The MoFo Top 100 Neo-noir Countdown

Long Goodbye is my 2. I love it so much. Gould is perfect. Sufficently twisty without being confusing. Couldn’t look more 70’s. I love how the score is used. One of my absolute favorite movies. Awesome it made top ten.

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Letterboxd

1 for 1 today. Watched and really enjoyed The Long Goodbye. It didn't make my list.

68 of 96 seen so far.

The Long Goodbye is very good, but it didn't make my ballot.

I like The Long Goodbye but it didn't make my ballot.

Seen: 83/96.

I guessed correctly again, but I can't say I'm really happy about that.

I first watched The Long Goodbye about ten years ago and was impressed. It was funny and I really enjoyed its protagonist. That Marlowe's companion is an orange cat certainly didn't hurt anything. I liked it enough that I bought it on DVD, watched it again (and liked it more than the first time), and even considered placing it on my personal top 100 (ultimately I didn't and instead put the movie that I voted for at #10).

But it's been several years since the last time I watched it and my memories of it have faded quite a bit since then. I had intended to watch it again before voting, but never got to it. If I had rewatched it, it likely would've earned a higher position on my ballot than it did, but I remembered it fondly enough to vote for it at #19. Oh well, the handful or so of extra points a rewatch might have gotten it clearly didn't matter much.

Here's what I wrote about it when I first watched it:

My Ballot:
1. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (#35)
2. You Were Never Really Here (#50)
3. The Man From Nowhere (#87)
4. The Departed (#53)
5. The Big Lebowski (#38)
6. Coming Soon
7. True Romance (#60)
8. Zodiac (#30)
9. Se7en (#6)
10. Won't Show
11. Drive (#14)
12. Shutter Island (#86)
13. The Nice Guys (#39)
14. Inherent Vice (#41)
15. Gone Girl (#34)
16. Pulp Fiction (#37)
17. Killer Joe (#66)
18. Memento (#8)
19. The Long Goodbye (#5)
20. Won't Show
21. Dark City (#24)
22. Nightcrawler (#21)
23. Won't Show
24. Won't Show
25. Won't Show

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I had The Long Goodbye at #13, dead center on my ballot. I am a big fan of the film, but don't count it amongst my all-time favorites of the genre. I have seen it several times, and in fact, I just did a double feature re-watch of both The Long Goodbye and Thief a couple of weekends ago, and I had a great time watching both films. It's one of those films that I have to be in a certain mood to watch, so I don't put it on as often as some others.



Gould is a ton of fun to watch, looking almost like and old school comic strip character at times, as in the shot above. Also, anytime I get to blame a cat for a series of misadventures, I am totally on board. As others have mentioned, this film is chock full of 70s style and locations, and the spaced out topless chicks next door are hilarious.

I also have to mention Sterling Hayden, who knocks it out of the park in what I guess was just him being himself while the camera was rolling. The scene where his character staggers out into the ocean while Marlowe and Ellen Wade are talking in the foreground always sticks in my mind.



Probably the best satirical deconstruction of the genre ever made, I had to include it on my list.

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Further on my ballot, I have Year of the Dragon (1985) at #17.

This movie was very popular back in the days. I've seen it several times. I was under the impression that all these early Rourke flicks in the scope, probably gonna make the countdown. Even not in the near misses... whatever, this is a well filmed atmospheric film and Rourke is right on his place.

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"Population don't imitate art, population imitate bad television." W.A.
"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." M.T.

I had The Long Goodbye at #10, but it was literally the first movie I thought of for my list. I love it. I've seen it a bunch of times, and I've read the book twice. Both are equally great, in their own ways. Two of these four movies will make up my #1 and 2. And I'm predicting Chinatown wins by a lot, but we'll see.

My List:
3. Miller's Crossing (#15)
4. Memories of Murder (#25)
5. True Romance (#60)
6. Read My Lips (DNP)
7. Drive (#14)
8. Blood Simple (#9)
9. Nightcrawler (#21)
10. The Long Goodbye (#5)
11. The Friends of Eddie Coyle (#100)
12. Branded to Kill (#71)
13. The Man Who Wasn't There (#27)
14. Blast of Silence (#48)
15. Le Samouraď (#7)
16. Sin City (#26)
17. Memento (#8)
18. Following (#84)
19. Blow-Up (DNP)
20. Jackie Brown (#18)
21. Mother (#67)
22. Purple Noon (#94)
23. Cop Land (DNP)
24. Against All Odds (DNP)
25. The Man from London (DNP)

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I may go back to hating you. It was more fun.

Yeah I would say one of the nest satirical deconstructions of any genre and the credit can go to the writing, directing, and acting for that as they all play this role. Why I had it at #9. I couldn't imagine creating a neo-noir list and not including this film.


3. Blue Velvet (1986)
4. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
5. High and Low (1963)
6. Le Samouraď (1967)
7. Blood Simple (1984)
8. Mulholland Drive (2001)
9. The Long Goodbye (1973)
10. Alphaville (1965)
13. The Conversation (1974)
14. Zodiac (2007)
15. Memories of Murder (2003)
17. Fireworks (1997)
18. Pale Flower (1964)
19. The Grifters (1990)
20. Inherent Vice (2014)
22. The American Friend (1977)
24. Le Cercle Rouge (1970)
25. Série noire (1979) - One pointer

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Altman is great and has been on every one of my top 250 editions with multiple films. Elliott Gould is probably the most laidback and cool version of Marlowe. Definitely the most cat friendly and possibly my favorite version of the famous private eye. Amazing soundtrack by John Williams. I had The Long Goodbye at #7.

