Farewell, My Lovely

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2:21

Farewell, My Lovely

R

Released Aug 8, 1975

1h 37m

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

71%

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28 Reviews

71%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

Ex-con Moose (Jack O'Halloran) hires private eye Phillip Marlowe (Robert Mitchum) to find his long-lost girlfriend, Velma, a lounge singer. The lounge owner's wife says she's dead, but Marlowe remains skeptical. Meanwhile, Marlowe also goes on a routine ransom exchange for a necklace and gets knocked out and framed for murder. He eventually finds the necklace's owner, blonde bombshell Helen Grayle (Charlotte Rampling) but, more importantly, evidence that the two cases are connected.

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David Robinson

The Times (UK)

With such concern for period authenticity, it is surprising that the writers had not more confidence in Chandler's own story... For this kind of pastiche you need the conviction to go all the way.

Mar 8, 2022

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Derek Malcolm

Guardian

We are in the presence of reverent if highly enjoyable pastiche.

Mar 8, 2022

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Jay Cocks

TIME Magazine

Watching this movie has approximately the same effect as being locked overnight in a secondhand clothing store in Pasadena. There is an awful lot of dust and, after a while, the dummies look as if they are moving.

May 6, 2011

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Sean Burns

Crooked Marquee

Chandler envisioned the character as the last hurrah for chivalry in a fallen world. In Mitchum’s exhausted eyes we see how much those principles have cost him.

Nov 25, 2024

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Steve Warren

The Barb (Atlanta)

The fidelity to the period sometimes comes across as parody; but however you take it, it's worth taking in.

May 9, 2023

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Madeleine Harmsworth

Sunday Mirror (UK)

The famous private-eye, Philip Marlowe, is played by an over-tired looking Robert Mitchum. British actress Charlotte Rampling, miscast as the mysterious young wife of an aging tycoon, tries -- and fails -- to do a Lauren Bacall.

Mar 9, 2022

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Stephen C

Success in 1 hour and 37 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/27/25

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David A

Extremely entertaining film from 1975...Greatest year for movies ever.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

08/20/24

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Audience Member

based on the novel by Raymond Chandler and is actually the 2nd time it’s been adapted comes a story about a private eye who's feeling a bit weary now these days set in the 1940's Robert Mitchum is detective Phillip Marlowe who makes his living finding lost people; recently he gets hired by an ex-con to track down his gf, Velma who used to be a lounge singer during this Marlowe unwillingly gets framed for murder and he collides with a woman named Helen Charlotte Rampling is Helen Grayle who's the owner of a valuable necklace but it's possible at this point maybe the murders that have been happening and this missing woman are somehow tied together but how? Marlowe then gets caught up from one bad scenario to another slowly putting the pieces together this is a good ol' fashioned mystery story with nice plot turns with a classic noir feel to it and given it's set in the past helps elevate it there's cool small parts here played by the late Harry Dean-Stanton and a young Sylvester Stallone but it really is Mitchum who has class and charisma on the screen as Marlowe, he takes a beating just to get closer to the truth of the matter and lets nothing phase him, he always knows how to put on a smile but never lose sight of the situation he finds himself in this one has aged considerably well plus it sticks closer to the original source material

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

08/09/23

Full Review

P C

Simply the best film version of any Raymond Chandler novel, no one, not even Bogart or Powell, is better as Philip Marlowe than Robert Mitchum. The soundtrack is perfection.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/20/23

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Audience Member

From what I remember of the book the film follows it pretty closely which is good but for me Robert Mitchum is no Marlowe. Dirk Bogarde plays the character much better. The one-liners just don't work when Mitchum says them. I also think Marlowe needs to be filmed in noir and this doesn't have any. Disappointing.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

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Audience Member

Good throwback noir.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/15/23

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R.M. Richards

Director

Robert Mitchum

Philip Marlowe

Charlotte Rampling

Helen Grayle

Sylvia Miles

Jessie Halstead Florian

John Ireland

Det. Lt. Nulty

Jack O'Halloran

Moose Malloy

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Farewell, My Lovely: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Ex-con Moose (Jack O'Halloran) hires private eye Phillip Marlowe (Robert Mitchum) to find his long-lost girlfriend, Velma, a lounge singer. The lounge owner's wife says she's dead, but Marlowe remains skeptical. Meanwhile, Marlowe also goes on a routine ransom exchange for a necklace and gets knocked out and framed for murder. He eventually finds the necklace's owner, blonde bombshell Helen Grayle (Charlotte Rampling) but, more importantly, evidence that the two cases are connected.

Director: R.M. Richards
Producer: George Pappas, Jerry Bruckheimer
Screenwriter: Raymond Chandler, David Zelag Goodman
Distributor: AVCO Embassy Pictures
Production Co: Arco Embassy
Rating: R
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 8, 1975, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 1, 2018
Runtime: 1h 37m

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