Unshaven, unheroic Los Angeles detective Philip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) smells a rat when his friend Terry Lennox (Jim Bouton), whom he has just driven to Tijuana, is accused of murder.
Convinced of Lennox’s innocence, Marlowe follows a convoluted trail which leads him to his friend’s mistress, Eileen Wade (Nina Van Pallandt), her alcoholic husband (Sterling Hayden) and the shrill, ruthless hood Marty Augustine (Mark Rydell), to whom Lennox owed a substantial sum of money.
A variety of wonderfully odd characters pop up, played by everyone from model Nina Van Pallandt to director Mark Rydell to ex-baseballer Jim Bouton.
Watch out for an early, unbilled appearance by Arnold Schwarzenegger as one of Augustine’s heavies.
Robert Altman directed this radical adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s novel.
Philip Marlowe
Elliott Gould
Eileen Wade
Nina Van Pallandt
Roger Wade
Sterling Hayden
Marty Augustine
Mark Rydell
Dr Verringer
Henry Gibson
Harry
David Arkin
Terry Lennox
Jim Bouton
Morgan
Warren Berlinger
Jo Ann Eggenweiler
Jo Ann Brody
Detective Farmer
Steve Coit
Mabel
Jack Knight
Director
Robert Altman
