Marlowe

PG

1969

1 hr. 40 min.

Mystery & Thriller

List

63%

8 Reviews

Tomatometer

53%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Mysterious Orfamay Quest (Sharon Farrell) hires Los Angeles private investigator Philip Marlowe (James Garner) to find her missing brother, Orrin. Though the job seems simple enough, it leads Marlowe into the underbelly of the city, turning up leads who are murdered with ice picks, exotic dancers (Rita Moreno), blackmailed television stars (Gayle Hunnicutt) and self-preserving gangsters (H. M. Wynant). Soon, Marlowe's life is on the line right along with his case.

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Steve D

Laughable attempt to shake up the formula.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

07/29/23

Full Review

Keith B

My second favourite Philip Marlowe movie After The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart James Garner is one of the most underrated movie actors in the history of cinema and makes a fantastic Philip Marlowe. It also features a great cast including Gale Honeycutt and Bruce Lee.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

04/23/23

Full Review

Aldo G

In one of the screenwriting books I read, it was suggested that you write dialogue scenes in interesting settings and or have the characters do something of interest. In the climatic scene Marlowe explains what's happened to a stripper as she's doing her burlesque routine. Must see scene.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

Russ G

An interesting period piece with some groovy locations, and an eclectic cast, but James Garner isn't the hardboiled 1930's and 40's detective type. He later made the Rockford character his own, but transferring Brett Maverick to 1960's LA doesn't quite work. By the end, it's quite a muddle with the audience still not sure which half of the characters killed the other half, but it's left up to Carroll O'Conner to sort it out after the closing credits.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

12/14/22

Full Review

Audience Member

All you have to do to enjoy this--essentially a prequel to "The Rockford Files"-- is imagine that you missed a voice-over by Rockford that explains his need to pretend to be named Phillip Marlowe during this case. Twenty years earlier most of the elements are there: dissing the thugs before they punch him in the gut, a beat-up office that anticipates regular destruction by the bad guys, Rita Moreno, the same uneasy alliance with the cops, and that "Marlowe" has a big heart. Heck, there's even a 'hi-tech' scene where Marlowe/Rockford sees that rich man's dictation machine in a Rolls Royce and marvels at the cassette tape, anticipating the upgrade to touch-tone phones that record messages at the beep. The film opens at the beach, at a groovy pad where Angel might have once crashed. Easy to imagine Rockford making choices for his PI restart on a beach, with an even more bust-uppable office while he was wrongfully imprisoned after "Marlowe".

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

As a fan of James Garner and Chandler's Marlowe character, this was for me a can't miss. Though Garner does not portray Marlowe as hardboiled as in the novels he is still fun to watch and you can definitely see the groundwork being laid for his future Rockford Files role. The plot is uneven and convoluted, Garner and his humor make it watchable. And mixing Bruce Lee into the movie is just a fun surprise.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

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Paul Bogart

Director

James Garner

Philip Marlowe

Gayle Hunnicutt

Mavis Wald

Carroll O'Connor

Lt. Christy French

Rita Moreno

Dolores Gonzáles

Sharon Farrell

Orfamay Quest

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

We don't care what happens next because we don't understand what happened before. Marlowe becomes enjoyable only on a basic level; it's fun to watch the action sequences

Rated: 2.5/4

Oct 23, 2004

Full Review

Richard Schickel

LIFE

Director Paul Bogart goes for a weird atmospheric mix, keeping Marlowe's crummy, picturesque 1940s-style office intact in the Los Angeles of the 1960s. It is ridiculous when contrasted to the hippie scene, the high rises, the TV production centers.

Nov 1, 2021

Full Review

Kevin Carr

Film School Rejects

enjoyable as a period piece, letting us see an older character in a then-modern setting

Rated: 3/5

Oct 2, 2013

Full Review

Carol Cling

Las Vegas Review-Journal

Garner's not the best Marlowe, but he's far from the worst - which also applies to this movie.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 31, 2006

Full Review

Michael Szymanski

International Press Academy

Rated: 0/5

Oct 7, 2005

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 3/5

Aug 22, 2005

Full Review

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Synopsis

Mysterious Orfamay Quest (Sharon Farrell) hires Los Angeles private investigator Philip Marlowe (James Garner) to find her missing brother, Orrin. Though the job seems simple enough, it leads Marlowe into the underbelly of the city, turning up leads who are murdered with ice picks, exotic dancers (Rita Moreno), blackmailed television stars (Gayle Hunnicutt) and self-preserving gangsters (H. M. Wynant). Soon, Marlowe's life is on the line right along with his case.

Director: Paul Bogart
Production Co: Cherokee Productions
Rating: PG
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 1, 2012

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