The late Raymond Chandler's unfinished manuscript POODLE SPRINGS, masterfully completed as a novel by SPENCER creator Robert B. Parker, has been given a first-class screen treatment by Director Bob Rafelson, Screenwriter Tom Stoppard and Production Designer Mark Friedberg. Every familiar signature trait of the Chandler-Marlowe Los Angeles is meticulously recreated and served up with nearly reverential devotion. James Caan is a letter-perfect Marlowe. The part fits him like his gray fedora, no small feat considering he follows in the shoes of such legends as Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum. From matchbooks to automobiles to motels the period atmosphere is extraordinary. When a character drinks a Tab cola, the bottle is a 1963 Tab bottle. When Marlowe pays a call on the rich and powerful, the decor is '63 chic. There is no mistaking it.
Phillip Marlowe is the paradigm 1940s private investigator, but setting this story in 1963, four years after Chandler's death in 1959, is not only correct, it is part of the material's distinguished treatment. Had Chandler lived a few more years, this might well be the Marlowe he wrote for us. Parker, Rafelson and Stoppard have honored the Chandler-Marlowe heritage as the golden fleece of the American film noir and hard-boiled genres. Which, of course, it is.
One question: Why did I just happen to catch this on cable TV a year after it was released? I'd never heard anything about it. Such excellent work deserves publicity. Lots of it.
