for this post i will be writing about the final scene in the Long Goodbye. Philip Marlowe has just found his friend whom he thought was dead, and instead of comforting Marlowe, the friend just makes matters worse as he confesses to the murder of his own wife and the betrayal of Marlowe. This is a shock not only to the main character but also to the audience, who have been brought up to believe that at the end of a movie the main character is suppose to smooth everything out and make it all better. The situation presented to Marlowe is one of increasing aggrivation; throughout the whole film he stuck up for this friend through thick and thin, no matter what other people tried to convince him. His friends supposed innocence is pretty much all that is driving him to do these zany tasks, so in the end when it all comes down, you shouldn't be too suprised when he finally snaps and shoots his once close friend.
another way you can look at this final scene is that it connects with Marlowe's relationship to his cat. He takes care of it, puts up with it's nagging for food, he even goes out of his way to trick it into eating a different brand of cat food because it's too picky to eat any other brand but his favorite. In the end, if the cat doesn't get what it wants, it leaves Marlowe in the dust. We never really see the cat again after the first scene, which tells us that he can survive without Marlowe's help, convienent as it may be.
The bottom line is this; both the cat and Terry were using Marlowe's good nature to his disadvantage. They know that he's a push-over and that they can get him to go along with almost anything. But if they push him too far, he can't really be relied upon to protect them anymore.
