A super-fun noir puzzle, bristling with sex, suspense, and crackerjack banter
If a case ever needed to be made that great movies can merely be wonderful entertainment, look no further than “The Big Sleep” as proof. This hard-boiled detective thriller has no real themes, no message, and a plot that baffles everyone (even its cast, writers, and crew), yet it is widely considered the best film starring the immortal team of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, was a giant financial success, and has become a most beloved classic. One gets so wrapped up in the fascinating characters, playfully biting dialogue, and atmosphere of sex, intrigue, and suspense that the lack of themes and confusing plot hardly matter. If that’s not proof that pure cinema can satisfyingly entertain, I don’t know what is. This film is addictive from the second it starts until it fades to black.
“The Big Sleep” opens as a finger pushes a doorbell branded "Sternwood". A butler opens the door as we hear a voice behind it announce, "My name's ‘Marlowe'. 'General Sternwood' wants to see me". "Marlowe" waits in the home’s palatial foyer while the butler goes to inform the "General" he's there. While waiting, down the stairs saunters a toothsome girl in a short skirt with legs for days. "Marlow" looks her over, says "Good morning", and the girl looks him up and down and remarks, "You're not very tall, are you?", to which he responds "Well I try to be". Before “Marlowe” knows it, the girl is doing everything she can to seduce him (as he soon tells the "General", “She tried to sit on my lap when I was standing up”).
“Marlowe” is none other than “Philip Marlowe”, a detective fired for insubordination from the District Attorney’s office who now works as a Private Investigator. The “General” is a widowed millionaire who lives with his two daughters (“both pretty and both pretty wild”). The girl in the skirt is the “General’s” nymphomaniacal daughter “Carmen”, and the “General" is being blackmailed for the second time regarding her alleged gambling debts by someone named “A.G. Geiger”. Knowing it’s not about gambling, the “General” hires “Marlowe” to get to the bottom of it and get “Geiger” out of their lives.
Just before leaving the house, “Marlowe” is summoned by the “General’s” other daughter, "Vivian Sternwood Rutledge”, a divorced beauty who her father describes as “spoiled, exacting, smart, and ruthless”. Keen on knowing exactly why her father hired him, she supposes “Marlowe’s” been hired to find her father’s protégé, “Sean Regan”, who disappeared a month ago without a word. “Marlowe” leaves her guessing as to why he’s there, and after one-upping each other with insults, they soon fall in love.
As “Marlowe” tries to put together the many puzzle pieces, he quickly finds he’s opened a Pandora’s box of murder, corruption, lies, secrets, a missing film negative, and much more. The plot gets a bit murky, but don’t worry, it’s all part of the fun. As “The Big Sleep’s” director Howard Hawks said in the book “The Chronicle of the Movies”: “It’s the first time I’ve made a picture and just decided that I wasn’t going to explain things. I was just going to try and make good scenes”. He exceeded his goal, and “The Big Sleep” has become iconic and one of his (and Hollywood’s) most popular films.
Howard Hawks was a director who held a lot of control over his movies, and he’s the one to thank for “The Big Sleep's” nonstop excitement. He creates a moody world through a visual style that evokes mystery and danger, against a brisk tempo that makes it all thrilling. Hawks' direction turns a plot-heavy movie into a shockingly satisfying joyride, regardless of how much one understands what’s going on.
Case in point is “Marlowe’s” meeting with the “General” which takes place in the “General’s” lush, sweltering, jungle-like greenhouse. A wheelchair-bound invalid who can’t drink or smoke, "The General" does so vicariously as he offers “Marlowe” a brandy and tells him to take off his coat, for it's "too hot in here for any man with blood in his veins”. What proceeds is an expository scene informing us about “Marlowe”, the “General’s” daughters, and vague points about the blackmail and a previous blackmail by someone named “Joe Brody”. But as “Marlowe” continually wipes away his sweat and the “General” longingly swallows as “Marlowe” drinks, instead of driving the plot, the scene captivatingly becomes about informing us that this will be an offbeat tale with a sympathetic yet flawed hero.
Hawks’ expertise at economic cinematic storytelling, extracting great performances, and having dialogue flow naturally are all at work here, as is his gift for comedy. If the film wasn’t so shadowy and filled with murder, the continually amusing double-talk, wisecracks, and innuendo might make one think “The Big Sleep” was a comedy. Even at the most dire moments we are treated to sublime banter, such as the rapid-fire exchange between "Marlowe" and gun-wielding suspect "Eddie Mars” when they happen to show up at a murder site at the same time:
“Mars”: ”Convenient – the door being open when you didn't have a key"
“Marlowe”: ”Yeah, wasn't it. By the way, how'd you happened to have one"
“Mars”:"Is that any of your business?”
