April 16, 1983 (1983-04-16) – June 3, 1986 (1986-06-03)
Philip Marlowe, Private Eye is an American mystery series that aired on HBO in the United States from April 16, 1983, through June 3, 1986, and on ITV in the United Kingdom. The series features Powers Boothe as Raymond Chandler's title character, and was the first drama produced for HBO.[2] Unlike other modern incarnations of the Marlowe character, the HBO series kept the show set in the 1930s, true to the original Raymond Chandler stories.
Synopsis
The series chronicles the cases of private detective Philip Marlowe. Set in Los Angeles during the 1930s, storylines were adapted from Chandler's short stories. Philip Marlowe, Private Eye aired in two short runs beginning in April 1983 to June 1983 in the US and May 1984 in the UK. The second run began in April 1986 and ended in June 1986.[3]
Marlowe is hired to protect a former mob accountant, Sal Vaccaro. The mob is gunning for him after he cooked the books and ran off with their money. Marlowe hides Vaccaro out in a hotel to evade the assassins, with the help of his Girl Friday, Annie Riordan, but it soon becomes clear that Marlowe is being played. Guest star: Kathryn Leigh Scott.
Brash musician King Leopardi is at the top of the charts, but somebody has made him Number 1 with a bullet. He winds up dead in a singer's bed, and Marlowe needs to figure out who killed the King. The suspects range from jilted lovers to angry managers, and a note that leads Marlowe to a motorcyclist who trades gunshots before the case is all wrapped up. Guest star: Lise Hilboldt.
Hiring Marlowe is proving to be hazardous to one's health. After two clients end up dead and when he is framed for doing in one of them, Marlowe must battle with the cops, the mob and a grand jury investigation to get out of a frame. And what a frame - they've got his gun as the murder weapon and $25,000 the victim had given to Marlowe for safe keeping. With trouble from all sides and a beautiful woman who may not be what she seems, Marlowe tries to finger the right man before he takes the fall. Guest star: Gayle Hunnicutt.
A hotshot lawyer from Reno is killed, and the cops are quick to blame a beaten-down old rival of Marlowe's. But Marlowe isn't so sure, and sets out to clear him. The trail leads to Annie Riordan's new beau and a pair of killers with a very deadly car that doubles as a gas chamber. Marlowe has to nab the killers before he becomes the next victim of the deadly "Nevada gas." Guest star: John Terry.
The job of acting as security for a young Hollywood star grows more complicated when Marlowe discovers the actor is dead, and his doctor and the movie studio are trying to cover it up. Now, Marlowe is up to his neck in scandal, drugs and blackmail. And to make matters worse, there's a guy with a tommy gun and an itchy trigger finger who's out to keep Marlowe quiet, for keeps.
Marlowe investigates the death of his friend Spanish, a lawyer who was running for DA against a corrupt incumbent. Guest stars: Helen Shaver, John Vernon.
2–3
"Pickup on Noon Street"
Robert Iscove
Jeremy Hole
11 May 1986 (1986-05-11)
Marlowe's out to find the killer of a young girl, but he may have the chance to save another one. When he comes to the aid of Token Ware, a cigarette girl in a nightclub, Marlowe gets fingered by the law as the prime suspect in an extortion scheme. Now, he has to tangle with an actor who's got shady tastes in young women, his agent who only wants to keep it quiet, a club owner who's as slimy as they come and a musclebound thug who only wants Marlowe dead. Guest stars: Kate Trotter, Robin Givens.
2–4
"Guns at Cyrano's"
Robert Iscove
Jeremy Hole
18 May 1986 (1986-05-18)
Benny Cyrano owns a nightclub, a gym, and Duke Targo, who could become the next champ. But somebody's pressuring Duke to take a dive in his next fight, so Cyrano hires Marlowe to make sure it doesn't happen. The shakedown seems to be linked to Duke's girl, Jean, and when Marlowe discovers a link to the new boxing commissioner, he has to act fast before somebody goes down for the count... for good. Guest stars: Roxanne Hart, Cec Linder.
2–5
"Trouble Is My Business"
Robert Iscove
Jeremy Hole
25 May 1986 (1986-05-25)
A millionaire hires Marlowe to break up the budding romance between his naive nephew and a gold-digging social climber. Guest stars: Kate Reid, Jennifer Dale.
Anything can happen when the Santa Ana wind blows through town, as a murder in a bar sets Marlowe off on a new case. There's a woman with a secret, a missing pearl necklace, an affair that could destroy a career, and another corpse before the dust settles. Guest star: Maury Chaykin, Linda Griffiths.
