Altman Post

The most important scene from my personal favorite film of Altman, The Long Goodbye, is the final scene with Marlowe and Lennox. This scene stood out from the rest in this film and in the other works we viewed because of the shock factor, emotional depth of Marlowe, and for one memorable line. The whole film we go about following a passive nonviolent private eye, (It's okay with me.) who we never see use and sort of violence whatsoever suddenly see Marlowe shoot and kill Terry Lennox. The audience knew Marlowe was frustrated with the case, but the actual murder was something no audience member saw coming. A passive, casual Marlowe turns into a cold blooded killer, only to commence with dancing with strangers as he leaves, very strange indeed. This scene describes Marlowe's inner thoughts in the act of being angry enough at Lennox to actually kill him, but it also informs us that Terry Lennox has been lying to Marlowe since the beginning, he even adds that Marlowe is a loser who has lost everything which leads to Marlowe's brilliant line, "Yeah. And I even lost my cat." BOOM. Lennox slowly fades away in the pool. This line is my personal favorite part of this scene because it shows that Marlowe has been thinking about his cat the whole time, despite the ridiculous situations, which almost brings a sense of humor to this scene. Overall a great film from a questionable director.