One of my all-time favorites, and now I finally own it! Between Howard Hawk's treatment of the '40s Los Angeles and Philip Marlow and the movie's star Humphrey Bogart, I have stayed up late a few times watching Turner Classic Movies to see it.

Also a special treat is that this DVD contains both the 1946 release and the original 1945 film.

Jim Noell
Imperial Beach, CA

The Big Sleep features a lot of breaking of the fourth estate (person speaking directly into the camera), and for the first twenty minutes or so of the film, the anti-hero (Bogart) is not seen; only his voice is heard. Other than "Caged," this is one of Agnes Moorehead's meatier roles. This Howard Hawke film (adapted from a Raymond Chanddler novel)does justice to the noir era.

As other reviewers have mentioned, this is a classic film that showcases Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall's talents. It's worth watching if you haven't seen it in a while or just saw it last week.

Although the storyline stays pretty close to the bestselling The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, the sleazy elements has been cleaned up by Hollywood censors: to such a degree that you might ask what the heck the blackmailing plot is all about. (The novel's plot had enough complexities without deleting the character's seamy motivations.) It seems that in the 1940s, what appears on the page could be deemed inappropriate for the silver screen.

The movie was supposed to be released in 1945, but the war was drawing to a close and the Warner Brothers studio put The Big Sleep on the shelf in order to hurry their war movies into theaters.

In 1946, Howard Hawks had an opportunity to re-shoot a few scenes in order to highlight Becall. The DVD includes both the 1945 and 1946 versions, and more important for film enthusiasts, the Special Features includes a short documentary that describes the differences and the reasons for the changes. Fascinating stuff.
The Shut Mouth Society
The Shopkeeper

This is an excellent DVD of a superb movie.. Its a highly recommeded movie for any fan looking for a thriller and at a time one feels only a man like Bogie could have pulled of Ms. Bacall from this web of lies, deceipt and other confusions.. Truly a movie which any generation would love..

I ordered this DVD for my film & lit class to write an essay on film noir, so my review won't be about the movie itself, but rather the extra features on the disc that I found useful.

The DVD has both versions of the movie (pre-release 1945 version and final version released in 1946), which is absolutely vital if you are writing about the film because the two versions are so different and there are many real life factors that affected it.

It also included some very helpful extras with a comparison between the two different versions that covers dropped scenes, changed scenes, and changed dialogue (some of this is very subtle, so the fact that it is pointed out and highlighted is great). This comparison also references some personal letters between Warner and Bacall's agent that influenced the changes and briefly covers the reasons why the film was not released until a year after it was finished.

The other feature I found interesting was the theatrical trailer. The trailer features Bogart reading a passage from Raymond Chandler's novel which the movie was adapted from, and also mentions the Maltese Falcon (another adaptation in the genre).

There is also a very brief history of the filming under "Behind the Scenes", but the information provided was very general and in bad powerpoint-slideshow style and could easily be found online.

From a student's point of view, this DVD is a great source and definitely worth it, even if just for the 1945/1946 analysis by Robert Gitts (UCLA). Even if you are not a student, I think this film is worth watching. I chose this film for my essay after reading the plot analysis on [...] because it sounded so interesting, and I was not disappointed (and even giggled during some of the melodramatic action scenes).

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1QBTVXD3AD2Q

4.75 stars

Bogie and Bacall at their best. You can see the love in her eyes everytime she looks at him (check her out when the scene's focus is elsewhere: she's always gazing with unrestrained awe at her guy...except when she's looking off-camera at Huston for direction, oops! Amazed they didn't cut that). That kind of connection mated with this kind of script creates fireworks. Not quite as great as the Falcon or Indemnity, this is nonetheless easily one of the top ten films noir.
Beautifully shot, with a fabulous Steiner score, and Chandler dialogue shaped for the screen by Faulkner (!!??!! How often do you seem names like that together in Hollyweird?), Sleep is a true classic in every way.
It may be a tad too long, but not by much.
Bogie was rarely better, and the jokes about his height seem to make him work even harder to be the tough guy that he truly was. Nobody today comes near his presence.
Old school movies don't get much better than this.

"Nothing you can't fix."

- Last line of the movie (Bacall to Bogart)- The Big Sleep

Having just discovered Raymond Chandler with the recent reading of The Big Sleep; I decided to hunt down the movie versions. I started with the Bogart/Bacall version and was not disappointed. Since I did a complete review of the novel on Amazon, I will not discuss the plot again here but will simply focus on the movie itself which was splendid despite it being in black and white.

