We're diving deep into "The Long Goodbye," a flick that flips the classic noir on its head, starring the ever-cool Elliott Gould as Philip Marlowe. This episode is all about how Marlowe, a man totally out of time, navigates the wild, weird world of 70s LA, grappling with loyalty, betrayal, and his own cat's demands. We chat about the brilliant Robert Altman and how this film's vibes have influenced a ton of modern cinema, from Tarantino to Anderson. Plus, there's some serious banter on the film's quirky characters and the absurdity of Marlowe's escapades, like trying to get cat food at 3 AM. So grab your popcorn, kick back, and let’s unravel this cinematic gem together!

Check out Anomaly on Social Media!

www.anomalyfilmfest.com

Instagram: @anomalyfilmfest

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnomalyFilmFest/

Join us for the Anomaly Film Festival every November in Downtown Rochester, NY!

Mentioned in this episode:

It’s A Lot

Check out It’s A Lot on Lunchador! https://feeds.captivate.fm/itsalot/

Common Thread

Check out Common Thread on Lunchador! https://feeds.captivate.fm/common-threads-hardcore/

Joe Bean Roasters

Joe Bean Coffee - Coffee that lifts everyone. https://shop.joebeanroasters.com

Connections with Evan Dawson

Connections with Evan Dawson - Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts

connections

The following footage is certified eg.

Pretty great.

It's Anomaly Presents with your friends, the podcastronauts.

Sounds like a lot of stupidness for baloney to me.

Oh, hey, everybody.

How's it going?

It's the Anomaly Presents podcast.

My name is Matt Austin.

Welcome to the podcast about the genre movies that inspired a genre film festival.

It's the Anomaly Film Festival in Rochester, New York.

That's why we're called Anomaly Presents.

We are a podcast.

A podcast going into his eighth year, also a festival going into its eighth year.

We are in Rochester, New York.

Beautiful, historic Rochester, New York.

We take place at the beautiful and historic Little Theater and Dryden theaters in the beautiful and historic month of November.

I'd like to introduce my beautiful and historic podcastronauts.

We've got the beautiful and historic Megan Murphy.

Hi.

Yeah, that's me.

Yes, eight eons have passed.

No, I'm just a regular human.

Don't worry about it.

Whatever.

A normal amount of years to be old.

That's me.

The beautiful and historic Kristen Pal Pachec.

Oh, yes.

Bravo.

This episode will be registered with the National Registry of Historic Monuments.

I think that sounds.

Yeah, that sounds right.

Why not, right?

Yes, it will be a. Yeah, it will be a part of the registry.

We are.

We are going to be registered in the top 300 API podcasts.

It's the American Podcast Institute.

It's voted on by.

By Leonard Malton and his peers.

So it's a very worried.

I. I remember when I said that we had to have like.

Like, if we had to, like, pull a lever and, like, take over, tonight might be the night.

Wait a minute.

You've been conspiring against me.

It's good to have plan B's.

Back up.

Back up.

Did I just.

Where he has files on every Justice League member.

Yes, exactly.

I feel like I just learned.

Exactly.

I've just learned I'm your Captain Queeg and I don't know if I like that.

And also, where are my fucking strawberries?

Anyway, we are here to talk about.

Really Sip.

Everything's fine, everybody.

Don't worry about it.

This.

This movie's got me feeling some feelings.

It's got me in feeling kind of.

Some kind of way.

Also the profiles.

Good luck.

My video is weird, so good luck to you if you're watching this on Instagram or wherever your videos may be videoed.

So we are talking about a classic from a renowned filmmaker.

I feel like every podcast, eventually, if They're a movie podcast.

They get around to talking about this filmmaker.

It's Robert Altman.

What else would you say about it?

Noir.

It's kind of become a touch point for modern noir, I guess.

Starring Elliot Gould in that run where Elliott Gould was the sexiest, coolest person on the planet.

The TV Guide cover with Grover.

Yeah, it's right in that same time, right?

Wait a minute, wait a minute.

Have you not seen that?

Yeah, it has to go.

It has to go with the.

The meme framing, which is.

It's like, hey, editor's like, hey, you got me that.

That cover of Elliot Gould.

The photographer's like, yeah, real sexy, just like you asked.

Absolutely perfect.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Like where he's smiling, where he's mean, mugging.

What?

Like this guy, the only one.

You're like, yeah, he's giving the smolder.

Grover's like, I'm just happy to be here.

Yeah, that.

That air era Elliott Gould.

Yeah, there we go.

Look at that.

The overalls.

So look at that.

Not.

Oh, another area era of Elliott Gould, which a sky is.

I kind of demanded.

I mentioned demanded because this is a reason to bring in Ocean's Eleven.

And as you all know, there was no way we're getting through this.

I was just on the phone with them and I said, okay, I'm just going to remind everyone that Elliott Gould is also an Ocean's Eleven.

Okay.

This is true.

And I'm a good sister.

I did a little bit of research because I knew, as my sibling would request that we did talk about Elliot Gould and his gambling times.

I guess it's a film that he made.

I don't think it was the one after, but the one after.

After this one where he played a gambling addict.

A California split.

Yeah.

Yep.

And it was very close to home because Elliott Gould also had a gambling problem in life, which brings it full circle with Ocean's Eleven.

Yeah.

Sounds like Robert Altman was a big party man, so I feel like if you were on his set, you didn't have a choice.

Yeah, he was an interesting character.

Well, it's interesting now that we're getting into the plot, but I would not be surprised if there wasn't some Altman in Roger Wade's character.

As.

Yes, I think it's very much if.

If there was a director insert.

I don't think it's exact insert, but Definitely.

Like, this seems to be coming from a place of knowledge, experience.

Yeah.

Where you're like.

