The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep, motion picture about a detective embroiled in a convoluted murder plot, based on the 1939 novel by Raymond Chandler. Released in 1946, this award-winning, critically acclaimed film noir was directed by Howard Hawks and features a screenplay by novelist William Faulkner, Jules Furthman, and Leigh Brackett. A wealthy man hires private detective Philip Marlowe (played by Humphrey Bogart) to investigate the blackmailing of his infantile daughter, but the man’s true agenda involves a missing friend. In addition, Marlowe becomes involved with the man’s other daughter Vivian (Lauren Bacall) and soon finds himself entangled in a wild net of mobsters, pornographers, manic socialites, ruthless murderers, and untrustworthy police. This film was remade in 1978.

Director

• Howard Hawks

Cast

• Humphrey Bogart (Philip Marlowe)
• Lauren Bacall (Vivian)
• John Ridgely (Eddie Mars)
• Louis Jean Heydt (Joe Brody)
• Elisha Cook, Jr. (Jones)
• Regis Toomey (Bernie Ohls)
• Sonia Darrin (Agnes)
• Bob Steele (Canino)
• Martha Vickers (Carmen)
• Tom Rafferty (Carol Lundgren)
• Dorothy Malone (Girl in bookshop)
• Charles Waldron (General Sternwood)
• Charles D. Brown (Norris)
• Tom Fadden (Sidney)
• Ben Welden (Pete)
• Trevor Bardette (Art Huck)
• James Flavin (Cronjager)
• Joy Barlowe (Cab driver)
• Thomas Jackson (Wilde)
• Peggy Knudsen (Mona Mars)
• Theodore Von Eltz (Geiger)
• Carole Douglas (Librarian)
• Dan Wallace (Owen Taylor)
• Tanis Chandler (Waiter)
• Deannie Best (Waiter)
• Lorraine Miller (Hat check girl)
• Shelby Payne (Cigarette girl)

Awards

• Selected for Registry by the National Film Preservation Board (1997)

Trivia

• When director Hawks and actor Bogart disagreed on whether a character was murdered or committed suicide, they called Chandler, the author of the famously convoluted book on which the film was based. Chandler’s response to their question: “How should I know? You figure it out.”

Quotes

• Marlowe: What's wrong with you?” Vivian: “Nothing you can't fix.”
• Norris: “How would you like your brandy?” Marlowe: “In a glass.”
• Vivian: “Why did you have to go on?” Marlowe: “Too many people told me to stop.”