Terrene Rafferty: “But what Altman does in ‘The Long Goodbye’ goes way beyond simply stating the idea that the private eye’s day was over. Instead of trying to correct, or ignore, the creeping vagueness of the landscape in which his lonely hero is a figure, he actually emphasizes those qualities. The images captured by his cinematographer, Vilmos Zsigmond, are as un-noirish as they can be: sun-bleached, unstable, heat-shimmery as mirages. And the camera moves constantly, always slowly, and just enough to keep every shot from settling into anything fixed or too easily readable.” (via Sarah)
I’ve always thought The Long Goodbye to be the most underrated of Altman’s films. Even more so than 3 Women.
It is a great film, though the title song is ridiculous (though extremely catchy).