Dir. Paul Bogart, US, 1969, 96 mins, in English
Cast: James Garner, Rita Moreno, Gayle Hunnicut, Carroll O’Connor, Sharon Farrell, Bruce Lee
Review by Colin Dibben
Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe (Garner) is looking for a young woman’s brother. He was last seen in a rundown hotel full of goddam long-haired hippies.
While Marlowe is looking upstairs, the hotel receptionist is murdered with an icepick to the neck. Then the same happens to a mysterious guy wearing a toupee, who is also looking for the brother.
Marlowe sees an opportunity to drum up some extra ‘protection’ business from the Los Angeles TV industry. His leverage is that he saw glamorous star Mavis Wald (Hunnicutt) leaving the room in which the second murder took place. But is Mavis guilty or is she being framed?
If you know anything about classic American crime fiction, you will know who Philip Marlowe is. You will probably also know that the character has been played well in several amazing films from the 1940s, especially by Humphrey Bogart (The Big Sleep) but also by Dick Powell (Murder, My Sweet) and Robert Montgomery (Lady in the Lake).
Garner’s Marlowe has simply less character than Bogart’s – no relation to the director of this film, by the way – or Powell’s, and certainly less world-weary charm than his own Jim Rockford from the much-loved TV series The Rockford Files (still 4 years away when Marlowe was released).
Director Bogart’s background was TV and I think it shows. The dingy, set-bound interiors may pay tribute to classic noir films but their presentation looks flat and cheap in colour; there is very little in the way of expressionist shadow or ultra-sharp chiaroscuro here to show that care has been taken in production design and lighting.
When filming takes place in real locations, such as the famous Bradbury Building, the film breathes a bit, but otherwise it feels set-bound, airless, somewhat claustrophobic. The opening shot, which sees the camera behind Marlowe’s head as he drives up to the hotel, is as dynamic as the camera work gets.
The flat lighting highlights some pretty un-nuanced acting. Rita Moreno is the best thing about the acting talent, given that Garner is always watchable but just not as much here as elsewhere. Rita’s eyes signify throughout, plus she gets a sexy dance number at the climax of the film. She is a class act whatever she does.
Somehow, the tension and the catharsis of the plot reveals all fall flat. This is not because of the plot complexity of Raymond Chandler’s The Little Sister, on which Marlowe is based: complexity worked in Howard Hawks’ The Big Sleep. Bogart and his production team have simply been unable to emphasize the key dramatic points in the narrative.
Some will know this film because of the two scenes featuring Bruce Lee, who gets to destroy Marlowe’s office with flying kicks and punches before making a rookie mistake and flying off a rooftop. His input is a nice addition that makes you rue his dying young … and also the lack of an extra giving insight into the film’s production history. I wonder what James and Rita made of Bruce?
Instead, we have a dreadfully self-obsessed ‘appreciation’ by film historian Howard S. Berger, which is definitely of the ‘me me me!’ school and completely anecdote free. If you want to know about the history of Howard’s film fandom, this is one to watch.
Marlowe is out in a limited edition Blu-ray from Arrow Video on 8 June 2026.
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