I think I saw a clip of an interview that Robert Altman was like, yeah, I just drink so much.

Because it's like.

I think maybe he's not saying I drink so much.

He says I have so many things to do, like, the next day, that I think it's kind of impossible to get it done.

So I just don't go to sleep and, like, don't think about it.

Yeah.

The best coping habits, truly and for sure.

Yeah.

It's all the successful ones.

Hemingway, which is also a nice chunk of Roger Wade, is very much later day.

Hemingway, down to aesthetics.

Yes.

So the interesting thing I found out as I was doing a little bit of research here, the house that they're in, the way.

It's Altman's.

It's Altman's house.

So were those people already there partying for that one scene?

Yeah.

Just roll the cameras.

Yeah.

You know, it's interesting that, like, so when you're introducing this, Matt, and just like, noir.

Neo noir.

Right.

I think there's, like, a couple different ways to look at this because you can read this as a complete destruction, deconstruction of, like, a film noir.

But there's also a part of it that is.

Yeah.

But also, isn't this kind of just a straight noir from a 70s perspective?

Which I think is interesting because we're talking about.

So it started.

The Long Goodbye is a Raymond Chandler novel starring Philip Marlo, who is a detective creator that he.

A character that he created.

And folks know him from, say, like, Humphrey Bogart.

And I think Dick Beauregard played him several times.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah.

And I think it's interesting because the character, in many ways, is the same.

They've just put him in a different.

What they call him.

They.

They like to call him Rip Van Marlo because they played it as if he went to sleep in, like, the late 40s, early 50s, and he woke up in 73, like, with the same suit and the same car and the same look at the world.

Right.

Yeah.

This whole movie is him being like a fish out of water.

Right.

Like.

Yeah.

Nobody doesn't understand anybody.

He wants to be understood.

He wants human.

He wants that connection.

Yeah.

But, like, I think a perfect example of that is which were his neighbors, where he's asking, hey, have you seen my cat?

And she's like, do you need a hat?

And he's like, no, you're not fat.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think that, like, when this was first released, it had, like, mixed reviews and stuff, and a lot of people thought it was kind of making fun of.

Of Philip Marlo and.

And film noir, which is not how I see it.

But then again, I. I'm.

I didn't come from it as, like, I know film noir, but I. I didn't come from it as, like, a big Philip Marlo fan.

Just I know the character, right.

And I think it's very interesting because I feel like this.

Feels like it very much is that character as I've seen it.

The.

And in fact, instead of the narration that you usually get in Philip Marlo, it's.

It's just Marlo talking to himself, which is hilarious.

But also I think, yeah, like, what if that.

What would your narration actually be in real life?

You mumbling to yourself.

Yeah, right.

And I do think it is.

I. I think because it is crashing these two worldviews that I could see, someone sees.

Well, it's not traditional film noir because he doesn't have a clarity of a vision like the way a film noir detective usually does.

Like, they usually, like, they know what's going on.

They know what's going on.

There's good and there's bad.

This kind of, like, weird narcissism.

And as we'll talk about, he has this thing, which apparently Elliot Gould just improvised.

When he says, it's okay with me.

Yeah, it's okay with me.

And that.

It's almost like Marlo trying to convince himself it's okay until it's not.

Until the end, when it's not.

It's almost like trying to take on the ethos of an era that he's not from, because a lot of folks are just kind of rolling through.

Like, we see all these different variations of, no, this is fine.

It doesn't matter, so why not?

And you realize that Marlo isn't.

And I think that's why the Corvus character is the same, because in the end, he can't.

He can't just go like, well, nobody cares anymore, or, well, you know, he couldn't anymore.

And I think that's one of the main ideas in this movie, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

He's totally a man out of time and just trying to figure out where his space is.

And also, it's.

I saw someone, as I was going through, too, just describing him as just a schlub.

Like, you think of your Philip Marlowe I mean, at a certain point he was like the super suave, cool.

Yeah, Almost like a proto James Bond kind of character.

Like very cool.

You know, girls want him, men want to be him, like that kind of thing.

And this Marlowe is very much.

Not that this movie beats the shit out of him.

Like for most of the film he's just buffeted by this way, that way.

Just trying to navigate, like he's lost, like his cat.

I was gonna say, from the moment.

You see him, he's like a cat's bullying him.

He's been defeated by his cat.

You know, like curry brand cat food is just ruining his Life.

Hey, it's 3:00 the morning.

Go get me the kind of food I want.

Got completely roasted by the gentleman stocking shelves.

Like, oh yeah, buddy, I don't care about your cat.

Like, it's all the same.

Which anyone who's ever owned or had to watch after a cat knows they are very finicky.

You cannot just pick up any can of.

They know their brands.

The moment he tries to start to improvise with the cottage cheese and egg,.

I was like, dude, buddy, no, this.

Is not going to end the way you think it's going to end.

Yeah.

He goes and buys it and stuffs it in the empty can.

Yeah.

And he walks back out because he closed the door.

He's like, oh, I'm sorry, don't worry, I just gotta get a cigarette.

Then I'm feeding you.

As if he wasn't just like, hey, not even with a spoon, just his bare hands from one can into another.

Because the only other utensil I think he has is a pie turner, improbably so he's trying to do it with the pie turner and then just gives up and just starts stuffing it in the can bare handed, puts the top on it and goes through the pantomime of opening the can in front of the cat.

Amazing.

So it's fascinating to me.

It's like, so what a.

What an interesting way to start a film.

What an interesting way to start a film.

And yet we've already established that this Marlow is, well, perhaps seen from this lens, a loser.

But also it's going to sound about like loyal.

Like he's trying to impress like this cat who is his friend.

As much as a cat can be.

Right.

And I think that does establish a.

And then the cat just goes.

