The Lack of Blank Space in Altman's The Long Goodbye - Cora

After watching The Long Goodbye By Robert Altman, I realized how important the “in between” moments were in setting up the mood in the novel. 

 

Specifically, in the movie adaptation, the plot moved a lot faster than in the book. For example, it is established at the very beginning of the film that Marlowe has a close relationship with Lennox. We don’t see Marlowe first encountering Lennox for the first time at the party and later develop a comradere with him through several encounters. As audiences, we just know from a single line of dialogue that they are friends, and the kind where one is just willing to drive another from LA to Tijuana no question asked. In general, the events just take place in the movie with less of a turn around time. We don’t see the pauses between the plot points. While the narrative style in the movie seems more efficient and better captures the audience’s attention, I think the blank moments in the books do a better job at setting the gritty, dark mood in the books. Because the characters seem to speak less and spend more time alone, we notice the distance between the characters more. The silences and pauses defined the hardboiled mood in the novel, and the limitations of storytelling through film did not completely capture that. 

 

A large part of this lack of blank space in the movie, in a sense, can also be seen from Marlowe’s characterization in the movie. In the book, we know Marlowe as being a somewhat cynical and sarcastic character. But we learn about his tru personality through the way he thinks, precisely in those moments of pause where he sits alone in his apartment or drives alone in his car. This is not the case in the movie. Marlowe is still a lonner in the movie. However, in order to convey his sarcastic personality, we get a lot of scenes where Marlowe just mutters sarcastic comments to himself. The audience cannot hear the actor’s thoughts, so he’s required to speak them out loud in the film. I feel like that takes away from the guardedness in his personality described in the books. 

Regardless of that, I really enjoyed the music that is used in the film. Specifically, I think the song “The Long Goodbye” perfectly captures the smokey and melancholic mood of Chandler’s story. Notably, John Williams is the composer for the song. This jazzy piece feels very different from some of his more famous film scores (such as the ones he wrote for Jurasic Park and Star Wars,) which I find very interesting.