DVD & Blu-ray review: The Long Goodbye (18)

Robert Altman DVD/ Blu-ray (107mins)

Robert Altman subverts virtually all noir genre rules in this loose-limbed adaptation, updated to 1973 LA, of Raymond Chandler’s most satisfying Philip Marlowe mystery.

A laconic Elliott Gould, who seems to spend the entire film speaking with a cigarette in his mouth, plays the cat-loving gumshoe who gives his flawed pal a lift to Tijuana and ends up in a heap of bother, involving Sterling Hayden’s sozzled author and some hoods (including, briefly, Arnie Schwarzenegger). Full of overlapping dialogue, droll remarks and menace.