Episode 81: “LA Light, LA Darkness,” or Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye w/Professor Peter Lunenfeld

UCLA professor Peter Lunenfeld joins us to talk about Robert Altman’s neo-noir based on Raymond Chandler’s novel. Some reviewers call the film “satirical” but we argue, it’s more a riff than a satire. It treats the source material lovingly, even as it updates it to match the 70’s zeitgeist. Our guest Peter argues that the elusive Courry Brand cat food is a metaphor for the film, something that is labelled one way, but containing the unexpected.

And yes, this is a digression, although we think Altman’s “The Long Goodbye” pairs very nicely with Wim Wenders The American Friend (and Polanski’s Chinatown for that matter)

Thanks to Peter Lunenfeld for joining us. We recommend his connectionist history of Los Angeles, City At the Edge of Forever

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