And maybe it is a portent for the next creature who wanders into his apartment, who we would also classify as a friend.

Yeah, yeah.

Terry.

Terry Lennox.

Lennox comes wandering into his apartment and asks a favor.

Well, we see Terry, like, trying to get in right to the gate because he lives in a gated area, gated community, and he has, like, scratches on his face.

Yeah.

I was going to mention what's very interesting in the beginning of the film.

You don't know what you're seeing, but what we are seeing is Eteri with scratches on his face, plus bruised and bloodied hands that he puts driving gloves on before he goes to Marlo's.

But we don't know even why we'd hold that in our head.

It's only by the end.

And then you rewatch it, you're like, oh, shit, the movie's telling us from the beginning.

But, like, Marlo don't know, and we don't know enough to know.

You know?

And by the same virtue, even if Marlo noticed, I don't think he would want to, because that's his friend.

Yeah.

You know, that's the thing he just sees.

And as a friend, like, okay, so your friend comes and says, hey, it's like three o' clock in the morning.

Drive me to Tijuana.

And Marlo just does it.

Yeah.

Like, he doesn't.

He's.

He.

In his head, this is what friends do.

Like, hey, don't.

Don't worry.

Obviously, you're in a bind.

Yeah.

And he also is interesting because you think Detective is very, like, inquisitive, but he says, oh, you and the wife are fighting again.

Like, I don't want to hear about it.

Right.

Terry goes, yeah.

Oh, you want to know more?

And he's like, no, no.

Yeah.

What's super interesting is.

And I didn't actually know this game was called this until I was reading up stuff.

So that game they played with the.

The dollar bills.

Yeah.

That's Liars Poker.

The first thing we see them engage with is called Liars Poker.

Again, the movie's kind of telling us.

But, like, Marlo don't.

Would not be ready to hear this part of the movie is him getting to that point.

And we don't know to be on our guard around Terry, besides the fact that he does kind of come across as a douche.

But, like, you know, people have douches that are friends.

Yeah.

It doesn't mean that they're a criminal or that just means, you know, he's kind of a careless dude who married rich.

Yeah.

You know, which is what is kind of how he's presented.

Right.

For sure.

One of the things I want to call out here too, is the actor that portrays Terry not really an actor.

And that's kind of a through line through this movie.

That's Jim Bouton.

He was a former professional baseball player turned author.

He wrote two books that were kind of like, I guess, of sorts of like the Baseball Clubhouse.

He was kind of like the man's man.

So his whole series of books is just like the shenanigans the boys get up to in the clubhouse kind of stuff.

Like hot footing each other and all that other kind of stuff.

But he's got kind of that charisma.

He's giving jock.

He's giving you drawn up, like jock.

Like, is it the jawline, the haircut?

Yeah, yeah.

Ne' er do well jock.

Right.

That is the entire vibe.

But it's just an interesting thing because we have that in a couple different situations too.

Once we get to our friend Marty a bit later, it's the same kind of thing.

So it's an interesting thing.

And it's something that Altman tends to do just as a rule.

It's not always professional actors, which is just an interesting call out on the side.

Just because it's that weird naturalism that he tries to pull into.

Yeah.

He cast someone that you would see as like someone who's kind of slid through life on looks and a particular talent.

You know, probably reaching that point where, like, I gotta start making.

I gotta figure out what's my next sounds like grift.

Yeah.

And he comes across like that and then we know more.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Terry 100 that.

Yeah.

And then things start to go south for Marlowe.

A little bit like Marlow when he gets back from Tijuana.

The dawn is rising.

And instantly two detectives in his face.

Yep.

Trying to figure out his.

His whereabouts last night and.

And what happened with Terry, because apparently the news traveled faster than Marlo back to LA that bad things have happened and Terry's wife is no longer Terry's wife.

Terry's wife is now dead.

Terry is also dead.

And Terry, he doesn't know this yet.

Like, at first they're saying, like, we're trying to find Terry.

And Marlo, being a loyal friend, is stonewalling them.

I mean, that's why he ends up in the paper, is he ends up going to jail for three days because he won't.

He won't say anything.

Like he won't tell them what he.

Where he went with Terry.

Yeah, he doesn't.

Kind of funny.

I wish I had subtitles when I watched this part because.

Because Altman likes doing superimposing dialogue.

Yeah.

It's a lot of overlapping dialogue.

Right.

Where we're seeing, like.

Yeah.

Kind of.

Lots of reflections.

Yeah.

Yes.

But I will say this is a time where he does seem, like, more competent because he is giving them the run around and he's.

He knows.

Calling out their stupid bit.

Right?

Yeah.

Oh, this is when you say it's not, you know, and.

Yeah.

And when they take downtown, like, he knows exactly.

He's putting ink everywhere.

He's talking to the detectives that are on the other side of the glass.

Through the one way.

For them, it is only when they show him the photo of Sylvia Lennox and, like, what had happened to her, where he paused because he said, okay.

He.

Like, this is serious.

Like.

Like, she wasn't just shot.

She was beaten to death.

Right.

And that's, I think, part of the reason why he's like, well, my friend Terry could never have.

He was my friend.

I do not believe this is.

He's capable of this.

So he kind of like, is.

You know, he's not going to help the police.

They're telling him, oh, no, we know.

And then he's in jail for three days, funnily enough.

So part of that weird.

We hear every conversation.

His.

His bunk mate in that.

That's David Carrity.

Yeah.

The one who's just up there talking about, like, yeah, soon it's just gonna be like, they used to bring in for murder.

Now it's just for smoking pot.

Amazing.

Like, there's no need for all that stuff.

I know a lot of that's improv.

But they just got him up there on the upper bunk just talking.

And the cops, like, you think your lips are gonna fall off.

Yeah.

Right.

But then I love that.

Like, so Marlo's like, why.

Why are you, like, setting me.

I haven't said anything.

And they're like, well, it's not a problem anymore because the Mexican authorities told him that they found Terry's body.

He committed suicide, and he wrote a confession.

So it's all buttoned up.

He doesn't have to know anything.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So Marlo's like, okay, I guess.

Well, he doesn't believe Terry did it, but he's like, what else?

They don't have any use for him.

So now he's got to go back.

And where.

This is why he can just.

Second mystery starts.

Yes, though has cannot.

You know, because he's a.

He's a pp.

He's a PI so which I love our classic thing where he goes to the bar where he gets messages.

That's why.

Yeah.

He goes to the bar where they get messages, and that's where he learns that of this new job.

Yeah.

By the way, I want to call out a couple things in the bar.

Number one, the score for this movie is incredible.

It's John Williams and it's awesome.

Yeah.

Awesome.

A thousand different ways.

Thousand different ways.

Yeah.

I love this.

Is a guy learning it in the bar because the owner thinks it's going to help bring more people in to have some dude on the piano singing songs in a bar.

And it's a dingy bar.

It's not like it's.

It's not.

It is a bar where people go drink and not look at each other.

Yeah.

No, it's a place to get drunk in the daytime, if that gives you an indication of what kind of bar this is like.

And it's hilarious because the owner.

Super, does not want that.

So he's always introducing new stuff, like the piano player and the matches.

Yeah.

Like, yeah, you're gonna go to this bar and eat.

Yeah.

Which perfect Marlo reaction.

Do you see what else I got?

Sandwiches.

Huh?

Never.

Never heard of them.

Yeah.

And he finds it.

So it was a call from a.

A writer's wife.

So we have a writer, alcoholic writer, as we found out, Roger Wade, who sounds like he's had his best years are behind him.

Right.

And he has a wife, Eileen, and she's the one who called Marlo because she needs help finding her husband.

He's disappeared.

Yeah.

And this is kind of the kind of work that Marlo does.

Like, he goes, oh, yeah.

So like, divorce type cases.

You know, marital stuff, so might as well pick up a job.

He says he can fit it in.

We know he has no other jobs.

I appreciate the whole.

I'll.

I'll fit it in.

He's got to seem like he's got multiple cases.

Yeah.

He wasn't just in jail for three days.

Don't worry.

Even though it's in the news.

Yeah.

He was out of town.

He was out of town.

Out of town.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Right on the front page.

Right on the front page section.

At least the mug shot was hilarious because it was just the strip of photos, like the bowling alley.

Yeah.

He was, like, pulling faces on some of it.

He was taking it very seriously.

Yes.

It's great.

Great.

So, yeah, he goes out to visit Mrs. Wade in a gated community that looks somewhat familiar because we were Colony.

Malibu Colony.

And doesn't he just let himself in?

And then our Lovable Doberman just is like, yep.

Holy crap.

Well, she says, come in, Right?

She says, come in.

So it's not like he broke it, but, like, instantly this Doberman comes running down the steps like he's up against the wall.

Yeah.

That dog does not like him.

And it doesn't get better.

Not in the least.

And what we learn over the course of the movie is that dog doesn't like anybody except for maybe Eileen.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Eileen.

Great dog acting.

Great dog acting.

Yeah.

Fantastic.

So Eileen kind of.

Go ahead.

Go ahead.

Oh, no.

You got it.

Okay.

So Eileen kind of gives him the rundown of where her husband may or may not be, has an idea that he might be somewhere with this quack doctor, and sends him to find him at this private hospital.

Right.

Yeah.

It's under Dr. V. And he's able to kind of figure out, like, what that could possibly be, which is like, some sort of rehab clinic.

Yeah, it's a rehab of sorts.

And this is where you start to watch this movie and go, oh, no.

Yeah.

This definitely influenced a bunch of movies that we liked 20 years later, like Fletch and the Big Lebowski, because as Marlow's just.

He does Fletch his way into it.

He completely fletches his way onto the campus of this.

This hospital because he goes and asks directly the.

The orderlies for.

For Mr. Wade and for Dr. B, and they're not here.

So then he's just wandering around the courtyard.

Yeah.

Just wander out telling people he's got to deliver this book.

Right.

Yeah.

One of my favorite parts is we have Henry Gibson at that time known as More Comedy.

I think it was.

It was through Altman that he had some of his serious roles, like in Nashville here as, like, you know, saying he's not this Dr. Varinger until, like, as they're walking through the courtyard, you know, Marlo's like, are like, are you Dr. Vanger?

At the exact same time, a couple people like, hey, Dr. Varing.

Completely gives way to the.

Oh, this is where Fletch got this from.

Because it was that exact same beat.

Yeah.

But, yeah, it's a really good setup.

You're like, okay, so something's weird about this place.

And I don't think we ever get a full answer, but we know that it definitely is weird.

There's something strange going on at this, like, rehab.

Yeah.

But we don't need to know the full story.

It's just weird.

Like, why wouldn't.

You know?

It could be just be like, Wade doesn't Want people to know that he's there.

But why all this weird line like saying that I'm not the doctor?

Because he is the doctor.

And as we find out, yes, Wade is actually there because, you know, Marlo comes back in the evening, he.

Now he knows the place.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because he's got the lay of the land after trying to deliver the book.

So Marlowe just shows up at his.

At the window.

Window.

What?

While the doctor is trying to counsel Wade.

Oh, that's so.

Oh, no.

The doctor down the money, Right?

Yeah.

Right.

The only thing we ever hear him talk about.

Yeah.

Because we don't know if whatever services have been, like, given.

We don't know.

Because the only time anything we hear out of Varinger is, you owe me money.

I want my money.

Give me my money.

