The Big Sleep (1946)

Directed by Howard Hawks. With Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely, Martha Vickers. Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a rich family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail, and what might be love.

The Big Sleep is a 1946 film noir directed by Howard Hawks,[2][3] the first film version of Raymond Chandler's 1939 novel of the same name. The film stars Humphrey Bogart as private detective Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as Vivian Rutledge in a story about the "process of a c

The definitive Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Bacall vehicle, The Big Sleep casts Bogart as Raymond Chandler's cynical private eye Philip Marlowe. Summoned to the home of the fabulously wealthy General Sternwood (Charles Waldron), Marlowe is hired to deal with a blackmailer shaking down the General's sensuous, thumb-sucking daughter Carmen (Martha Vickers). This earns Marlowe the displeasure of Carmen's sloe-eyed, seemingly straight-laced older sister Vivian (Bacall), who is fiercely protective of her somewhat addled sibling. As he pursues the case at hand, Marlowe gets mixed up in the murder of Arthur Geiger (Theodore von Eltz), a dealer in pornography. He also runs afoul of gambling-house proprietor Eddie Mars (John Ridgely), who seems to have some sort of hold over the enigmatic Vivian. Any further attempts to outline the plot would be futile: the storyline becomes so complicated and convoluted that even screenwriters William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett, and Jules Furthmann were forced to consult Raymond Chandler for advice (he was as confused by the plot as the screenwriters). When originally prepared for release in 1945, The Big Sleep featured a long exposition scene featuring police detective Bernie Ohls (Regis Toomey) explaining the more obscure plot details. This expository scene was ultimately sacrificed, along with several others, in favor of building up Bacall's part; for instance, a climactic sequence was reshot to emphasize sexual electricity between Bogart and Bacall, obliging Warners to replace a supporting player who'd gone on to another project. The end result was one of the most famously baffling film noirs but also one of the most successful in sheer star power. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Two of the names mentioned most often in Howard Hawks' "The

The classic 1946 film starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, trailer as it appears on region 2 dvd special features. I own nothing

Overview of The Big Sleep, 1946, directed by Howard Hawks, with Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely, at Turner Classic Movies

The Big Sleep (1946) is one of Raymond Chandler's best hard-boiled detective mysteries transformed into a film noir, private detective film classic. This successful adaptation of Chandler's 1939 novel was from his first Philip Marlowe novel. [Chandler took segments of two of his

We still don't know what happened in Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall's noir masterpiece The Big Sleep!

The Big Sleep is a 1946 film about private detective Philip Marlowe who is hired by a rich family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail, and what might be love. In 1997, the U.S. Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetical