Overview
A private investigator navigates a web of deceit and danger in a city where nothing is as it seems.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- sardonic
- comic
- melancholic
- late night noir viewing
- crime film marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as a visually inventive, complex, and influential revisionist noir, with Elliott Gould's performance and Robert Altman's self-conscious style earning substantial praise despite divided contemporaneous reactions.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Marlowe remains a private eye while the film places his old-fashioned code inside contemporary Los Angeles and repeatedly undercuts genre expectations.
Marlowe's loyalty to Terry Lennox and insistence on pursuing the truth contrast with the opportunism of police, gangsters, and wealthy clients.
The investigation moves through apartments, police operations, mobster spaces, clinics, and desert-border roads, creating an eccentric map of 1970s Los Angeles.
Altman's comic treatment of the private-eye archetype, including Marlowe's awkward routines and apparent incompetence, reframes classic noir seriousness.
Films like The Long Goodbye, and why
Chinatown
shared neo-noir atmosphere, morally complicated investigation, and an alienated detective navigating institutional corruption
The Big Lebowski
shared revisionist noir sensibility, sardonic humor, fragmented mystery, and morally compromised Los Angeles milieu
Night Moves
shared 1970s crime drama texture, paranoid investigation, and critique of corruption surrounding wealthy and powerful figures
Movie Details
- Director
- Robert Altman
- Release Date
- 1973-03-08
- Runtime
- 112 min
- Rating
- 7.4 / 10 (816)
Cast
- Elliott Gould
- Nina van Pallandt
- Sterling Hayden
- Mark Rydell
- Henry Gibson
- David Arkin
- Jim Bouton
- Warren Berlinger
- Jo Ann Brody
- Stephen Coit
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Long Goodbye about?
- A disheveled Los Angeles private eye follows a friend's suspicious death into a maze of mob money, addiction, and broken noir loyalties.
- What is The Long Goodbye like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Long Goodbye as measured, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Long Goodbye violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in The Long Goodbye as moderate.
- What did critics think of The Long Goodbye?
- Critics broadly regard the film as a visually inventive, complex, and influential revisionist noir, with Elliott Gould's performance and Robert Altman's self-conscious style earning substantial praise despite divided contemporaneous reactions.
- Which films are like The Long Goodbye?
- Films with a similar feel include Chinatown, The Big Lebowski, and Night Moves.
- How long is The Long Goodbye?
- The Long Goodbye runs 112 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Long Goodbye?
- In United States, The Long Goodbye streams on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads.