And he does seem to have a certain pull over Wade.

Like, there's.

Because, like, at first, like, Wade could have just left the room.

Like, he's a big dude, right?

But Wade seems to be controlling him in some way that only when Marlo shows up at the window and says, I'm taking him home, that he seems to go, oh, I can go.

Which is very interesting.

And we don't need to know the full answer.

We don't need to know the full answer.

But there's something.

A power dynamic there, right?

It's a very Svengali hold.

It's a very, like, Brian Wilson and Dr. Landy kind of vibe to it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Which is very much of that time.

It's.

It's that time in.

In LA where you have kind of these.

Health guru.

Health guru.

Kind of, like, weird.

Yeah.

Helping people with money.

Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You have lots of money.

All of my clients have lots of money.

And then I probably.

But I'm sure it's performed, but.

Right, then he knows your secrets.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I think that's it.

I think the movie doesn't have to go too deep into it because we get the gist of it.

There's a.

There's a power dynamic going on.

We already know that Wade is alcoholic.

We're already getting the sense that he's kind of violent at times and that he's just at a point where he feels like he can't write anymore.

And that's.

That's a dangerous place to be for a writer and a very vulnerable place, too, in both sense, you know?

But.

Yeah.

So then Marlo brings him back and.

Oh, God, does Wade just like you?

Can you get a feeling of what he's like?

Because he's just loud and obnoxious.

It's at night, he's, like, yelling, borish.

Yeah.

Bore.

Yes, Boris, Yes.

Yeah.

Because.

Is that when they have the conversation between him and, like, Eileen and Roger, is that when they kind of have.

No, because I think he.

I think that's a player.

Roger.

Just, like, he's going to pass out at that point.

But then I think Marlo and Eileen talk a little because Marlo at that point, like, notices that she has a bruise.

And, like, that's where Marlo is picking up that, like, Wade is probably violent when he's drunk, you know?

And I think he's starting to feel protective over Eileen, which is a kind of a classic femme fatale detective thing, though.

We can have a discussion about, like, what Eileen's choices are in this, because she is in a shitty situation.

But I also don't know.

She can't leave because it sounds like she has a.

It's interesting because the movie doesn't fully, like, what's her deal?

What.

What.

What's.

What's exactly her deal?

We get a little of it, but there's some choices I don't understand, but I don't know if we're supposed to.

Right.

They don't.

They don't really give you that much.

It's just these little passing conversations that she and Marlo.

Yeah.

We figure out, I mean, Esther, that she is manipulating Marlo because.

Yeah.

There is stuff that we don't know right now that she knows and she's not telling him.

But beyond that, I don't.

I don't know yet.

I, I. I don't know beyond a woman who wants out of a situation.

Yeah.

This is where Wade, like, Roger.

I think this is where her and Roger, like, have a conversation before he goes to pass out.

Like, they speak softly while Marlo's outside side, I think.

And she's like, it's one of the.

It happens at some point where we get this conversation between them.

Yes.

Yeah.

Where she's kind of saying, hey, like, we're not in love anymore.

The two of them are having this conversation.

Right?

Yeah.

He's like, well, she's saying, like, can you leave me?

They're both kind of saying, can you just leave me to one another.

Yeah.

And what's interesting there, right.

Is we can literally see Marlon reflection.

He's outside.

He's not the audience for this.

Like, if we're trying to figure out who's manipulating who and telling the story, I think this is the movie's way of Telling us that this is a true conversation between these two people.

Because she doesn't have.

She's not performing for Marlo.

She's literally like.

And.

And so you can see in that moment that, like.

Okay, then this isn't just.

She's not someone who, like, is, like, messing with Wade or, you know, trying to get, like, there's maybe had been at some point, feelings.

I'm not sure, but, like, there's almost like we have to free each other, but they can't.

Right.

You know, which is very.

Yeah.

So I think that's very interesting, though.

Yeah.

I'm glad that bring up that conversation.

Besides the way it's shot, which is really cool, I was gonna say.

Yeah.

It's also the best shot pieces of this movie.

I mean, it's all gorgeous.

Like, don't get me wrong.

Yeah, it's beautiful.

But the way he kind of gets framed in the back while the two of them are having this, like, really State of the Union real conversation about this.

And then he's just off in.

In the background through a window, trying.

Not to get touched by the waves.

Yeah.

Beach combing and trying not to get wet.

Yeah.

Which is such a.

Such a great metaphor for the entire movie, if we're really honest with each other.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's kind of.

It's interesting, too, that we see waves imposed over Roger.

Yes.

Yeah.

Because, like, that will be.

Yeah.

That's maybe slightly foreshadowing.

Yeah.

But, yeah, I think that's an incredibly important scene because we know it's not for anyone but those two people.

So it's probably the most truthful we're getting from either of them.

And we realize, oh, they're just, like, tied in weird knots.

And, yeah, bad decisions are probably being made.

Yeah.

Nobody's making good decisions here.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Prior to that, there are other bad decisions made.

That's when we get introduced to our.

Our friend Marty Augustine.

Holy shit.

Who is Jesus Christ?

Apparently, everybody in LA knows where Marlo lives.

Yeah.

Yeah, he never.

That's what's fascinating to me.

He's a private detective, and people are up there all the time.

Who's letting them in?

The guy at the gate is just over here.

And if you do, you know, you compliment him on his impersonation.

You're like, yep, he's in there.

Malibu Colony guy.

That guy's cracking me.

The fuck.

That guy is the best.

I had to figure out who he was.

And it's going to blow your mind if you haven't looked.

If you have indulge me for a minute.

That actor is Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh.

So your recollection of Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh, amazing.

If you think about it, it's not that far off from his.

Walter Brennan.

No, no, it was pretty great.

Yeah.

