!!The film:

* CastTheRunnerUp: Creator/{{Steve McQueen|Actor}} was offered the role of Phillip Marlowe, but his asking price was too high. He did make a cameo appearance that ended up on the cutting room floor.
* TheDanza: Several of the minor characters--Jo Ann Brody as Jo Ann (Augustine's mistress), Rutanya Alda as Rutanya (one of Marlowe's hippie neighbors), Creator/JackRiley as Riley (the piano player), Pepe Callahan as Pepe (Augustine's bilingual thug).
* DeletedRole: Creator/{{Steve McQueen|Actor}} had a cameo as [[Literature/TheMalteseFalcon Sam Spade]] that ended up on the cutting room floor.
* DeletedScene: There was originally a scene where Marlowe meets [[Literature/TheMalteseFalcon Sam Spade]] (played by Creator/{{Steve McQueen|Actor}}) in an elevator. The scene is not known to survive, with the only evidence of its existence being on-set production stills.
* GenreKiller: Altman is said to have ''wanted'' this film to be this for the HardboiledDetective kind of FilmNoir. [[SubvertedTrope Didn't happen, though.]]
* PlayingAgainstType:
** Creator/ElliottGould, who specialized in playing neurotic, eccentric New Yorkers, as a HardboiledDetective from LA, was one of the UsefulNotes/NewHollywood era's most celebrated examples of this.
** Creator/HenryGibson, best known at the time for his dorky characters on ''Series/RowanAndMartinsLaughIn'', as the dour, amoral Dr. Verringer.
* ScrewedByTheNetwork: United Artists botched its initial release by promoting it as a straight DetectiveDrama. A few months later they re-released it but the marketing implied that it was a rollicking {{Parody}} of Literature/PhilipMarlowe, when it's really more like a darkly satiric {{Retool}}.
* StillbornFranchise: Creator/ElliottGould has said that so long as he is physically able he holds out hopes that he could reprise the role of Phillip Marlowe. He has a screenplay entitled ''It's Always Now'', based on a Creator/RaymondChandler story, ''The Curtain''. The Chandler estate sold him the rights to the story for $1.
* ThrowItIn: It's a Creator/RobertAltman film, so there's lots of this.
** Creator/ElliottGould ad-libbed many of Marlowe's quips. The shot of the two amorously-engaged dogs on the street of the Mexican village obviously wasn't planned but was memorable enough to stay in the film. He also improvised the scene in police custody in which he smears fingerprint ink all over his face.
** Gould and Creator/SterlingHayden's dialogue during the drinking scenes was improvised because Hayden was drunk and stoned on marijuana most of the time.
* UncreditedRole: Creator/DavidCarradine as Marlowe's cellmate as Dave aka Socrates.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Creator/LeeMarvin and Creator/RobertMitchum were considered for Phillip Marlowe. Mitchum would later star in adaptations of ''Literature/FarewellMyLovely'' and ''Literature/TheBigSleep''.
** The directing job was offered to both Creator/HowardHawks (who had directed ''Film/TheBigSleep'') and Creator/PeterBogdanovich, who both turned it down.
** Altman originally wanted Dan Blocker (Hoss Cartwright in ''Series/{{Bonanza}}'') whom he originally directed in early episodes of the series, to play Roger Wade. Tragically, Blocker died from a post-surgery complication at the age of 44. The film is dedicated to him. Creator/JohnHuston was considered for Wade before Hayden was cast.
* WrittenByCastMember: Creator/SterlingHayden wrote his own scenes.

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