This was really a terrific movie extremely well done by Howard Hawks and Jack Warner. There were three writers assigned to do the script writing for this film including the renowned American writer William Faulkner, crime novelist Leigh Brackett and Jules Furthman.

The film actually had two versions and had sat around for a year and a half before being released. There were many reasons for the delay. The movie was done between October 10, 1944 and January 12, 1945. But because World War II was ending the studio wanted to get released those films that had a war theme first to not lose out in being able to release these films once the war was officially over. The other reason had to do with the leading lady Lauren Bacall. She had a great release with To Have and To Have Not but her second film Confidential Agent received dismal reviews. It was crucial to get it right in this third film or the investment that the studio had made in Bacall might never be realized.

Somehow she acquired a new agent named Charles K. Feldman who also managed many well known and established stars when he took on this ingenue. He watched the pre-release version of the movie and was struck that if certain things did not change in the movie and that if some scenes were not redone the end result for Bacall would not have been positive. Feldman wrote a letter to Jack Warner asking that the veil scene and that other Bogart/Bacall scenes be strengthened and rewritten showing her as the sassy and insolent young star that had endeared her to so many with her performance in To Have and To Have Not.

Jack Warner listened and did not release the film until the changes had been made which ensured the marketability of his new ingenue Bacall. It was not much later that a 45 year old Bogart married the 20 year old Bacall. In this DVD, special features highlight the comparisons between the 1945 and 1946 versions featuring Robert Gitt of UCLA analyzing the scene differences between the two versions. This was extremely interesting and even the original letter from Feldman was shown along with the footage.

Dorothy Malone played a fabulous girl in the bookshop and Martha Vickers was quite believable as the wild and crazy Carmen Sternwood. I cannot think of anyone who could have played a finer and truer Philip Marlowe than Humphrey Bogart. Absolute perfection in that role. Bacall did a good job as Vivian Sternwood; but for me it was Bogart who stood out. However, the chemistry was apparent between Bacall and Bogart and you could see how Bogart felt about the young Bacall when he looked at her on screen.

I was thrilled with the viewing and would recommend it highly. The only thing that maybe other folks found endearing or maybe the audience at the time enjoyed it was the constant ear pulling by Bogart. I guess that was meant to be one of Marlowe's traits. I seem to have forgotten that detail from the book; but maybe I missed it or maybe it was a trait that was written in by the directors. I thought it was overdone, but it did not detract one smidgen from the greatness of the performances and the entertainment level of the film.

Great choice for a rainy afternoon in front of the fire. And the ending line "Nothing you can't fix" is a fitting and memorable finale to this long awaited classic.

Bentley/2007

The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep (1946)

Directed: Howard Hawks
Written by William Faulkner (and others), based on the novel by Raymond Chandler.
Perhaps very few people realize that there were two versions on this film, one, supposed to be released in 1945 (and never released then), another, 1946, which was released with some of its scenes re-shot to make the film more sexually appealing. Jack Warner was hesitant to release the 1945 version because Lauren Bacall had received terrible reviews by critics for a movie she had made with Charles Boyer, released after To Have and Have Not, with Humphrey Bogart, which had been a hit. So Warner held The Big Sleep unreleased, afraid it too would bomb. But after a letter from Bacall's agent, Jack Warner reconsidered, and he had the most of the crew re-assemble and re-shoot some of the scenes, mostly between the two principals almost a year later, when the two had already fallen in love and married. The result was a resounding box office and critical hit, one movie that has become legendary in its genre (film noir) and considered by many one of the greatest films ever made. What is alluded to as its greatest assets is the chemistry of its leads, the masterful editing and pacing, its dark atmosphere, its "poetic" dialogue, and the masterful direction by Howard Hawks.

All this having been said, I find the movie a muddled concoction of heterogeneous and contradictory plotlines, a spectacle of repellent characters whose names are given before we have any idea who they are, a murky tale that pretends to be a mystery so esoteric that even its writers didn't know where it was going, and above all, with the exception of the compelling first 25 minutes, uninteresting and monotonous, showing the leading character, Bogart/Marlow, discovering corpses, taking drugged girls back to their dad, saving a disoriented female gambler (Bacall/Angel) from the various traps she placed herself in, dealing some blows (and kicks) but also getting roughed up by some hoods, and finally saving an ill and drug-addict girl from further peril and himself getting the girl.

