‘Marlowe’: All 10 Film Adaptations of the Private Eye Before Liam Neeson’s 2023 Crime Thriller

Actor Liam Neeson is set to portray the iconic character Philip Marlowe in the upcoming film, Marlowe. But he is hardly the first. Neeson has become known in recent decades for his leading roles in action movies like The Grey and Taken.

In Marlowe, he’ll go noir as he attempts to fill the shoes of one of the most storied private eyes in history: a character who’s been played by some of the biggest actors in Hollywood history. 

Liam Neeson takes his penchant for action movies noir in ‘Marlowe’

Set in Bay Cities, California, in the ’50s, Marlowe follows a “tough as nails private detective” as he investigates the disappearance of a beautiful heiress’ ex-lover. But the more he digs into the case, the more he realizes the spider’s web has spun far larger than he originally thought. Some of the most powerful people in the city quickly become suspects, including the heiress’ mother (Variety).

William Monahan adapted the story from Benjamin Black’s book, The Black-Eyed Blonde. Monahan is known for his Oscar-winning screenplay, The Departed, and 2021’s Tender Bar along with several others. 

Along with Neeson as Marlowe, the Marlowe cast includes Diane Kruger as the heiress, Clare Cavendish, and Jessica Lange as her mother, Dorothy Cavendish. Colm Meaney, The Suicide Squad’s Daniela Melchoir and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Alan Cumming, and Succession’s Danny Huston also star.

Before there were Philip Marlowe movies, there were (a lot) of Philip Marlowe books

A character born of the pulp fiction detective stories in the ’20s, LA-based detective, Marlowe first appears in The Big Sleep in 1939.

Created by author Raymond Chandler, Marlowe is the whiskey-drinking, cigarette-smoking, wisecracking hero of dozens of Chandler’s short stories throughout the ’30s and several completed novels throughout the ’40s and ’50s. Titles include the aforementioned The Big Sleep; Farewell, My Lovely; The High Window; The Lady in the Lake; The Little Sister; The Long Goodbye; Playback, and more.

Chandler was born in 1888 in Chicago but moved to England with his mother when his parents divorced. When he returned to California in 1919, he worked as a petroleum executive before turning to writing to make ends meet during the Great Depression (Britannica).

The first of his short stories appeared in the magazine Black Mask in 1933. After that, Chandler moved on to Hollywood where he worked as a screenwriter throughout the ’40s and early ’50s. He is known for writing classic films like Double Indemnity, The Blue Dahlia, and Strangers on a Train.

Chandler died in 1959. But Marlowe lives on, with dozens of authors creating stories about the famous detective, like Black’s The Black-Eyed Blonde.

Liam Neeson’s ‘Marlowe’ is one of many Philip Marlowe movies

Marlowe has been big in the movies too with numerous adaptations bringing the famous sleuth to the screen. 

The collection begins with a 1942 film starring George Sanders. Instead of going by Philip Marlowe in the film, Sanders plays a detective named Gay Laurence, aka “The Falcon.” The film is taken from Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely. That same year, Chandler’s The High Window became Time to Kill with Lloyd Nolan playing detective Michael Shayne (another name substituted for Marlowe’s). 

Next came 1944’s Murder, My Sweet starring Dick Powell. Starring Robert Montgomery in the lead role, Lady in the Lake followed in 1946.

But when it comes to Chandler’s work in the cinema, there is none more famous than The Big Sleep. Starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall and directed by Howard Hawks, the 1946 screenplay was written (in part) by the famous novelist, William Faulkner. 

Later adaptations of Chandler’s work include 1969’s Marlowe, starring James Garner, Gayle Hunnicutt, and Rita Moreno. The Long Goodbye starred Elliott Gould in 1973. And a pair of films from 1975 and 1978 star Robert Mitchum as Marlowe: Farewell, My Lovely and a remake of Bogart and Bacall’s classic The Big Sleep. 

Now, Neeson (whose role in Schindler’s List earned him an Oscar nomination in 1993) will bring the beloved detective back to the screen. But, as history shows, he is not the first Marlowe, and it is unlikely he will be the last.