So it's interesting when we meet so as we get our crime boss storyline.

Cause we find out some more about Terry.

And we realized he was carrying a bag when Marlo had it right there.

Yeah.

And we.

And we knew what we found a little more about Terry during the interrogation scene in with the police where like Mar's like, oh, yeah, I met him when he was young.

Lennox wasn't his name.

He was kind of a wannabe hood in many ways.

And now we realize, oh, he never really changed.

He started doing.

You know, he married rich, but was still doing work, probably because he was gambling.

You get this idea that he was probably in deep.

So he had to deliver $355,000 to folks.

And guess what?

He.

He.

He didn't.

And now Marlo being in the paper's name is connected to Terry, so he wants his money back.

Yeah.

And pretty serious about it.

We can.

Yeah, go ahead.

He.

He meets Marlo outside and brings him up into the apartment.

He's got his girlfriend with him in the car and tells her just.

Just sit in the car and listen to.

Listen to the radio for a while.

We'll only get be a couple minutes.

So they go up and it's a pretty thorough grilling that our friend Marty is giving.

Giving Marlo, by the way.

Marty, also not really an actor.

Marty is a director, but by trade it's Mark Rydell.

You would know him as the director of On Golden Pond.

Yeah.

Amazing.

My mind.

It's a fascinating performance of someone who at first is like almost fascinating, charismatic.

You're like, this guy is fascinating to me.

Right.

You know, and I think that's why when that sudden thing of violence happens, it just like, it takes.

It takes your breath away because you don't see it coming.

You're absolutely stunned by it.

Yeah.

Because what ends up happening is it's.

He's grilling him about, you know, the whereabouts of Terry, whereabouts of the money.

Because, you know, $355,000 is quite a bit of money in.

And then the girlfriend shows up at the door and he.

He sits her down on the.

The couch and offers her a Coke.

They go into Marlo's ice box and find that he's got what is that?

I would say three quarters, but that's being generous about how much Coke is left in the bottle.

It cracks me up because it's.

So he said, you got a Coke in there?

Yeah.

He's not lying.

There is not lying Coke in there.

It is just.

It's one of the ice cat in two cysts.

The grossest bottle of Coke that could.

Possibly get it together, man.

Yeah.

So.

Yeah.

So Marty grabs the bottle, finishes the Coke, and then smashes it over his girlfriend's face in one of the most unprompted and stunning bits of violence.

Because he was just talking about like, he's like, I have a wife, I have kids.

This is where they're at.

This is.

What's her name?

I forget the mistress's name, but, like, is it Dolores?

I forget, but she's like.

He's like, I basically, literally right before, he's like, she's someone I care about the most in this world.

Right.

Like, he's talking about how like I care for.

And then just.

Just smashes this thick glass bottle.

Droids this green glass Coke bottle.

Like those things are.

Yeah.

And we see a bit of the reconstruction later and that's a little time after.

And then he usually just uses this as a threat.

And I like.

I like her.

I don't like you.

Like, that's literally as like this prop moment to almost intimidate.

Yeah.

Almost verbatim.

That's what I would do to someone who I love.

Yeah.

And I don't like you.

Yep.

It's like, yeah, yeah.

So then you're like, oh, this guy's dangerous.

Over with the lesbian commune.

Yeah.

Grand old time.

Had a good time.

Yeah.

We gotta talk about the nudist yoga people.

I love them deeply.

Could have had a hash brownie.

And so.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because what now Marty basically puts detail on Marlo.

He puts Harry on him.

Right.

Oh, oh, oh, bless his heart.

This is not the job for Harry.

He's not built for this.

Because before.

Because again, this is another smart move by Marlo.

Knowing how this goes is as soon as they leave his apartment, he know he's ahead of where they are at because he knows they're going to watch him and he wants to follow them.

Right.

So he.

He's.

By the time he's done, he's ahead of them and gets in his car and he sees that they leave the detail.

But here's the thing.

He didn't have to worry about it too much because Harry's already seen what the neighbors are Doing.

And it's a lot of nude yoga on the, like, outside.

Right.

And he's got binoculars, so he's looking somewhat in the direction of Marlo's apartment and not thinking why he's not seeing Marlo.

The rest of the night, he's fine.

The moment he, like, runs, like, him and Marlo at.

Or face to face, and he's just like, I think they're lesbians.

Oh, God.

In.

In the morning after, Marlo comes back and just says, hey, how you doing?

You're doing great, buddy.

Hey.

Yeah.

And he has a conversation.

He's like, well, it's called yoga.

I don't know what it is.

Yeah.

But one of my favorite parts of this movie.

One of my.

Yeah, it's also like.

So he's like, hey, I'm glad.

You know what?

I'm glad you're.

You're on my tail.

I feel good.

He writes down the address.

This is where I'm going to be later in case you lose me in tr.

Yeah, yeah, he does.

He gives him where he's going.

Tells him.

Tells him to straighten his tie.

Like, the whole thing.

Like.

Like, you look great, but you really got to fix your tie.

You got to.

Yeah.

He tells the guard to do the.

Bit and then do the wall.

He loves Walter Bren.

And he's with me out.

But, like, nah, he is so non.

A little bit.

Yeah.

And then what?

When they get there and Marlo, like, goes in and then he just hangs on the gate.

Yeah, he's like.

He's like, if you're trailing me, yes, I'm not supposed to see you.

But before we get too far, we have to remember that.

So when Marlo followed Augustine and the revolution, everyone who's not left to ogle at the yoga nudist, like, you see that he goes directly to Eileen Wade.

And we do not hear their conversation.

But now we know for sure there is a connection.

Because his first thought after not being able to find out where Terry's money is.

The money that.

Well, not Terry's money, his money that Terry had, is to go to Eileen.

Which is interesting.

Right.