The film has been hailed for, among other things, its sparks flying between Bacall and Bogart, and generally its eroticism, overt or covert (if not judged by the standards of today), and by its clever dialogue. Above all, it is a hymn to Bogart, who by this time had reached stardom as both a lover and gumshoe (a good guy), after this hits in Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon. Now Bogart is good--in his limited ways, for he only plays the same character with slightly variations--first as a hood in the thirties, then a private eye or lover afterwards (honorable exception, The Caine Mutiny). As gumshoe he is quick on his feet and cool under stress, decisive, and, especially here, head and shoulders above his opposition when it comes to brain power and guile. The rest of the characters he meets and deals with seem like a bunch of mentally underbred goons, who come and go, shoot and get shot, and end up corpses in a moment. None of them is worth paying much attention to, except as targets to a quick-witted super-hero (despite his shortness) Marlowe. It's true, the Bacall/Angel matches him in wit--basically in exchanges charged with eroticism--but that was what the producers wanted to achieve to enhance her status as an actress. Personally, I found that the scene at the bookstore, with the bookstore girl (Dorothy Malone) in glasses more erotic than anything Bogart and Bacall did together. In fact, in contrast to the ugly male characters, the film is replete with pretty and sexy females--a woman taxi driver, the said shop girl, a waitress, and numerous others that cross Marlow's path. Even with its plot convolutions and onerous males, Bogart and Bacall are worth the watching.

I just recently rented a remake of this movie and could not understand why anyone would want to change a thing. I had to watch "The Big Sleep" afterwards just to get the remake out of my head. This is one of my favorite films and I do own the DVD. I'm tempted to get a second--if I keep watching it maybe I'll need a backup!

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. However, I just finished reading Raymond Chandler's novel, "The Big Sleep," and I am astounded by how much the screen version deviated from the original story. Apparently, most of this was done to provide a bigger and better part for Lauren Bacall. And, of course, a film made in the 40's could not be as sexually explicit as Chandler's novel which meant that Carmen Sternwood could not be accurately portrayed. I will just say that the original Chandler story is so much tighter and more believable than the screen version. Another thing I realized after reading the book is that Humphrey Bogart probably wasn't the best choice for a Phillip Marlowe. Marlowe was 33 in "The Big Sleep," very tall and good looking. While Bogart nailed Marlowe's cynicism and wit, he lacked all of the physical attributes. Dick Powell's Marlowe in "Murder, my Sweet" is a much closer match. Either way, "The Big Sleep" is a great, classic movie and the book is even better.

Philip Marlowe is called upon by a wealthy widower to investigate a blackmail scheme involving one of his daughters. Draw into a complex web of blackmail, shady gambler and a mysterious disappearance of a former IRA soldier. Marlowe trades quips with the older daughter who is trying to find out what her father hired him for. Murder and murder leaves a trail to a shoot-out with the gamblers hired guns. A top-notch detectiver yarn.

"The Big Sleep", based on the detective novel of the same name by Raymond Chandler, is one of those old classic movies that everyone knows about but very few people seem to have actually sat down and watched. But take it from me, this movie is definitely worth watching.

In addition to being based on Chandler's classic hard boiled novel, the movie stars film giants Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. And the screen play was written by none other than William Faulkner himself (during his Hollywood writing phase).

Not having read the original novel, I'm not sure how much of the screenplay is Faulkner and how much is original Chandler, but the dialogue is crackling with wit. Brilliant one liners are flying around so fast it's difficult to keep track of them all. And Bogart does a great job delivering them as the wise cracking detective.

My only complaint about this movie is it seemed to go one a bit too long for my attention span. But maybe that's my failing instead of the movie's. Like a lot of detective stories, just when you think you have everything all wrapped up, a twist gets thrown in and it turns out the story is only half over.

Still, 60 years later this film can hold its own with any of today's Hollywood blockbusters. If you haven't seen this film yet, check it out. It's one of those classic films that doesn't feel at all like a stuffy classic film when you're watching it.

