Mitchum's On The Case: Farewell, My Lovely

Robert Mitchum in Farewell, My Lovely

A number of actors have portrayed author Raymond Chandler's iconic private detective Philip Marlowe throughout the years, including Humphrey Bogart, Dick Powell, James Garner, James Caan, and more recently, Liam Neeson. The only actor to portray Marlowe more than once on the big screen is Robert Mitchum. Back in the early to mid 1970s, Mitchum had completed a pair of noir-tinged crime dramas, the character driven The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) and the action thriller The Yakuza (1974). He had done excellent work in both films, and his next project would be an adaptation of Chandler's second Marlowe novel, Farewell, My Lovely (1975), which had been filmed twice before. The story was first reworked as an entry in RKO's "Falcon" series, as The Falcon Takes Over (1942), and two years later, a more faithful rendition of the novel, Murder, My Sweet (1944), was released by the same studio.

Farewell, My Lovely is set in 1941 Los Angeles, where a just released ex-con named Moose Malloy (played by Jack O'Halloran, who appeared as one of the trio of Kryptonian super-villains in the first two Christopher Reeve Superman films) hires Marlowe to find his girlfriend Velma. Malloy has lost touch with Velma after being in prison for seven years, and he wants to reunite with her. The search for Velma takes Marlowe on a tour of both the high and low end streets of LA. He winds his way through a labyrinthine trail of lies and deception, discovers several dead bodies, and uncovers a host of dark secrets, but finds no easy answers. After all, this is a dark tale, and the movie is based on one of the best-loved literary thrillers from the golden age of noir.

While 1970s cinema is filled with a lineup of excellent neo-noir tales, including Chinatown, Night Moves, and Charley Varrick, Farewell, My Lovely is a throwback to the school noirs of the 1940s, with its moody cinematography by John A. Alonzo, and its lush score by David Shire. The direction by Dick Richards is solid and assured, and David Zelag Goodman's screenplay includes some key dialogue lifted directly from Chandler's novel. The cast is top notch, led by Mitchum's fine performance as Marlowe, and featuring a supporting cast chock full of familiar faces, including Charlotte Rampling, Anthony Zerbe, John Ireland, Sylvia Miles and Harry Dean Stanton. Sylvester Stallone and Joe Spinell, who would later appear together in Rocky, have small roles in the film. 

While many contemporary reviewers remarked that Mitchum was too old to play Marlowe, he projects just the right mix of low key charm and world weariness for the character. He's got good chemistry with the cast, including Rampling's sultry Helen Grayle, and Ireland's no-nonsense cop Lt. Nulty. Mitchum even gets to sing a bit with Miles' careworn ex-chanteuse Jesse Florian. Farewell, My Lovely is absolutely worth seeing if you're a Mitchum fan, and a Chandler devotee. He would reprise the role of Marlowe three years later in an inferior sequel, an adaptation of The Big Sleep, which inexplicably moved the story into the present day. That film featured another all-star cast, including Joan Collins, Oliver Reed, Candy Clark and Sarah Miles. Here's the trailer for Farewell, My Lovely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NgK_-g5b3c.