Der Dritte im Hinterhalt

A young girl from Kansas hires Los Angeles private detective Philip Marlowe to find her missing brother. Marlowe's investigation leads to two dead bodies and a blackmail plot concerning an actress. Decent adaptation of the Raymond Chandler novel "The Little Sister," updated to the '60s. Garner's not an ideal Philip Marlowe but he's charismatic and enjoyable to watch. He has good chemistry with Rita Moreno, who steals every scene she's in. Bruce Lee has a small but memorable part. Carroll O'Connor and Kenneth Tobey are good as a couple of cops easily frustrated with Garner. A little too mellow and lacking grit for a hardboiled detective story, though it's still entertaining. More Rockford than Marlowe. A minor quibble: there's a scene late in the film that takes place in a wooded area but is very obviously filmed on a sound stage. I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it if the movie had been made even ten years earlier but for a 1969 film it was very noticeable and fake.