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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
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.”
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