Marlowe.

Having mentioned the 1969 movie Marlowe, starring James Garner as Raymond Chandler's knight-errant detective Philip Marlowe, I take this self-generated opportunity to praise it.

James Garner as Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe.

Marlowe is Sterling Silliphant's adaptation of Raymond Chandler's The Little Sister. Silliphant was a screenwriter of the classical age of television in the 1950s. Working on through the '60s and 70s, he wrote hundreds of hours of excellent TV, including scripts for The Naked City and Route 66, the latter of which he created. While not of the same class as Paddy Chayefsy or Rod Serling, he won an Academy Award for the screenplay of In the Heat of the Night, starring Rod Steiger and Sydney Poitier as the Bull and Mr. Tibbs.

Sharon Farrell as Orfamay Quest.

Marlowe is remarkable for all the things that made Silliphant's writing so durable and satisfying: It had sinuous often serpentine plotting, a balance of sinewy action and vibrant dialogue, and the characters revealed themselves through their behavior, rather than exposition. Silliphant allowed his characters to remain enigmatic, always giving them more depth through suggestion and  artful reticence than through speeches. It is a fine example of the soft-boiled detective genre. There are plenty of killings, but the soft-boiled detective story is about the pure-hearted detective, who must ravel and sometimes tangle the often crimson-stained interactions of the central characters, serving and preserving his client, while finding the means to extricate himself still clean and with his self-esteem relatively intact in the end.

Gayle Hunnicutt as Mavis Wald.

The actors, most of whom are very familiar, are cast perfectly, and perform with perfect fidelity to their characters. A blonde Sharon Farrell, whose career was cruelly interrupted by a cardiac arrest and brain damage, is a sugar-coated poison pill as Orfamay Quest, Marlowe's initial client. The fact that she is both crazy mean and just plain money mad, but looks harmlessly tight-fisted is the fulcrum of the whole movie, and Farrell plays the woman with just the right intensity of nastiness and feigned simplicity. The patrician Gayle Hunnicutt is Mavis Wald, the woman with the profile of a Praxitelean Athena and a chilly manner to match, who stars in "the top-rated" television sitcom, and is, not coincidentally, being blackmailed. (Imagine Mary Tyler Moore and John Gotti.) Her constant companion and best friend, Dolores, is played by Rita Moreno. Oh, and she's a stripper, a fact that precipitates the movie's climax.

Rita Moreno as Dolores Gonzales.

Carroll O'Connor and Kenneth Tobey as Christie and Fred.

The movie features the first American appearance by Silliphant's friend and karate trainer, Bruce Lee as mob enforcer Winslow Wong. Lee has two brief scenes with Garner that are, at best, tangential to the plot, but both of which are memorable, and foreshadow his career and legend as a kung-fu star. There are some equally memorable moments with Carroll O'Connor and Kenneth Tobey as the police duo, French and Fred, who provide Marlowe with straightlines. Silent film veteran Jackie Coogan is a suitably seedy grifter, who complicates Marlowe's life by getting an icepick in the spine. And William Daniels manages to actually steal scenes from Garner as Crowell, Mavis Wald's fretful agent, whose peptic ulcers seem to be multiplying even as we watch. Lastly, there are two supporting character actors of note, H.M. Wynant, the type of an actor who can fill any role from guest villain to guest hero, here as Sonny Steelgrave, the Johnny Stompanato of the piece; and  Paul Stevens as Lagardie, a Dr. Feelgood of the stars and the mob. (Bonus points to the reader who recalls that the name Sonny Steelgrave is borrowed by Stephen J. Cannell for the character of the slightly insane mob boss in the '80s TV series Wiseguy.)

Bruce Lee as Winslow Wong, mob enforcer.

William Daniels as Crowell, the agent.

Cannell's name brings us to the other point of note: The movie is all but an early pilot for The Rockford Files. It almost certainly was the inspiration. Garner's Marlowe, both in manner and wisecracks, is the prototype of Jim Rockford. He's persistent, or stubborn as the situation warrants, rather than aggressive, as likely to match a punch with a witty jab as with a counterpunch; and even some of his best quips from the movie will make their way into the show.. He breakfasts on Oreo cookies. The major differences between Marlowe and Rockford can be attributed to inflation: Philip works for one hundred dollars a day plus expenses, while Jim gets two hundred, and Marlowe's drab office in the famous Bradbury Building is far more upscale than Rockford's Malibu trailer. Rita Moreno became a recurring guest star in the series and in the later Rockford movies, as the proverbial hooker with the heart of gold. Daniels, Wynant, Tobey and Stevens all had guest roles on Rockford.