The Long Goodbye

I can’t believe I didn’t give this 5 stars when I first logged it a few years ago. What a philistine I was. Cinema with a capital C. This is what movies are all about. It’s a perfect movie from start to finish. The only problem is that it needs a better transfer. What we have on streaming right now is just not good enough. Im gonna pick up the Kino Lorber blu ray and hopefully that version does it justice. All the nods to Double Indemnity are so fun and cute. But as much as I love Fred McMurray, Elliot’s vibe in this surpasses anything he could have done. That’s probably a hot take but I could spend an entire day watching Gould using his strike anywhere matches, mumbling to himself, and being simultaneously ornery and blasé. The guy just had such a gift. How did he wind up playing schlubby dads? I guess he just had too much dignity to keep playing cool guys when he got older but why does DeNiro get to keep playing the same role and Gould somehow aged out of it? Ok with me I guess but it’s bullshit.