Raymond Chandler, on writing:

The challenge is to write about real things magically.

- Raymond Chandler.

On this day in movie history - The Long Goodbye (1973):

The Long Goodbye

directed by Robert Altman,

written by Leigh Brackett,

based on the novel by Raymond Chandler,

was released in the United States on March 7, 1973.
Music by John Williams.

Cast:

Elliott Gould, Nina van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, Mark Rydell, Henry Gibson, David Arkin, Jim Bouton, Warren Berlinger, Pancho Córdova, Enrique Lucero, Rutanya Alda, Jack Riley, Jerry Jones, John S. Davies, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Raymond Chandler, on writing:

The character that lasts is an ordinary guy with some extraordinary qualities.

- Raymond Chandler.

Recommended reading - Killer in the Rain

Killer in the Rain

By Raymond Chandler.

Published by Ballantine Books.

First published 1964.

Mass Market Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0345320204

ISBN-13: 978-0345320209

Description:

Anything Chandler writes about grips the mind from the first sentence. – Daily Telegraph.

One of the greatest crime writers, who set standards others still try to attain. – Sunday Times.

Chandler is an original stylist, creator of a character as immortal as Sherlock Holmes. – Anthony Burgess.

Killer in the Rain collects together eight classic short stories by Raymond Chandler.

It was in the pulp detective magazines of the 1930s that Raymond Chandler's definitive take on the hard-boiled detective story first appeared.

Here then, from the well-thumbed pages of 'Black Mask' and 'Dime Detective Magazine', are eight of his finest stories including 'The Man Who Liked Dogs', 'The Lady in the Lake' and 'Bay City Blues'.

Sharper than a hoodlum's switchblade, more exciting than an unexpected red-head and stronger than a double shot of whisky, they are packed full of the punchy poetry and laconic wit that makes Chandler the undisputed master of his genre.

Best-known as the creator of the original private eye, Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler was born in Chicago in 1888 and died in 1959.

Many of his books have been adapted for the screen, and he is widely regarded as one of the very greatest writers of detective fiction.

His books include The Big Sleep, The Little Sister, Farewell, My Lovely, The Long Good-bye, The Lady in the Lake, Playback, Killer in the Rain, The High Window and Trouble is My Business.

On this day in movie history - Lady in the Lake (1947):

Lady in the Lake

directed by Robert Montgomery,

written by Steve Fisher,

based on the novel The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler,

was released in the United States on January 23, 1947.
Music by David Snell.

Cast:

Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan, Tom Tully, Leon Ames, Jayne Meadows, Richard Simmons, Morris Ankrum, Lila Leeds, Robert Williams, Kathleen Lockhart.

Raymond Chandler, on writing:

The most durable thing in writing is style,

and style is the most valuable investment a writer can make with his time.

It pays off slowly,

your agent will sneer at it,

your publisher will misunderstand it,

and it will take people you have never heard of to convince them by slow degrees that the writer who puts his individual mark on the way he writes will always pay off.

- Raymond Chandler.