The Long Goodbye (1973)
The Long Goodbye has been described as "a study of a moral and decent man cast adrift in a selfish, self-obsessed society where lives can be thrown away without a backward glance ... and any notions of friendship and loyalty are meaningless." (Wikipedia)
Here's a noir detective film Ack recommended for me to watch, so I gave it a shot. Overall I enjoyed this film, despite it having a fairly weak lead. The central private investigator in the film comes across as a bumbling goof relying on luck, rather than the kind of snide and calculative PI which I prefer. The overall plot was fairly good, but there were no strong twists or surprises, rather one long twist that slowly unfolds through the two hour long film. You'll likely guess the end before it happens, honestly. However, I loved the main "bad guy" in this movie, a crazy "hood" who was completely insane and unpredictable. At one point he was threatening the lead PI, and to make a point he smashed a bottle across his own girlfriend's face just to intimidate said PI. Also, there was a surprise (and uncredited) cameo with a very young Arnold Schwarzenegger playing a henchman. Another character in the film was obviously a parody of Ernest Hemingway, and his drunken ramblings were always entertaining.
Ultimately
The Long Goodbye was a good movie for sure, but it didn't live up to its ultimate potential. (Considering
Chinatown came out around the same time, and that film is utterly magnificent in contrast.) But I'd certainly recommend
The Long Goodbye to fans of Chandler's works obviously. It's a 7/10 for me though.