“Marlowe”: “I could make it my business”
“Mars”: “I could make your business mine”
“Marlowe”: “Oh, you wouldn't like it, the pay's too small”
Even with all the murder, lies, and intense intrigue that take place, the overriding feel of “The Big Sleep” is thrilling fun – something only Hawks could create so magnificently.
One of Hollywood’s top directors, Indiana-born Howard Hawks had an illustrious directing career starting in 1926, directing films in just about every genre. “The Big Sleep” was his twenty-seventh, and it came in the middle of a streak of just over a dozen consecutive hits from 1939's "Only Angels Have Wings" to 1953's "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”. Because of Hawks’ low-key directing style, it’s easy to take for granted his immense talent, but one look at the very long list of solid classics he directed tells you this man knew how to make great films. Along with “The Big Sleep”, just some of his other classics include “Twentieth Century”, “To Have and Have Not”, "Sergeant York", "Ball of Fire", "I Was a Male War Bride”, “The Big Sky”, "Rio Bravo", and five films already on this blog, "Bringing Up Baby", "His Girl Friday”, "Red River”, "Scarface", and "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”. Click on the titles of the films already on this blog to open those posts and read more about the life and career of Howard Hawks.
Hawks previously directed “The Big Sleep's” two stars, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, in their first film together (and Bacall’s film debut), 1944’s “To Have and Have Not”. Their smoldering, saucy chemistry made that film a big moneymaker and Warner Brothers studio asked Hawks to repeat the magic and direct them in another film. What came to Hawks’ mind was the 1939 Raymond Chandler novel “The Big Sleep”. Screen rights were acquired, and Hawks hired writers William Faulkner and Leigh Brackett to adapt it for the screen.
Faulkner had been writing screenplays since the early 1930s, (including partnering with Jules Furthman to write “To Have and Have Not”), and Brackett was a 28 year old woman who had written a low-budget horror film (1945’s "The Vampire's Ghost”) and her first novel, 1944's "No Good from a Corpse", which Hawks liked. Faulkner divvied-up the novel "The Big Sleep” between himself and Brackett, each adapting their assigned chapters and handing them to Hawks without reading what the other wrote (which may account for the muddy plot). They turned it into a love story for Bogart and Bacall, which differed from the book. Both writers left the project as soon as the first draft was finished, and Hawks hired Furthman to cut and condense their work. Hawks himself also rewrote several scenes.
The centerpiece of “The Big Sleep” is the chemistry between Bogart and Bacall. They have an intense magnetism out of which dialogue and sexually charged banter effortlessly spill, evident the minute they meet:
“Marlowe”: "You wanted to see me?"
“Vivian”: ”So, you're a private detective. I didn't know they existed except in books, or else they were greasy little men snooping around hotel corridors. My, you're a mess, aren't you?"
“Marlowe”: "I'm not very tall either. Next time I'll come on stilts, wear a white tie, and carry a tennis racket."
“Vivian”: "I doubt if even that would help."
Even as they argue, they have a quality that makes us want them to end up together. It’s as if she’s poised on the outside and gruff on the inside and he’s the reverse, and together they complete each other. When they talk or look at one another, sparks fly over an underlying mutual affection and playful respect no matter how cutting their words may be.
Bogart and Bacall's most famous scene together in "The Big Sleep" takes place at a bar as they discuss horse racing as a thinly veiled metaphor for sex. At one point they compare one another to thoroughbreds, as he says "You've got a touch of class but I don't know how far you can go", and she answers "That depends on who's in the saddle". You get the gist. Because of their underlying deep connection, their witty cat and mouse exchanges are terribly provocative with an indescribable magic that only they can generate. The screen sizzles when they’re together.
Humphrey Bogart is sensational as “Philip Marlowe”, the Private Investigator trying to uncover a mess of corruption. “The Big Sleep” is told from “Marlowe’s” point of view, thus Bogart is in every scene, and he’s a complete joy to watch. One can’t help but root for him to figure everything out, even if we can’t – a testament to Bogart’s potent mix of talent and star power. He brings an innate likability to “Marlowe”, a man who pulls at his ears when he’s thinking, admits when he’s scared, takes crap from no one, and lives by his own set of ethics. Bogart’s sincerity and personality color the entire film, whether he's being held at gunpoint by “Joe Brody” and quipping "My, my, my, such a lot of guns around town and so few brains”, or responding to “Vivian's” “You go too far ‘Marlowe'" with "Those are harsh words to throw at a man, especially when he's walking out of your bedroom”. Bogart’s fun and flippant cynicism is electric.