Ordinarily I don't care for mystery or detective movies or TV shows. The rhythms and conventions of the genre are unfamiliar to me, so I usually miss the shorthand in such films, and get lost in the plots. "The Big Sleep," however, has the amazing quality that it is at once supremely convoluted and simply direct. Perhaps that's because it's a great Chandler novel adapted for the screen by Leigh Brackett (writer of "The Empire Strikes Back," the best of the "Star Wars" movies) and William Faulkner (!). With writers like that, how can you go wrong? The special features note that the two of them wrote the film in 8 days, each writing half. That does explain the fact that something like an ending happens halfway through this movie. Hey, I said it was convoluted.

The stars aligned for this film, with fantastic performances all around, a great screenplay, and the trademark Howard Hawks direction of fast dialogue with no surplusage. Of course, Bogart and Bacall have their usual magic - perhaps because they were married by the time the film was done shooting. The special features on this DVD are not extensive, but they are interesting and worthwhile.

Even people who are not film noir mavens or devotees of all films black and white, but who just enjoy good film, will like this movie. "The Big Sleep" is at least worth a rent.

It's got 1940's cars, offices, clothes, phones, cabs, guns, clubs, dames, rain, fog, hats. It's got Bogart and Bacall. It's got Elisha Cook Jr (in a small but effective role). It's got a long convoluted story that allows Bogart to be Bogart scene after scene. And Bogart IS in charge of every situation. Every dame, EVERY dame, in the film throws him a look that he feels in his left front hip pocket. There is the omniscient Max Steiner score that tells us how Bogart feels, and how we feel about every scene/situation. The terse tought bantering conversations. There is a restaurant scene with Bogie and Bacall, where ostensibly they are discussing race horses. But we realise they are actually revealing to each other their love making styles/preferences. It is sexier then any between the sheets body double close ups of body parts "love scenes" we experience nowadays. This is Warner Brothers, Bogart, Bacall, Hawks etc in top form.

Max Steiner's score is an important ingredient in making THE BIG SLEEP one of the best Raymond Chandler tales to hit the screen, but so is the box-office combo of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, exchanging neat quips while they become involved in a very intricate plot.

The story abounds in quirky characters, including Dorothy Malone, as an oversexed bookstore owner who seduces Bogey on a rainy day afternoon, and Martha Vickers as Bacall's thumb-sucking sister, a nymphomaniac, whom Marlowe refers to as having tried to sit on his lap while he was standing up--just one of the punchy lines in the witty script.

Confusion abounds everywhere in the plot that's as full of holes as swiss cheese--but who cares? It's all done in mock-serious style with the usual Warner Bros. finesse in black and white cinematography.

Only jarring note is the script's insistence that every female in the cast sees Bogey as a sex symbol--something even Bogart would have found amusing since he never considered himself that much of a looker. He makes Philip Marlowe a believable enough character and the part fits him like a glove. After the preview, the studio added additional Bogart-Bacall scenes of hanky panky to give the film an added zing. It works!

Summing up: Makes a great rainy day movie for fans of hard-boiled detective tales.

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Scripted by William Faulkner from Raymond Chandler's complex detective novel, Howard Hawks's "The Big Sleep" is a Hollywood whodunit of the highest order. Bogart famously cemented his trench-coated, tough-guy persona tackling the role of Chandler's shamus protagonist, Philip Marlowe, co-starring alongside young wife Bacall. "Sleep" piles up so many twists, turns, and bodies that ultimately you can't tell who killed whom- neither, apparently, could Chandler--but the Bogart-Bacall star wattage and Hawks's expert direction are such that you really don't care.

If someone ever asked me to name a better "non-sensical" film than The Big Sleep," I would be hard pressed to ever name one . This film moves so fast, and is loaded with some of the most snappiest and memorable dialog, it hardly matters that the film as a whole doesn't make much sense. It's like it was specifically created to toss away any conventional story, and simply provide fast and furious entertainment....and boy does it ever. Bogart and Bacall are in it for the ride, and are absolute dynamite. But, just as good are Martha Vickers and Dorothy Malone. In fact, the entire cast seemed to be completely aware of what kind of film this was to be, and decided to have a blast.
We, the audience, can only be thankful for such a unique and enjoyable film. 61 years later, this film still ssssssmokes and will leave you breathless. It's truly tremendous fun and is highly recommended entertainment.

