a punch at the titular detective. Fortunately for Garner's face, the sergeant steps in and catches the fist on his own mug. O'Connor is sobered and has Marlowe get out.

Marlowe's putting puzzle pieces together and goes to see Rita Moreno. While she performs her stage number, she confirms his suspicions that she's the one who killed Steelgrave--her old flame until he fell for Mavis--and Mavis pretended to be the killer. Marlowe goes to call the cops. The doc with the special cigarettes (an ex of Rita's) shows up and tries to rekindle the romance with a dose of hot lead. Although the bullet gets her attention, her mood is more moribund than amorous, and the doc tests the gun on himself with the same results. Marlowe drives away before the cops show up and the credits role.

***

What to make of this "neo-noir" from 1969? Would it have been better in black and white? Probably. It has Garner and Moreno and hits the notes of a basic Chandler story. Garner brings a different tone than Bogart did to the Chandler adaptation. He's great. He's different, but he's great; his Marlowe doesn't have far to go to arrive at Rockford a few years in the future. The ending lacked satisfaction in my opinion. The events in the film felt somewhat scattered or unfocused. I don't know whether that was a writing issue or a directing issue. The dialog stood out for me as the best part. Marlowe's wry quips may have lacked the deadpan gravel delivery that Bogart featured, but they were perfect Garner and provided the most consistent notes in the story. I'll have to watch it again to catch what I missed the first time. Maybe my opinion will change.

_______________________

On the writing front: It's happening. I spent part of yesterday re-reading, editing, and getting back into the bugmageddon story. I should start hearing back on short story submissions next month.