After about ten years of acting in movies, New York City-born Humphrey Bogart finally hit it big with a trio of films: 1941's "High Sierra", which made him a star; "The Maltese Falcon" (also in 1941), which established him as a tough, cynical, world-weary yet principled anti-hero; and 1942's "Casablanca", which put the tender and romantic final touches on his tough-guy image. Playing “Marlowe” in "The Big Sleep" checked virtually all the boxes of his screen persona, adding his scorching scenes with Bacall, and it remains one of his most popular roles and movies. The American Film Institute (AFI) even named Bogart’s "Philip Marlowe” the 32nd Greatest Hero in Movies. His commanding presence, dry wit, understated and distinct speech, charisma, and undercurrent of loneliness made Bogart one of the most iconic figures in cinema history, and decades after his death, AFI named him the # 1 Greatest Male Movie Star of All-Time. You can read more about the legendary Humphrey Bogart in my previous posts on “Casablanca”, “The Maltese Falcon”, "The African Queen", “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”, and "Dark Victory”. Be sure to check them out.
Lauren Bacall dazzles as “Vivian Sternwood Rutledge”, the “General's” beautiful divorced daughter. An elegant, sophisticated, and enigmatic character, we’re never quite sure of her true intentions other than, as “Marlowe” says, “You’re trying to find out what your father hired me to find out, and I’m trying to find out why you want to find out”. “Vivian” isn't easily intimidated (matter-of-factly pushing "Joe's" gun aside saying "Can't you talk without pointing that gun?”), doesn’t mince words (encouraging “Marlowe” to kiss her), can show loving loyalty (as when talking about “Carmen”), and even has a sense of fun (as on the prank call to the police with "Marlowe"). Bacall keeps this enticing character interesting and believable all throughout.
New York City-born Lauren Bacall studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, worked as a theater usher, a model, and got her first acting job at the age of 17 in a walk-on part in the 1942 Broadway show "Johnny 2 x 4". As a model, she appeared on the February 1943 cover of Harper's Bazaar magazine which caught the eye of Hawk's wife, Nancy "Slim" Keith, who felt Bacall had the perfect look for Hawks to mold into an actress. Hawks summoned Bacall to Hollywood, screen-tested her, signed her to a contract, and taught her about acting and filmmaking. He began to work with her to lower what he called her high and nasal voice, and after smoking and doing vocal exercises (including shouting Shakespeare), Bacall found her famously deep and smoky sound. Against Warner Brothers' wishes, Hawks wanted to cast her in "To Have and Have Not". But he needed to see if she could hold her own opposite movie star Bogart and arranged what was an uneventful meeting between them while Bogart was filming 1944's "Passage to Marseille". Hawks found Bacall could insult people while making them like her, and in the book "Conversations with the Great Moviemakers of Hollywood's Golden Age", Hawks told "To Have and Have Not's" screenwriter, "You know, [Bogart] is the most insolent man on the screen. Do you think we can write a girl that is as insolent as he is?". The writer was game, and with that, Bacall's screen image was born.
Bogart's marriage was falling apart at the time due to his wife's alcoholism, and from the first day filming "To Have and Have Not", fireworks between Bacall and Bogart were felt by everyone. They began having an affair three weeks into the shoot, and their tangible chemistry during production (which translated to the screen) resulted in Bacall's role being enlarged. Her performance epitomized the type of independent, sexually aggressive, tough-talking female character Hawks populated his films with (which became known as the "Hawksian woman”). According to her autobiography, “Lauren Bacall by Myself”, Bacall was so nervous on the set that during her first scene she "realized that one way to hold my trembling head still was to keep it down, chin low, almost to my chest, and eyes up at Bogart. It worked”. It became "The Look", another Bacall trademark. “To Have and Have Not” instantly made her a star.
“The Big Sleep” was shot next, but because World War II was coming to an end, Warner Brothers put the film’s release on hold, wanting to release all their war films before they became dated. So the next film Bacall made, “Confidential Agent”, was released first. Feeling miscast, Bacall didn't want to make that film, and it was met with disastrous reviews, particularly for Bacall. As a result, according to the book “Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood”, Bacall’s agent, Charles K. Feldman, urged Warner Brothers to do retakes and add scenes to “The Big Sleep”, and give Bacall “at least three or four additional scenes with Bogart of the insolent and provocative nature that she had in ‘To Have and Have Not’… If [Bacall] receives the same type of general reviews and criticism on ‘The Big Sleep’ [as with ‘Confidential Agent’], you might lose one of your most important assets”. Warners listened, and one year after production on "The Big Sleep" ended, Bogart, Bacall, Hawks and other cast members returned to shoot and reshoot scenes for it (including the addition of their famous scene at the bar). That's how Hollywood built stars, and "The Big Sleep" solidified Bacall's legendary screen image as a sultry tough girl.