Where can I possibly begin to comment ?!? There's so much to say. Well, first I'll mention that this DVD has TWO SIDES, yielding two slightly differing versions of the film, so THAT is certainly a big bonus. I don't detect that one is greater than the other but I can say that both are magnificent. This is one film that I watch over and over, never tiring of it -- clearly it's counted in my top 10-rated films. The original story was also Raymond Chandler's premiere mystery, in my personal opinion, so it becomes a double-double whammy. There are so many details in this film that it's almost mandatory to watch it six or eight times just to hone in on all of them. The casting, cinematography, story-line, and locations are all better than brilliant. If I have a complaint with this film, it's that it's not shot in letterbox format -- I think that The Big Sleep might pre-date that particular technology, though, so my gripe is anachronistic and really not a legitimate one. Still, all-around, it's an absolute killer. Collector or not, buy this spectacular old Black and White classic and you'll not regret it once you've watched it for the first time.

This is a fantastic film. I highly reccomend it to fans of noir, classic films, crime dramas and "The Big Lebowski". My only problem is with this DVD itself. Dirt and scratces on the original film are evident in almost every scene. "The Big Sleep" is a great old film that deserves the rejuvenation treatment that Citizen Kane, the 3rd Man, the 2-disc Cassablanca and others have recieved.

ok, can YOU explain just what happens in this movie? if you can, youre the first in 60+ years whos done so! bogey & bacall are worth watching, and the direction by howard hawks will leave you dizzy -- but whether or not you enjoy that is purely a matter of personal taste. as a whodunit its not a great one; as a piece of atmosphere it is. if somebody ranked this *****, i wouldnt argue with him; if somebody ranked this *, i wouldnt argue with him. me? im a middle-brow kinda guy, so ill just go straight down the middle.

Humphrey Bogart's most famous roles are as Sam Spade and Rick Blaine, a pair of callous wise-guys. But he played a softer-hearted tough guy in "The Big Sleep," adapted from Raymond Chandler's novel by the legendary Howard Hawks -- a fast, witty, tough-fisted thriller, with excellent acting and sizzling chemistry.

Private "shamus" Philip Marlowe (Bogart) is hired by the decrepit General Sternwood to hunt down a man who's blackmailing his creepy, childlike daughter Carmen (Martha Vickers). It seems like a straightforward case -- but when he manages to track down the blackmailer, he finds him shot dead in a porn studio -- and a drugged Carmen sitting nearby.

Marlowe drags her home, and orders her fiery sister Vivian (Lauren Bacall) to say nothing of where she's been. Now the investigation is more serious, and Marlowe finds himself walking a tightrope of blackmail, pornography, gambling, mobs and other charming illegalities -- and at the heart of it is the location of one of Sternwood's employees.

"The Big Sleep" was a confusing book -- even Raymond Chandler couldn't follow all the threads, and wasn't able to pin one of the murders on anyone. So it's not surprising that the movie adaptation is similarly befuddling, even with some plot elements smoothed out to simplify the story. It still takes three or four viewings to even start figuring it out.

But it is really enjoyable. Hawks captures the taut, slightly humorous tone of Chandler's writing. That's especially hard, considering everybody except Marlowe and the General are double or triple-crossing somebody else, and the plotlines are murky enough that even at the end, you can't tell what's going on.

But Hawks fills it with classic lines ("What's wrong with you?" "Nothing you can't fix.") and tight action scenes, such as when Bogart sends a man out the door to be shot by his own men. There are moments of humor too, such as when Vivian and Marlowe play a prank call to a policeman ("I can do what? Where? Oh, I wouldn't like that, and neither would my daughter!").

Marlowe's a more likable character than Rick or Spade -- he may be rough and wise-cracking, but he also has soft spots and a likable sense of humor ("I don't like [my manners] myself. They are pretty bad. I grieve over them on long winter evenings"). And he has sparking chemistry with real-life wife Bacall, who plays a hardened rich girl who is desperate to protect her dad and sister, even to the point of framing herself.

"The Big Sleep" is a classic for good reasons -- it may be murky to the point of imcomprehensibility, but it's also wickedly funny, taut and tightly directed. Definitely a must-see.

This DVD is a must for all fans of Raymond Chandler, film noir, Bogart & Bacall, and pre-war Los Angeles. This motion picture is an all-time great, a real historical precedent in movies; the DVD is an excellent preservation of the film and includes the un-released 1945 version of the movie which was slightly more faithful to Chandler's Philip Marlowe novel.

