BIG SLEEP, THE

(August 1946, U.S.)

Consider, for a moment, the numerous celebrity marriages and relationships over that last three decades that movie studios have tried (in vain) to hype up the film they were making together; Sean Penn and Madonna, Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, Ben Affleck and Jennifor Lopez (Uuggh!!!). Consider how all of those films flopped on their miserable asses!

Now consider Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. In their day, they were the real deal; happily married 'till the day "Bogie" died and all four of their films were big successes. THE BIG SLEEP (their second film together) has all of the traditional elements one would expect from a film noir detective thriller; the private dick, the femme fatale, the snappy dialogue, the dark alleys, the shadows, the gunfire, and the dead bodies. THE BIG SLEEP also (unfortunately) features a very convoluted plotline which can be very difficult to follow at times. There are also more character names to remember than a typical Agatha Christie novel. Allegedly during filming, neither the director, Howard Hawks, nor the screenwriters knew whether the chauffeur, Owen Taylor, was murdered or had actually killed himself. They sent a cable to Raymond Chandler (author of the original 1939 novel of the same name), who told a friend in a later letter: "They sent me a wire ... asking me, and dammit I didn't know either".

Being fully aware that a film like this is full of confusion, you have to simply decide to just sit back, turn out the lights, and enjoy the pleasure of glorious black and white film noir entertainment with two huge (married) movie stars of the "golden age of cinema". As the old saying goes, they don't make 'em like that any more. They never will.

Favorite line or dialogue:

Eddie Mars: " Convenient, the door being open when you didn't have a key, eh?"
Philip Marlowe: "Yeah, wasn't it. By the way, how'd you happen to have one?"
Mars: "Is that any of your business?"
Marlowe: "I could make it my business."
Mars: "I could make your business mine."
Marlowe: "Oh, you wouldn't like it. The pay's too small."