And it's very fascinating that we don't really hear what's being said, but we see Marlo is outside, and he goes, okay, so there's another connection.

I don't know.

And she never mentioned.

Right.

Like, there's secrets being kept here, you know, because right before, the only connection between the Wades and the Lennox is they both live in Malibu Colony.

And they're like, oh, yeah, we you know, saw them.

Right.

We.

Besides that.

What?

Just.

They're just another, you know, rich couple here.

So I was like, oh, interesting, interesting.

But then.

Yeah.

So then he returns to Eileen that morning because he's trying to get more information.

He.

Now he knows that Augustine is involved, so he just.

He kind of goes back to the house.

And I think that is when.

Okay, let me make sure that is.

When they have the conversation, because it starts that Roger is starting to feel that maybe Marlo is kind of putting the moves on Eileen a little bit.

Yeah.

Because he's suave enough and.

And you know, Roger.

Possible.

Yeah.

But I also think Roger thinks anybody who is nicer to his wife than he is, which is not hard.

He's self aware enough to know that he's kind of a drunk asshole and has hurt his wife.

So I think, yeah, anybody.

And, you know, Marlo is like the knight errant.

He just has that feeling of like he.

He would come and, you know, so yeah, he's like, nah, I don't.

I don't like this.

This guy's coming around.

Right.

So that, that's where the conversation that we.

We were talking about with the two of them and Marlo out on the beach occurs.

And then from there, Marlow goes to Mexico.

Yeah, he's.

He's.

He's starting to.

One of his several trips because, like, things aren't adding up.

And he.

Yeah, he's very suspicious about the, The Terry story.

So he just goes to the.

Goes back into I.

Goes to Tijuana again, takes a bus.

The rest of the time he's going, it's a bus.

And I know they're in California, but I doubt it's a pleasant trip.

And he's making this multiple times.

Yeah.

And there's no air conditioning.

That ain't linen.

Yeah, it is.

Suit.

Jeez.

And this is.

Let's pause for a second.

And this is where we kind of get that Rip Van Marlo, man, on a time thing, because it's been multiple situations and multiple, multiple times.

And it'll come up again where the suggestion is, what's with the suit?

Always got the suit.

Yeah, that one part.

And you don't see him.

He never takes his jacket off as near as I remember.

Like, he's always at the end.

Yes.

And he took the tie off and gave it to Eileen when he went into the water.

Right.

That's the only time when there's mortal danger.

Does he try to.

That the tie might slow me down.

Yeah.

But that crashing man on a Tie.

It's an intense scene, but I'm like, the tie.

Okay.

The tie.

Because, yeah, it's a thing that he could get pulled on and, you know, so it's that whole.

But he's definitely, like, living that 40s gumshoe archetype where he's never.

The fact that he's not wearing a hat is a thing that really, like.

I feel like that's his one concession to time is like, somebody.

As I was reading about this, somebody's pointed out, like, the president didn't wear a hat, so Marlo wouldn't wear a hat.

Okay?

That's where that is.

So we're post jfk.

JFK didn't wear the hat.

So now the hat is passe.

But we still have to have the suit because we're doing business.

We are a certain type of man, right?

So he shows up in that woolen suit, you know, walking around the streets of Tijuana, and it is the most.

And then it's.

It's two dogs in flagrante delicto.

I feel like I can hear him the other side.

Like, no, stay on them.

Stay on them.

We got reality, and I want you.

To pull in on it.

I don't want you to.

Don't come off of it.

I want you to pull in on it.

You can't force that bit of reality.

Just.

It came on to screen.

You use it.

Gold.

That's gold, baby.

Yeah.

Again, it's.

It's another one of those things where it happened and it's like, oh, no.

Yeah.

This completely encapsulates this movie because that's exactly what this whole thing is.

It's just stuff happening.

Animalistic.

Yep.

This is it.

This is how it's gonna go.

Yeah.

And, yeah, Doggy dog.

Unfortunately, he.

He can't get too far with the coroner, but we get a little.

Yeah, he's got the corner.

The colonel.

The colonel, yeah.

So I love that.

Here's the thing.

I love that they have photos.

We get a feeling.

Oh, yeah, he's got.

He's got photos of.

Of in a.

Ice.

In a box.

They.

They are set with.

Oh, Terry Lennox is absolutely dead.

He killed himself.

We sent stuff back.

We sent everything.

Everything.

Everything.

No, he had two bags.

He had two bags.

No, we sent everything back.

Yeah, one bag.

It's all back.

Yeah.

So.

So he's.

He's like, okay, that's a wall.

But he knows that there's something there.

Right.

He just can't get it right.

And then is that when there's the party at the Wades, where a lot of stuff comes up.

Yeah, well, before they had that, it was.

There is important that Marlo and Wade did have a conversation out on the beach where.

Yeah, because.

Because that's where suicide is brought up first.

Which I thought was interesting because they're right there on the beach, and I think it's the next day.

It is, but it's interesting because, like,.

You're getting a little more feeling for Way to.

Plus, I know that this was a mostly improvised scene between Sterling Hayden and Elliot Gold.

And just.

It's talking a bit about what these two guys's world views are.

You know, I thought was very.

It was very interesting because it's almost like two guys who are seeing are not living in their own time, because.

Yeah, we know Marlo, but neither is Wade.

I think he had his time.

And he's not someone who has the flexibility to change.

He is someone who is kind of stuck at that one moment.

And now that that moment isn't the same, that he's not.

He can't write the big novels anymore.

That's what's destroying him.

That's what.

In many ways.

And it kind of sets up maybe why he does what he does the.

The next time we see him.

Because there's the party at the Wave, and you can tell it's Eileen's.

They're all younger folks hanging out.

They're.

They're improvising the song again.