Another private eye H.B.flick. Parallel somewhat to the Maltese Falcon, minus the fat man (Sidney Greenstreet) and Peter Lorre. Good whodunit plot. Bogart and Bacall chemistry, who could ask for anything more. If you like Humphrey and Lauren,you will like this film

I admit to being a film noir fan of long standing. Maybe it was the fact of growing up in the time of black and white television and watching all those late night movies which were freely available at the time. Maybe it was that tight, if improbable, dialogue, the relatively simple plots and the dramatic effect of the shadows of black and white photography on mood. In any case, the Big Sleep fits nicely into that mix. The plot line is fairly simple- Out in pre-World War II California a rich old man with two young wild daughters mixed up in who knows what is looking for his old drinking companion who is missing- enter Phillip Marlowe, gumshoe extraordinaire, who will go through hell and high water to find him dodging bullets, blackjacks, gangsters, crooked cops and meaningful glances from the daughters in order to satisfy his client's wishes. Intrepid, this Marlowe. Of course, as always the real guilty parties will have to face justice, some kind of justice. That is Marlowe's way, as well. In any case one should read Raymond Chandler's book by the same name, that this movie is based on, to get a better feel for the language, his original plot, and better insight into the motivations of the parties. This movie was remade in color in the 1980's and is probably truer to Chandler's plot designs but this is the definitive Big Sleep.

Write your doctoral thesis on the plot of this movie. If you can. The ultimate in off-screen plot points. At least Phillip Marlowe has a pretty girl helping at every turn helping him along...

Bogart and Bacall make for a scorching Film Noir mystery. Classic cinema Gold.

Frequently compared with Huston's "The Maltese Falcon" as one of the classics of the private eye genre, "The Big Sleep" is, in many ways, far removed from the former film... Where on the contrary "The Maltese Falcon" has a basically simple plot about the hunt for a priceless statuette, "The Big Sleep" has probably the most complicated story ever filmed... And, more important, where Hammett's Sam Spade was uncompromising, mercenary and a winner, Raymond Chandlers Philip Marlowe was a frequent sufferer at the hands of cops and hoods and in many ways a loser...

"The Big Sleep" almost defies plot analysis... Just about the only part of the film that is straightforward is the opening sequence when Marlowe undertakes a job of investigation for a crippled millionaire whose daughter is being blackmailed... Afterwards it fills up with such a vast assortment of shadowy characters - whores, pimps, killers, gamblers, a dope hooked deb who sucks her thumb - it is almost impossible to follow... Nevertheless let me mention that Bogart was hired ostensibly to track down a blackmailer, but quickly finds himself immersed in murder, and harmonized double-crosses...

The film has speed, efficiency and magnificent craftsmanship, it has wit... and the acting, needless to say, is of the quality one expects from a Warner's movie of the Forties... Bogart witnesses Bob Steele smilingly giving Elisha Cook, Jr., a poisoned glass of water, all the while assuring him that he has nothing to fear; and Bogart's coldly calculated shootout with Steele later in the film... Bacall moves stealthily in fear or shame, Martha Vickers expresses displeasure, resentment, and bad humor, chief heavy John Ridgeley shows anger and Elisha Cook Jr. is furtive...

If the magic, whether it was entirely calculated in advance or not, lies in the absolute congruence of the Marlowe character with Bogart's screen personality, it nevertheless was an important contribution to the Bogart mystique and is usually paired with "The Maltese Falcon" when reissued...

This was the film in which Bogart became Marlowe for all time... It was the only time he played Marlowe, but it stuck... Bogart as Marlowe is a rock of logic in a carousel of shady characters with clear psychological motivations for only partially explained actions...

When it first appeared, "The Big Sleep" was attacked in some quarters for violence and amorality--but beneath its cynicism and toughness there breathed a heart and sentimentality which he1p to make it timeless...

I had probably watched this 10 times and never could figure out the murders. I finally read the story and figured it out(I think). After reading the story I find it hard to believe that anecdote about Hawks calling Chandler about a murder and Chandler not knowing who committed it. It seems very clear in the story. I'll list them here. Comment on this review if you think I'm wrong.

Arthur Gwynn Geiger murdered by Owen Taylor(Sternwood's chauffeur) because he loved Carmen Sternwood and was upset with her treatment by Geiger.

Owen Taylor murdered by Carol Lundgren(a man and Geiger's lover) for revenge. I believe this is where the anecdote applies.

