The Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival

Neo Noir Classic, Farewell, My Lovely, to Open 2018 Film Noir Festival

Farewell My Lovely, the 1975 remake of the 1944 film, 'Murder, My Sweet,' also based on the Raymond Chandler novel of the same name, will open this year's nineteenth edition of the popular Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival in Palm Springs. Directed by Dick Richards and starring Robert Mitchum as private detective Phillip Marlowe, the film was one of several films made during the brief Film Noir revival in the mid-seventies, and, according to many reviewers at the time, was one of, if not the best of that Neo Noir genre.

The plot of Farewell My Lovely is set against a seamy backdrop of police corruption, cheap hotel rooms, illegal gambling and jewel trafficking. Private detective Philip Marlowe has been hired by surly ex-convict, Moose Malloy (Jack O'Halloran), to find his old girlfriend (and lounge singer/dancer/hooker) Velma, whom he hasn't seen in seven years. At the same time, Marlowe is investigating the murder of a client who was a victim of blackmail, and handling a ransom exchange for a stolen necklace (which gets him knocked out and framed for murder).

As the body count mounts, Marlowe survives attempts on his life, which include being drugged and held captive by a psychotic brothel madam named Frances Amthor (Kate Murtagh) and her thugs. The action comes to a head with a shootout on a gambling boat off the L.A. coast.

Farewell My Lovely is a first rate film, and a fine specimen of the genre, albeit a Neo Noir remake. The Director Dick Richards, took his material and his characters quite seriously and it shows. His star, Robert Mitchum, delivered what many have said was his definitive performance as an actor. And finally, actor and guest for the opening night screening, Jack O'Halloran, provides a larger than life performance (both in stature and in the immensity of his need) as ex-convict Moose Malloy. Arthur Lyons would have been proud to screen Farewell My Lovely, and festival programmer Alan K. Rode clearly agrees. Don't miss it!