Marlowe (1969)

Arrow Films are releasing director Paul Bogart, writer Stirling Silliphant and actor James Garner’s interpretation of Raymond Chandler’s classic detective, updating him to a contemporary (for 1969) setting on Blu-ray. 

Private investigator Philip Marlowe (James Garner) is employed by Orfamay Quest (Sharon Farrell) to find her brother Orrin (Roger Newman). Orrin has disappeared after taking some compromising photographs of top rated sitcom star Mavis Wald (Gayle Hunnicut) in a clinch with gang boss Sonny Steelgrave (H M Wynant). 

The last two people to see Orrin end up murdered with ice picks in their necks, Marlowe is warned to leave the case alone by the promise of a thousand dollars if he does and a serious kicking by Bruce Lee if he doesn’t. The police gets involved, as does Mavis’ exotic dance friend Dolores (Rita Moreno), and as things get even more complicated it becomes obvious to Marlowe that someone, and perhaps everyone, is lying. 

MARLOWE does as good a job at setting Chandler’s private eye in late 1960s LA as Robert Altman’s THE LONG GOODBYE would just a few years later, and James Garner makes for just as good a Marlowe, albeit rather less rumpled. As is often the case with this kind of plot that contains numerous people either being economical with the truth, telling outright lies, or being involved in multiple double crosses, you have to pay close attention to what’s going on, especially the dialogue, at all times. MARLOWE doesn’t waste a minute of its running time with the result that it’s an extremely satisfying example of its type.

Apart from a trailer and image gallery there’s only one extra but it’s a good one, as Howard S Berger goes large on the Marlowe character, beginning with his literary origins and moving through his screen incarnations. What Berger also does, though, is pull in some interesting, and very personal observations and comparisons between Marlowe through the ages and other popular characters in movies at the time, all the way from the Hope and Crosby Road pictures, through Paul Newman’s HARPER to James Bond (in many of his incarnations) and beyond. 

It runs 51 minutes but the time flies by and this is a fascinating piece that will be all the more valuable and informative to those who aren’t perhaps as familiar with the periods in cinema history Berger discusses as some of us are. Arrow’s limited edition Blu-ray also comes with a booklet featuring new writing from Jeff Chang and Priscilla Page, plus a reversible sleeve.

MARLOWE is out on Blu-ray from Arrow on Monday 8th June 2026