Joe Brody murdered by Carol Lundgren for revenge. Lungren thought Brody was involved in Geiger's death or conned Geiger or moved too fast on Geiger's operation. I not too clear why Lundgren killed Brody because he works with him in parts of the movie.

Eddie Mars killed by his own men because of a trick by Marlowe.

Sean Regan murdered by Carmen Sternwood because he rebuffed her advances.

Lash Canino killed by Marlowe in self defense.

With one of the greatest directors of all time at the helm of the picture, as well as one of the screens greatest actors and his wife..."The Big Sleep" should be a surefire hit. And it is. In fact, it's one of the strongest moments in Humphrey Bogart's career and we all know he had quite a few strong moments under his belt. In this film (directed by Howard Hawks), Bogart plays Philip Marlowe; A Private Detective created by writer Raymond Chandler. The film itself has a kind of confusing plot, but that doesn't matter. This is one of those films where the plot takes the backseat; The film is completely fueled by the performances and especially the dialogue. This is the first film I've seen with Bogart and Bacall together and it's not hard to see why they ended up falling in love in real life. Their chemistry onscreen is so great. I'm not going to both explaining the plot, instead I'll quote Roger Ebert on it. "The process follows private eye Philip Marlowe as he finds his way through the jungle of gamblers, pornographers, killers, and blackmailers who have attached themselves to [a] rich old general (Charles Waldron) and his two randy daughters (Bacall and Martha Vickers). Some bad guys get killed and others get arrested, and we don't much care-because the real result is that Bogart and Bacall end up in each other's arms. The Big Sleep is a lust story with a plot about a lot of other things." Whenever I'm asked "what movie contains my favorite pieces of dialogue?" I immediately cite Pulp Fiction.
For me, that film has so many quoteable, perfectly written dialogue that it rivals most other films. "The Big Sleep" has just as many great lines. As in this scene:

Vickers (to Bogart): You're not very tall are you?
Bogart: I try to be.

Another when Bogart is talking about Vickers;
"She tried to sit in my lap while I was standing up."

I think a lot of the dialogue here rivals some of Bogart's more famous lines like "Here's lookin' at you kid" and "The stuff that dreams are made of."

Anyway; As a crime film this ranks right up there with "The Maltese Falcon."
GRADE: A

"The Big Sleep" is one of the most unique adaptations of a detective novel ever brought to the screen. Watching this film is one of the true joys of being a film buff. This is extraordinary entertainment that grabs your attention quickly and holds it until the final shot. It is exciting and engaging, and a favorite of all detective film fans.

Director Howard Hawks turned Raymond Chandler's most popular story into an absolutely mesmerizing celluloid masterpiece. Chandler's complex novel was adapted for the screen by William Faulkner, and while we may never know for sure who committed one of the murders in this blurry crime noir, like all Hawks' films, it is so incredibly entertaining we really don't care. It is full of sharp dialog and dreamy images comparable to being slipped a "mickey." One critic actually compared it to a hangover.

The story itself moves at a terrific clip, and there is so much going on you might get lost if you blink. Humphry Bogart is Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, and from the moment he arrives to talk to General Sternwood and gets mixed up with his daughters this is a film classic.

One would think with a young and sultry Bacall getting tangled up with Bogart for the first time, they would be everything in this film; they are not, however. Bacall portrays the General's sultry older daughter, Vivian, but it is the sexy and thumb-sucking Carmen whom Marlowe meets first.

Martha Vickers gives a performance that has you thinking about her throughout, even when she isn't present. She steals every scene she is in and is one of the most memorable dolls in noir history. This was Vickers' finest moment on film and forever earned her a place in movie history.

The story takes off quickly as the very sick Sternwood wants Marlowe to look into a little matter involving blackmail and his daughters. But as Marlowe follows the trail of gambling debts, he finds one body after another and spends all his energy trying to extricate Carmen and Vivian from the mess.

Marlowe and Vivian have a spark that gives him incentive to get the job done, but he may not be able to head off the rollercoaster headed for the little kitten, Carmen, who may turn out to have some very large claws. Dorothy Malone has a brief but sexy role as a clerk who shares more than a drink with Marlowe.

Hawks filmed this as a moody dream of dialog and images hard to forget. Bogart's Marlowe has his hands full trying to keep Carmen out of trouble. And the sparks that begin to fly between he and Carmen's big sister, Vivian, may not be enough to overcome her involvement with some of the players for the other team.

