Chandler (1971)

An ex-private eye (Warren Oates) is hired to protect a government witness (Leslie Caron) from a gangster (Gordon Pinsent), who wants her dead. But things aren't what they seem and the private eye finds himself on his own and unsure of where the real danger is. Directed by Paul Magwood. There were a couple of attempts in the early 1970s to turn character actor Warren Oates into a Bogart like leading man and this was one of the more feeble endeavors. It seems to want to ape the noir genre, even to the point of naming its hero after Raymond Chandler, but can you imagine Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe in a high speed car chase? But as fine an actor as he is, unlike Bogart, Oates simply isn’t leading man material. One of the characters refers to him as “that monkey faced detective” and that pretty much explains it. The film is choppy in execution and obviously has been edited severely and the coherence suffers. The Monterey and Carmel locations are nicely captured by the Panavision lens. Leslie Caron is lovely as the requisite femme fatale but noir icon Gloria Grahame is shamefully wasted. With Charles McGraw, Marianne McAndrew (HELLO DOLLY!), Scatman Crothers and Mitchell Ryan.