The Long Goodbye

press release: Robert Altman’s version of Raymond Chandler’s 1953 novel is an often hilarious deconstruction of the private eye/film noir tradition.

“(The film) should not be anybody’s first film noir, nor their first Altman movie. Most of its effect comes from the way it pushes against the genre, and the way Altman undermines the premise of all private eye movies, which is that the hero can walk down mean streets, see clearly, and tell right from wrong” (Roger Ebert).