Trying to find a way to keep the fast-rising body count from getting any higher, while at the same time keeping Vivian and her little sister Carmen in the clear, will take some dangerous turns for Marlowe.

Bacall has never been more beautiful or inviting than when she is slumped down in the seat of Bogart's car, just waiting for him to kiss her. You have to see this film to really appreciate it. No description could ever do it justice. You'll never see anything else like it in American cinema. A true noir classic, and one of Howard Hawks' many masterpieces.

The plot is a little more complicated than The Big Lebowski, but easy enough for anyone clever. I have seen this film many times, but still haven't figured it out, however. Frankly, this doesn't bother me, nor does it seem to bother anyone else, much. It's all just too entertaining. First: the dialogue, superbly delivered in Bogart's machine-gun style. Second: the humour. This is a very funny film. I found myself laughing a lot of the time, something not lost on the Coens. Third: the pace. One great scene is swiftly followed by another, often of a very different kind; alternately witty, glamorous, brutal, seductive, mystifying, and always surprising. Logic flies out of the window. Everything happens right on cue. Who is L.D.Wallgreen, Insurance Agent? Bogart is a kind of filmic miracle. Just how did this short, ugly, skinny guy with a lisp project such immeasurable personality? As for Bacall, well I can take her or leave her. On the other hand, I can definitely take Malone, Vickers, even the Agnes dame, at a pinch. Also the cab-driver, working round the clock. Yes, indeed, these were the days when men were men, women were women, and the crooks had the big sleep coming. Mean streets, where someone set things right, who was not himself mean. And worked for peanuts. Riveting.

I first saw this great noir in July '62 on local Ch.9(WGN) and fell "in love" with "Betty Bacall",and this fantastic Howard Hawks' directed classic.The DVD has EVERYTHING,the original version,the revised version,all with expert commetary.
I don't dare go into the twisting and perhaps confusing plot.I will say that this film is derived from a Raymond Chandler mystery.Bogart is Phillip Marlowe(Dick Powell was better in "Murder,My Sweet)Chandlers' premier character/private detective,who is called in by Gen.Sterwood(Charles Waldron) to find his "missing friend".after the meeting with the Gen.,Marlowe then comes into contact with Sternwoods older daughter Vivian(Betty Bacall) and the sparks fly.In a large cast standouts include Dorothy Malone,great in a small sexy encounter ,with Marlowe,Bob Steele as a cold-eyed killer,and that film noir ican(Wilmer in The Maltese Falcon) Elisha Cook,jr.,as a love struck "little man.An outstsndind film and DVD.A MUST for ALL Bogart and/or noir fans.To all newcomers to noir this DVD might be a good introduction.This film was remade in 1977,starring Robert Mitchum,it STUNK,not Mitchum fault,but very bad,nevertheless.

This movie is just a blast. Its definately a bit chaotic at times, but ultimately it has so many memorable scenes, so much chemistry and so many sexual ineundos, it's just too much fun to care.

Besides, its Humphry Bogart.

The story overall isnt all that thrilling, and while I ve only seen it once as of now, there is so much other good stuff going on that it definately warrants a viewing. Its a classic like they should be. A clear nod to the times it was filmed in but with so many basics that we still look for in a good entertaining film these days, it still works just as well as I m sure it originally did it '46.

The DVD is a great print too. Nice quality picture. Good sound, while a bit quiet on the dialogue at times and the bullets are LOUD!

Definately worth checking out.

So much has been written about "The Big Sleep" that it almost seems redundant to say anything at all. But that's never stopped me before. "The Big Sleep" is one of the most fascinating films ever to come out of Hollywood, and this disc demonstrates shows why: many films in the Golden Age were reshot and tinkered with after preview screenings, but few were altered so much as "The Big Sleep." Presenting both versions -- the 1945 one that was shown only to overseas servicemen, and the 1946 one for general release -- as well as a documentary chronicling the changes between the two, offers the viewer a peek into how the studios of the time would strive to make the best film possible. Bogie is, of course, wonderful, and so is Bacall, but just about everyone here is. In fact, Martha Vickers comes close to stealing the film. And how they got the "depends on who's in the saddle" scene past the Breen Office is anyone's guess! "The Big Sleep" is one of the great movies of all time...even if we never do figure out who offed Owen Taylor.