SEEN: 90/96

25. Mirage (1965) (DNP)
22. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
20. Le Samouraď (1967)
18. High and Low (1963)
17. The Driver (1978)
15. The Hit (1984) (DNP)
14. Collateral (2004)
12. SE7EN (1995)
11. Get Carter (1971)
08. The Hot Spot (1990)
07. The Long Goodbye (1973)
06. Thief (1981)
05. Blow Out (1981)
04. One False Move (1992)

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Entertainment Log
Letterboxd profile

I'm not totally in love with The Long Goodbye but I am getting there. I am glad it made the top 5, it just feels right.

1. Killer Joe (#66)
3. Gone Baby Gone (#64)
4. The Player (#47)
5. Se7en (#6)
6. The Usual Suspects (#20)
7. Body Heat (#22)
9. Mona Lisa (#78)
10. High and Low (#19)
11. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (#62)
12. Body Double (#69)
13. The Long Goodbye (#5)
14. Blow Out (#17)
15. The Driver (#79)
16. Blood Simple (#9)
17. Night Moves (#40)
19. Drive (#14)
21. Manhunter (#77)
22. Sin City (#26)
23. Blue Velvet (#13)
24. Bound (#59)

Nope and nope. I didn't think of Se7en as Neo-noir and I too saw The Long Good by on the late, late show on a tiny black and white TV. I didn't care for it at the time. Maybe it was over my head. I was just a young kid. I think I will give it another go.

The Long Goodbye was my 19.

The Long Goodbye is #5 good! I had it as my #5. I think the movie is better than what I had originally though of it last time I seen it. Anyway the film has Sterling Hayden so it had to be here.

IMO The Long Goodbye is a nice film, a curio. But it suffered from the decision to change eras from the 1940s to the 1970s. I wasn't wild about the screenplay, and I never believed Elliot Gould as Marlowe. The whole project was a little too Hippie-dippy '70s. Even the photography was not noirish. Altman is a good director, but not for noir. He was good for M*A*S*H and The Player.

I've seen it a couple of times, and although it's not terrible, it couldn't make my top neo-noir list.

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF... THE LONG GOODBYE


Roger Ebert said:

Cameron Olsen, from Collider, said:

@Cobpyth said:

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AWARDS?


The Long Goodbye only received two nominations and one award. These is it:

• One (1) National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography (Vilmos Zsigmond)
• One (1) Golden Seashell Award nomination at the San Sebastián International Film Festival

So... who's sticking with their initial picks? Anybody new want to jump in the betting game?

Also, another thing that I wanted to run by the group. This countdown is set to conclude on Saturday with the reveals of #1 and #2. As I've said in various occassions through the countdown, weekends are a bit complicated for me, and this Saturday maybe moreso than the others. I will probably be out all day long with no access to my laptop.

So, what I could do is either do an early bird reveal, but I mean really early, as in 6:20am EST, before I head out... or reveal late in the afternoon, possibly even in the evening, depending on when I do get back home.

What do you prefer?

5. The Long Goodbye - On my Robert Altman review thread I wrote this about TLG - "The longer you look at The Long Goodbye the more remarkable it seems, and the better sense you get of what you should be focusing on. In a neo-noir film based on a 1953 Raymond Chandler novel you'd think it would be the mystery - but this is more Robert Altman movie than Raymond Chandler story - character, atmosphere and a heady blend of themes create a work of art far from your typical noir story." This is one of those films with many little flourishes that make it so original, despite the fact that it's working in a well-defined genre - for example, the way that the soundtrack consists of one song which is performed a dozen or so different ways. It's full of fun little cameos too : David Carradine and Arnold Schwarzenegger being two standouts (let us not forget Morris the cat!) The cinematography is so creative it's fascinating. I ended my review in part by saying "This film can't be fully encapsulated in one review. It's one of a thousand little touches, half a dozen great performances (including a couple from a baseball player and film director) and an Altman/Zsigmond peak of visual acuity." There's so much to it. I love this movie, and it ended up at #8 on my ballot.

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Seen : 71/96
I'd never even heard of : 9/96
Movies that had been on my radar, but I haven't seen yet : 16/96
Films from my list : 17 + 1

#5 - My #8 - The Long Goodbye (1973)
#6 - My #5 - Se7en (1995)
#8 - My #4 - Memento (2000)
#12 - My #10 - No Country For Old Men (2007)
#13 - My #7 - Blue Velvet (1986)
#14 - My #15 - Drive (2011)
#15 - My #6 - Miller's Crossing (1990)
#16 - My #2 - Reservoir Dogs (1992)
#17 - My #22 - Blow Out (1981)
#21 - My #13 - Nightcrawler (2014)
#27 - My #24 - The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
#28 - My #1 - The Conversation (1974)
#30 - My #23 - Zodiac (2007)
#42 - My #19 - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
#44 - My #21 - Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
#52 - My #11 - Oldboy (2003)
#81 - My #17 - Brick (2005)
#106 - My #16 - Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)

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