Chandler (1971)

The hard boiled private eye genre had, by the late sixties and early seventies, become somewhat problematic for filmmakers.  Its conventions were firmly rooted in thirties pulp magazines like Black Mask and forties film noir.  By the late sixties, these conventions seemed increasingly irrelevant, relics of an earlier age.  So how best to approach the genre?  One approach was simply to set the films in period, like the 1976 Farewell My Lovely adaptation, or Roman Polanski's Chinatown (1974), but also apply a contemporary perspective, which questions and subverts the traditional values and conventions of the genre.  Another approach was to modernise it completely, firmly placing the private eye in the contemporary world, even when adapting a literary source, as with Marlowe (1969) - an adaptation of Chandler's 'The Little Sister', which puts James Garner's version of Marlowe firmly and confidently in the late sixties world of television, strip clubs and even King Fu.  Garner's Marlowe seems quite comfortable there, operating in this world with ease, driving contemporary car and wearing a sixties cut suit.  The two Frank Sinatra starring 'Tony Rome' movies, made around the same time, take much the same approach, as did the Paul Newman starring adaptations of  two of Ross McDonald's Lew Archer novels, (called Lew Harper in the films but who, under either name, was a character dating back to the forties and modelled on Chandler's Marlowe).  But there was a third approach tried, most notably, by Robert Altman with his 1973 adaptation of Chandler's The Long Goodbye, which presents Elliot Gould's version of Marlowe as a relic of the past, somehow surviving into the seventies.  He drives a forties car, dresses in an out of style suit and seems constantly bewildered by the modern world, where his values and methods seem hopelessly outdated.

But Altman wasn't the first to try such and approach.  Two years earlier there had been Chandler (1971), featuring Warren Oates as a private eye turned security guard who tries to go back to being an old-style private dick.  As in The Long Goodbye, he finds his approach to the work at odds with the modern world, his belief in his clients misplaced and his personal code ineffective.  Like Marlowe in The Long Goodbye, Chandler (even the titular hero's name being a homage to one of the authors most identified with the genre and the creator of Philip Marlowe), constantly finds himself driving forties vehicles - the only truck he can commandeer from a hotel car park, for instance, is inevitable an ancient pick up truck, while it is absolutely no surprise when the taxi he hails to follow another taxi, turns out to be forties coupe, inexplicably still in service in 1971.  His attempts to follow his forties PI code of honour, of course, go seriously awry and he finds himself powerless to do anything other than reacting to events, his moves entirely dictated by others, rather than being proactive in unravelling the mystery, as in the classic forties private eye story.   In truth, he's in the wrong forties noir picture, with Chandler following another noir tradition of the hero-as-patsy.  It turns out that he was set-up to fail from the outset, employed as a decoy in his mission to follow a federal witness, forcing the bad guys to focus on his obvious moves, while his employers go about their real objective.  At least, I think that's what was going on - Chandler features a stubbornly unyielding script, which never seems willing to explain its finer points.  The central conspiracy remains, by the end, obscure, leaving the viewer shrugging in frustration.

According to the film's director, Paul Magwood, (Chandler was his only directorial credit) and producer Micheal Laughlin, the movie was re-edited by MGM without their involvement, with several scenes cut.  This is certainly reflected in the film's choppy and abrupt feel, with significant events occurring with no build-up and two actors credited whose characters were cut completely from the film as released.  Ironically, MGM supposedly edited the film to make its plot clearer and easier for audiences to follow.  Magwood and Laughlin publicly disowned the film its released form.  Indeed Magwood and star Leslie Caron tried to have their names removed from credits and publicity, but failed.  While borderline incomprehensible in plot terms, Chandler isn't a complete wash-out.  It features a pretty good cast who do their best with the material.  Warren Oates is particularly effective as the perpetually rumpled Chandler, while Caron as the witness is supposedly protecting is suitably aloof and enigmatic in the role.  Charles McGraw, a veteran of many a genuine forties noir, is also notable as Chandler's supposed buddy who gets him the gig - unlike Chandler, he has resigned himself to the fact that the forties are well and truly over and the values and codes of the era now irrelevant.  Maverick PI's are out and corporate conformists are very much in.  Perhaps best of all is the photography, catching the deceptive beauty and sunshine of the Monterey area, in contrast to the violence and machinations for which it provides a background.  This, combined with some interesting shot compositions and framing from Magwood, helps give the film pleasingly lazy quasi-noir feel, reflecting Chandler's weariness and disillusion as he realises just how out of touch with modernity he has become.  If you are a fan of the hard boiled private eye genre, then Chandler is worth a look, it's an affectionate and up to a point, effective, homage to the genre.  Just don't expect it to make too much sense or provide a particularly satisfying conclusion, just enjoy the ride.