Ten years later, it may be easier to see that Altman didn't fail Raymond Chandler. He simply rearranged the elements of the Marlowe myth with the amusement that didn't believe anyone could take such junk seriously anymore. The Long Goodbye sees how far American space, light, ideals and actions have been affected by film and its sweet untruths. It's a tranquil satire on a world devoid of wholesome or honest people, but full of would-be character actors: Ken Sansom's gateman at the Malibu Colony is its natural spokesman, always imitating old stars. And so, Altman cast Sterling Hayden and Nina Van Pallandt, less as actors than as living legends-the towering drunk author full of guilt, and the dried apricot English blonde, wide-eyed but shady...Throughout the sliding, breathing gallery of faces and small parts, Elliott Gould is as persistent and witty as the title song-a grand old 'It's-all-right-with-me' tribute to laid-back presence, and so subtle a portrait of passive resistance that he makes Gandhi look pre-Griffith. The Long Goodbye is so ironic a title-as if we could ever get the distortions of Hollywood out of our system. It is the system...and just because he declines to act, Gould acquires a dignity not dreamed of by Bogart in The Big Sleep. He is also a deadpan, awful reminder that there are still real people, living with their cats. David Thomson, PFA '83