Yeah, they're just like, you know, they're just hanging out, smoking a little drinking.

And then Wade is kind of off in the corner being a belligerent and being loud and telling people to come over here and stuff.

And then Varinger shows up because he said he come back for his money.

And Wade calls him an albino turd, which.

Which, like, I feel like classic burn.

Great.

But then unreliable.

Yeah, that's interesting.

So we see Wade is very.

Like, he's in front of a group of people and you feel like, yeah, he's posturing.

Like this guy is nothing.

But.

Yeah, the earringer just goes up to him and slaps him.

And that power dynamic kicks in again where whatever Behringer has over him, whatever power thing, it kicks right in.

Because all of a sudden, I almost feel like this is.

Yeah, this is almost the moment, I think, where Wade folds completely.

Yes.

Right.

Where he kind of loses that last bit of bravado.

Because at first he's like, I'm.

I don't know.

I'm lost.

And then he just folds.

Walks into his office to write that check.

That Veringer is basically followed him right behind.

He's like, sign right there.

Like, this is a man.

He's no longer a lion.

Right.

He's a man who thinks he has to be.

Right.

Yep, yep.

Right.

And that's, that's essentially where.

Where Wade ends like that.

That is it for Wade.

Yeah.

He gets, he, he, he.

He continues getting drunk and he falls asleep right there at that desk.

Yeah.

Then they're having Eileen and Marlo have dinner together.

Right.

She cooks.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

She's like, you want dinner?

And he's like, yeah, you got some cold bologna and a sandwich.

And she makes him chicken Kiev.

Yeah.

It's like a really nice candlelit meal with like multiple.

For sure.

It is fascinating because I'm always trying to figure out, besides just kind of making sure she knows what he's thinking, where he's going.

Like, I just feel like he's.

She's.

He's not really seducible that way.

I think he likes the idea of, oh, she has the same values as me and she needs to be protected.

But he's not.

He doesn't have the hots for her.

No, I don't seems.

Yeah.

I don't know that this version of Marlo would have the hots for any.

Even his neighbors.

You think if he was going to have the hots as a, as a red blooded American male.

Nah, they just those nice, slightly confusing young women.

It is very like out of time for him.

Right.

Like, that's just what it is.

He's like, I don't understand them.

And I'm just not even like, buy them brownie mix.

It's almost a paternal relationship more than anything with them.

He's not even scandalized by bare breasts in the sun.

It's just.

Oh, that's just not my thing.

That's just them doing yoga.

Have no clue.

That's what they do.

They.

That's what they told me this was.

Yeah.

But yeah, I think it has a similar protective vibe towards Eileen.

Yeah.

Which is another way to be manipulated.

Yeah.

It comes back to the.

It's okay with me.

Right.

Like.

Yeah.

Okay.

Here's another interesting thing.

Right.

Okay.

So it's the night they are by a window that is facing the crashing waves.

Right.

And we as the audience see it first.

We see that.

That Wade is, Is drunkenly kind of st. Well, somewhat drunken.

I don't think this is, this is not accidental.

He is heading for those waves.

Right.

It's shot in such an interesting way, though, because you don't really notice it's a person for a little bit.

At least I didn't.

Yeah.

Because what you see is they're talking and it's kind of a two shot in front of this window.

So it's the two of them facing each other and then the space between them.

Right.

It's the reflection and it kind of echoes Marlo out on the beach earlier.

And it's like a real soft focus on whatever's happening in the back.

And it's just a white blob for a while.

You just kind of see something kind of moving out there.

And as they talk and as they have this conversation, it starts to become kind of a deep focus and it resolves on the fact that.

Oh, shit, that's Roger.

Yeah.

So what's interesting that happens here, right, as I'm trying to figure out Eileen's deal.

Right.

She's the one who sees him first.

She never had to point it out if she wanted him just dead.

Dead.

Right.

Because in the book she murders Roger.

Right.

But here, if she wanted him just to go away, she very easily could have redirected Marlo.

Marlo wasn't.

Yeah.

And she doesn't.

So that's the thing that gets me, because in that moment, she could have just let that happen and she doesn't.

She kind of like yells and screams, which gets Marlo looking and they run out and try to save him.

So that doesn't equal completely manipulative, calculating character.

That is, whatever is going on between her and Roger is complicated as hell.

She wants out.

And yet when this presents itself to her, she doesn't take that.

That out, you know, because she could have just.

They could have walked away from that and she would have been in the clear.

Like, oh, my God, where is like.

That would have like the perfect answer to that.

Right.

So that's interesting.

And I feel like it's supposed to be a little open ended because it's not black and white.

And that's part of why Marlo's a man out of time.

Because this is not black and white.

Yeah.

Everything is really kind of ambiguous with it and that.

It's fascinating on that.

Then we get a scene that stresses me the out when they're in those waves trying to get Roger, I'm like, did they just throw Elliot Gould?

And it's actually in the.

In the waves.

Like, were there people?

Also because those are high waves, it is one of the scariest.

I'm like, oh, that's how.

Like, he didn't just walk out into a commotion.

He walked out into these giant waves that would just crush you out, you know, Like.

Yeah, it was definitively terrifying.

And for sure, we move on to, like, now he's gone.

When does Eileen have that conversation with Marlo about how, like, she chose him and reached out to him because she saw his picture in the paper?

I think it was that dinner.

Like, her trying to manipulate him.

No, I think that that was in a dinner.

That was.

That was.

That was during dinner, for sure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, absolutely.

But also we go, okay.

But then she also knows, like, oh, she knows a little bit more about him because she would know.

Like, Terry's probably mentioned him.

But, like, that's.

That's why she chose Marlo.

Not because of the paper, but because of Terry and that.

I need to watch this guy because, boy, my.

My.

My.

My.