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Philip Marlowe
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Philip Marlowe is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler. Marlowe first appeared under that name in The Big Sleep, published in 1939. Chandler's early short stories, published in pulp magazines like Black Mask and Dime Detective, featured similar characters with names like "Carmady" and "John Dalmas".Some of those short stories were later combined and expanded into novels featuring Marlowe, a process Chandler called "cannibalizing". When the non-cannibalized stories were republished years later in the short story collection The Simple Art of Murder, Chandler changed the names of the protagonists to Philip Marlowe. His first two stories, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot" and "Smart-Aleck Kill" (with a detective named Mallory), were never altered in print but did join the others as Marlowe cases for the television series Philip Marlowe, Private Eye.
Marlowe's character is foremost within the genre of hardboiled crime fiction that originated in the 1920s, notably in Black Mask magazine, in which Dashiell Hammett's The Continental Op and Sam Spade first appeared.
Underneath the wisecracking, hard-drinking, tough private eye, Marlowe is quietly contemplative and philosophical and enjoys chess and poetry. While he is not afraid to risk physical harm, he does not dish out violence merely to settle scores. Morally upright, he is not fooled by the genre's usual femmes fatales, such as Carmen Sternwood in The Big Sleep.
Chandler's treatment of the detective novel exhibits an effort to develop the form. His first full–length book, The Big Sleep, was published when Chandler was 51; his last, Playback when he was 70. Seven novels were produced in the last two decades of his life, with an eighth (Poodle Springs) being posthumously completed by Robert B. Parker and published years later.
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Filmography of Philip Marlowe (9 films)
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Poodle Springs (1998)
, 1h40Directed by Bob Rafelson
Origin USA
Genres Noir, Crime
Actors James Caan, Dina Meyer, David Keith, Tom Bower, Joe Don Baker, Michael Laskin
Rating59%
In 1963, an aging Philip Marlowe (James Caan) is newly married to young socialite Laura Parker (Dina Meyer). The private investigator leaves his Los Angeles apartment behind and sets up a new base of operations in Poodle Springs, an upscale community in the desert a couple hours from L.A. (a parody of Palm Springs), where he and his wife intend to live.
The Big Sleep (1978)
, 1h39Directed by Michael Winner
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Crime, Romance
Actors Robert Mitchum, Sarah Miles, Richard Boone, Candy Clark, Joan Collins, Edward Fox
Rating58%
In 1970s England, private detective Philip Marlowe (Robert Mitchum) is asked to the stately home of General Sternwood (James Stewart), who hires Marlowe to learn who is blackmailing him. While at the mansion, he meets the General's spoiled and inquisitive daughter Charlotte (Sarah Miles) and wild younger daughter Camilla (Candy Clark).
Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
, 1h35Directed by Dick Richards
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Crime
Themes Films about sexuality, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related film
Actors Robert Mitchum, Charlotte Rampling, John Ireland, Sylvia Miles, Anthony Zerbe, Harry Dean Stanton
Rating69%
Set in Los Angeles in 1941, against a seamy backdrop of police corruption, cheap hotel rooms, illegal gambling and jewel trafficking, private detective Philip Marlowe is holed up in a hotel room and growing more weary by the hour. As he explains to his police lieutenant friend Nulty: "I've got a hat, a coat and a gun, that's it."
The Long Goodbye (1973)
, 1h52Directed by Robert Altman
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Noir, Crime
Actors Elliott Gould, Nina, Baroness van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, Mark Rydell, Henry Gibson, Warren Berlinger
Rating74%
Late one night, with nothing better to do than feed his fussy cat, private investigator Philip Marlowe is visited by his close friend Terry Lennox, who asks for a lift from Los Angeles to the California–Mexico border at Tijuana. Marlowe obliges. On returning home, Marlowe is met by two police detectives, who accuse Lennox of having murdered his rich wife, Sylvia. Marlowe refuses to give them any information, so they arrest him. After three days in jail, the police release him, because Lennox committed suicide in Mexico. It is an open-and-shut case to the police and the press, but the official facts do not sit right with Marlowe.
Marlowe (1969)
, 1h36Directed by Paul Bogart
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Crime
Themes Sports films, Martial arts films, Kung fu films
Actors James Garner, Gayle Hunnicutt, Carroll O'Connor, Rita Moreno, Bruce Lee, Sharon Farrell
Rating63%
Los Angeles private-eye Philip Marlowe is trying to locate the brother of his new client, a woman named Orfamay Quest. The trail leads to two men who deny any knowledge of the brother's existence. Both are soon killed by an ice pick, so Marlowe deduces that there is much more to this than a simple missing-person case.
The Brasher Doubloon (1947)
, 1h12Directed by John Brahm
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Noir, Crime
Themes Children's films
Actors George Montgomery, Nancy Guild, Conrad Janis, Roy Roberts, Fritz Kortner, Florence Bates
Rating64%
Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a wealthy widow, Elizabeth Murdock, to find a stolen coin called the Brasher Doubloon.
The Big Sleep (1946)
, 1h54Directed by Howard Hawks
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Noir, Crime, Romance
Actors Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Martha Vickers, John Ridgely, Dorothy Malone, Regis Toomey
Rating78%
Private detective Philip Marlowe (Bogart) is summoned to the mansion of his new client General Sternwood (Waldron). The wealthy retired general wants to resolve gambling debts his daughter, Carmen Sternwood (Vickers), owes to bookseller Arthur Gwynn Geiger. As Marlowe is leaving, General Sternwood's older daughter, Mrs. Vivian Rutledge (Bacall), stops him. She suspects her father's true motive for calling in a detective is to find his young friend Sean Regan, who had mysteriously disappeared a month earlier.
Lady in the Lake (1946)
, 1h45Directed by Robert Montgomery
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Noir, Crime
Themes Christmas films
Actors Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan, Tom Tully, Leon Ames, Jayne Meadows
Rating64%
Tired of the low pay of his profession, hard-boiled private detective Phillip Marlowe (Robert Montgomery) submits a murder story to Kingsby Publications. He is invited to the publishers’ offices to discuss his work but soon realizes it is merely a ploy. On Christmas Eve, publishing executive Adrienne Fromsett (Audrey Totter) hires him to locate the wife of her boss, Derace Kingsby (Leon Ames).
Murder, My Sweet (1945)
, 1h35Directed by Edward Dmytryk
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Noir, Crime
Actors Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley, Otto Kruger, Mike Mazurki, Douglas Walton
Rating74%
Temporarily blinded with his eyes bandaged, private detective Philip Marlowe (Dick Powell) is being interrogated by police lieutenant Randall (Don Douglas) about two murders.