The Long Goodbye (1973) Blu-ray

NOTHING SAYS GOODBYE LIKE A BULLET

When private eye Philip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) is visited by an old friend, this sets in train a series of events in which he s hired to search for a missing novelist (Sterling Hayden) and finds himself on the wrong side of vicious gangsters.

So far so faithful to Raymond Chandler, but Robert Altman s inspired adaptation of the writer s most personal novel takes his legendary detective and relocates him to the selfish, hedonistic culture of 1970s Hollywood, where he finds that his old-fashioned notions of honour and loyalty carry little weight, and even his smoking (universal in film noir) is now frowned upon.

Widely misunderstood at the time, The Long Goodbye is now regarded as one of Altman s best films and one of the outstanding American films of its era, with Gould s shambling, cat-obsessed Marlowe ranking alongside more outwardly faithful interpretations by Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum.

Special Features

• High Definition presentation of the film from a digital transfer by MGM Studios
• Original uncompressed mono 2.0 PCM audio
• Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
• Rip Van Marlowe An interview with director Robert Altman and star Elliott Gould
• Vilmos Zsigmond Flashes The Long Goodbye An interview with the legendary cinematographer
• Giggle and Give In Paul Joyce s acclaimed documentary profile of Robert Altman, with contributions from Altman, Elliott Gould, Shelley Duvall, assistant director Alan Rudolph and screenwriter Joan Tewkesbury
• David Thompson on Robert Altman - David Thompson, editor of 'Altman on Altman' and producer of the BBC s 'Robert Altman in England', talks about The Long Goodbye s place in Altman's filmography
• On Raymond Chandler - Raymond Chandler s biographer, Tom Williams, outlines the author's life and work and discusses Altman s adaptation of The Long Goodbye
• On Hard Boiled Fiction - Crime writer and critic Maxim Jakubowski discusses the emergence of hard boiled detective characters from the pages of the pulp magazines from the 1920s through to the 1950s.
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Radio Spots
• Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Brad Stevens, a new interview with assistant director Alan Rudolph and an extract from American Cinematographer discussing Zsigmond s unique treatment of the film, illustrated with original archive stills and posters