At the request of Raymond Chandler's estate, his novel was completed by Robert B. Parker and published in 1989.
"Poodle Springs" is the eighth and final Philip Marlowe novel, which was either written or co-written by Raymond Chandler.
The film was released thirty-nine to forty years after its source unfinished manuscript by Raymond Chandler was written in 1958 to 1959. The "Poodle Springs" novel, completed by Robert B. Parker, was published in 1989.
James Caan's characterization of Raymond Chandler's Phillip Marlowe character was a much older, and world-weary one, just as Robert Mitchum's had also been in "The Big Sleep (1978)" and "Farewell, My Lovely (1975)." These were all markedly different than the earlier cinematic incarnations of Marlowe, where he was younger and more energetic.