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).

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The Big Sleep was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1997.

BlogHub Articles:

Robert Mitchum as a Contemporary Marlowe in The Big Sleep

By Rick29 on Nov 4, 2019 From Classic Film & TV Cafe

Robert 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 Button

A 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 Garden

Thoughts 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 Film

By 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 Satin

Tune 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

Philip Marlowe: Somebody's always giving me guns.


Philip Marlowe: How'd you happen to pick out this place?
Vivian: Maybe I wanted to hold your hand.
Philip Marlowe: Oh, that can be arranged.


General Sternwood: You knew him too?
Philip Marlowe: Yes, in the old days, when he used to run rum out of Mexico and I was on the other side. We used to swap shots between drinks, or drinks between shots, whichever you like.
General Sternwood: My respects to you, sir. Few men ever swapped more than one shot with Sean Regan.


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Facts about

Nina Foch tested for the role of "Carmen."
Rumors that Andy Williams dubbed Lauren Bacall's singing voice are untrue. Both director Howard Hawks and Bacall confirm that she did her own singing.
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.
read more facts about The Big Sleep...
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National Film Registry

The Big Sleep

Released 1946
Inducted 1997
(Sound)




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Also directed by Howard Hawks




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Also released in 1946




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