Well, you've pretty much described the opening of Farewell My Lovely
(1975), with Robert Mitchum as Philip Marlowe.

Richard Wohlfeiler


>help . . . i'm trapped in a generational bog and need help
>to extricate myself . . .  in talking about film noir to an intro
>to film class i tried to evoke recognition by alluding to
>an almost archetypal noir moment:
>
>   a single guy, perhaps wearing a trenchcoat, in a
>   crummy hotel room alone at night;   the hotel's neon
>   sign is just outside his window blinking on and off, the
>   light shining on him through the venetian blinds in the
>   window;  outside it is of course raining;    on the
>   soundtrack either a wailing saxophone and/or a voice
>   over narration talking, saying something bitter and
>   cynical on the order of  "everything seemed to be
>   swell,  until . . ."
>
>mike frank

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