On the first day of shooting for Robert Altman’s 1973 film The Long Goodbye, Elliott Gould sauntered onto set and improvised four simple words: “It’s okay with me.” On-screen, they reflected a certain uneasy acceptance of the eccentric paradoxes of contemporary American life, but off-screen, they were a testament to the laissez-faire energy between director and actor. Gould was an actor prone to fits of sudden inspiration, and Altman was a filmmaker who nurtured spontaneity. It was a match made in heaven, but for fans of Raymond Chandler, it was an unacceptable one.
