The Long Goodbye (1973)

Elliott Gould's rumpled Marlowe seems out of step with Malibu houses where ocean air and expensive openness suggest there is nothing to hide. Robert Altman's drifting camera makes those spaces slippery rather than reassuring: you can look through a room and still miss the bargain being made. The shabby humour is a welcoming way into the film's betrayal of detective-story confidence. Its relaxed surface occasionally breaks into shocking violence.