The Big Sleep (1946) | |
| Director(s) | Howard Hawks |
| Producer(s) | Jack L. Warner (executive), Howard Hawks (uncredited) |
| Top Genres | Crime, Film Adaptation, Film Noir, Mystery, Thriller/Suspense |
| Top Topics | Book-Based |
Featured Cast:
The Big Sleep Overview:
The Big Sleep (1946) was a Crime - Film Noir Film directed by Howard Hawks and produced by Howard Hawks and Jack L. Warner.
The film was based on the novel of the same name written by Raymond Chandler published in 1939.
SYNOPSIS
Chandler's first novel introduced private detective Philip Marlowe, and The Big Sleep set the standard for private detective movies. Down-at-the-heels private eye Marlowe gets the assignment to clean up after the daughters of a dying millionaire, but dead people have a nasty habit of trailing in their wake. The famously tortuous storyline (Hawks supposedly asked Chandler to clarify a plot point about the murder of the family chauffeur; the novelist hadn't a clue as to who did the deed) seems beside the point when Bogart and Bacall are on-screen. The final release was recut to include more of their scenes together. A must! Remade in 1978.
(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).
.The Big Sleep was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1997.
The Big Sleep BlogHub Articles:
Robert Mitchum as a Contemporary Marlowe in The Big Sleep
By Rick29 on Nov 4, 2019 From Classic Film & TV CafeRobert Mitchum as Marlowe. The biggest knock against Michael Winner's 1978 adaptation of The Big Sleep was his decision to transplant the story to contemporary England. It was surely an odd choice, especially since Raymond Chandler's novels paint a rich, vibrant portrait of urban California life in... Read full article
The Big Sleep (1946, Howard Hawks)
By Andrew Wickliffe on Sep 14, 2018 From The Stop ButtonA lot goes unspoken in The Big Sleep. It?s very much set in a wartime Los Angeles, but there?s never much said about wartime conditions or Los Angeles. When private detective Humphrey Bogart goes around the city, investigating, he?s only ever encountering women (beautiful women at that, because dire... Read full article
Thoughts on The Big Sleep (1946)
By Carol Martinheira on Apr 29, 2018 From The Old Hollywood GardenThoughts on The Big Sleep (1946) On April 29, 2018 By CarolIn Uncategorized I like to say I have a love-hate relationship with The Big Sleep. I don?t. I love The Big Sleep. And it grows on me every time I watch it. Maybe because I understand it a little bit better each... Read full article
The Big Sleep (1946)
on Sep 6, 2017 From Journeys in Classic FilmBy 1946 actor Humphrey Bogart fit into the role of detective Philip Marlowe so perfectly it might as well have been his favorite pair of shoes. Though this was Bogie’s own time playing the detective, The Big Sleep was simply a culmination of his past films coming together in perfect unison. He... Read full article
Day 26 of Noirvember: Don’t Snooze on The Big Sleep (1946)
By shadowsandsatin on Nov 27, 2016 From Shadows and SatinTune in to TCM on November 27th for The Big Sleep (1946), starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, directed by Howard Hawks, and containing what wins the prize for one of noirs most convoluted plots. Click below for one of my many favorite scenes from the film, featuring Bogart and Sonia Darrin. ... Read full article
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Quotes from The Big Sleep
Philip Marlowe: Well, I, uh, I try to be.
Eddie Mars: Your story didn't sound quite right.
Philip Marlowe: Oh, that's too bad. You got a better one?
Eddie Mars: Maybe I can find one.
Philip Marlowe: You wanna tell me now?
Vivian: Tell you what?
Philip Marlowe: What it is you're trying to find out. You know, it's a funny thing. You're trying to find out what your father hired me to find out, and I'm trying to find out why you want to find out.
Vivian: You could go on forever, couldn't you? Anyway it'll give us something to talk about next time we meet.
Philip Marlowe: Among other things.
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Facts about The Big Sleep
The second of four films made by real life couple and later husband and wife Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. This film follows Bacall's debut in To Have and Have Not, during which their romance was first kindled on set. Following this film, the couple teamed up twice more, for Dark Passage and Key Largo.
Many of the cars in the film have a "B" sticker in the lower-right corner of their windshields. This is a reflection of the wartime rationing of gasoline. Gas was rationed primarily to save rubber, because Japan had occupied Indochina, Malaysia, and Indonesia. (There was a shortage of gas on the East Coast until a pipeline from Texas was constructed to replace the transport of crude oil by sea.) The B sticker was the second lowest category, entitling the holder to only 8 gallons of gas a week. Marlowe seems to use more than one week's allotment during a 72-hour period, which may be intended to reflect a black market in ration books. However, since Marlowe still has a deputy badge, at least in a deleted scene which existed in the 1945 version, he would be entitled to an X sticker (unlimited gas) as a peace officer. Perhaps the B sticker on the windshield was camouflage, since an X sticker would make the car extremely noteworthy. Marlowe also refers to "three red points," and speaks of a dead body as "cold meat" which refers to the red tokens used to acquire a family's allotment of meat during WWII.
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