Bogart left his wife and married Bacall about four months after the initial filming of “The Big Sleep” ended (they were already married when returning for reshoots). The pair made two more films together, 1947’s “Dark Passage”, and 1948’s “Key Largo”, and their on-screen chemistry was so tangibly electric, they became one of cinema’s most beloved screen duos, both on and off-screen. Their marriage was one of love, support, deep emotional connection, and affection, and sits high among Hollywood’s most successful and enduring love stories. When they married, Bacall first and foremost became Bogart’s wife, making his career her priority. Even so, she made some of her best non-Bogart films during this time, including "How to Marry a Millionaire" opposite Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable, "Young Man with a Horn" opposite Kirk Douglas and Doris Day, "Written on the Wind" opposite Rock Hudson, and "Designing Woman" opposite Gregory Peck. She stood by Bogart's side when he was diagnosed with cancer, until his death a year later in 1957. After Bogart's death, Bacall worked in fewer films, began focusing more on television, and returned to Broadway where she had great success in 1965 in the long-running "Cactus Flower”, and won two Best Actress in a Musical Tony Awards (for 1970's "Applause" and 1981's "Woman of the Year”).
Bacall appeared in just over 70 films and TV shows, including "The Shootist", "Blood Alley", "Harper", "Murder on the Orient Express", "Misery", "Ernest & Celestine", and 1996's "The Mirror Has Two Faces", for which she earned an Academy Award nomination, a BAFTA nomination, and won a Golden Globe (all for Best Supporting Actress). She also voiced the "Witch of the Waste" in the English version of Hayao Miyazaki's 2004 Japanese animated classic "Howls' Moving Castle”. Her final role was as the voice of "Evelyn" in a 2014 episode of the animated TV series "Family Guy”. Bacall earned three Emmy Award nominations, and her unique presence, husky voice, smoldering looks, and sharp edge made her an icon. She received numerous Lifetime Achievement Awards (including a Golden Globes' Cecil B. DeMille Award), the highly distinguished Kennedy Center Honor, an Honorary Oscar in 2009 in recognition of her central place in the golden age of motion pictures, and AFI named her the 20th Greatest Female Screen Legend of All-Time. She wrote two autobiographies, “Lauren Bacall by Myself” in 1978 (reprinted in 2006 with an extra chapter as "By Myself and Then Some”), and “Now” in 1994. She had two children with Bogart, and married actor Jason Robards in 1961, with whom she had a son, actor Sam Robards, before divorcing in 1969. She also had a serious relationship with Frank Sinatra. I met Bacall years ago when I was singing backups for Liza Minnelli at a star-studded event at Universal Amphitheatre. We were sitting next to each other in the green room amid many other stars (including Debbie Reynolds, Jennifer Holliday, Nicole Kidman, and Tom Cruise), and all I can say is Ms. Bacall was a trip who made me laugh. Lauren Bacall died in 2014 at the age of 89.
A fun aspect of “The Big Sleep” is how sexy young women continually fling themselves at the atypical ladies' man “Marlowe”, and one of the most memorable is the Acme Bookstore proprietress played by Dorothy Malone. She only appears in one scene, but boy does she make an impression. Her seductive eyes and tone can melt any heart, such as how she leans into “Marlowe" and says "You begin to interest me, vaguely”, or tantalizingly looks at him announcing "We don't close for another hour or so, and it's raining pretty hard” and closes the store door and lowers the shade with a priceless look, and her chemistry with Bogart is thrilling. Malone is superb, showing us how much an actor can do in a small role. It jumpstarted her ascent to becoming an award-winning movie and TV star.
Raised in Texas, Chicago-born Dorothy Malone appeared in high school and college plays, was spotted by a talent scout and soon given a contract at RKO pictures. Her film debut was a bit part in 1943's "Gildersleeve on Broadway”, and she continued appearing in uncredited bit parts (Malone has been quoted as saying "The only thing I did at RKO of any note was lose my Texas accent”). About a year later, she was let go by RKO and signed with Warner Brothers who cast her in her first credited role in 1945's "Too Young to Know". Three films later came "The Big Sleep", which was the break that led to bigger roles in films like "Two Guys from Texas" and "Colorado Territory", funny enough, often as "good" girls. She left Warners in 1949 to freelance at different studios. Now playing romantic leads and co-stars, her big break was as an unapologetically bad girl in Douglas Sirk's 1956 melodrama “Written on the Wind”, which won her a Best Actress Academy Award (her only Oscar win or nomination), and caused her to be typecast as a loose woman in lesser films. But even greater fame came in 1964 as "Constance Mackenzie Carson", the star of the first four seasons of TV's first prime time soap opera, "Peyton Place". Over the course of nearly fifty years, Malone appeared in 113 films and TV shows, and her other movies include "The Tarnished Angels", "Pushover", "Warlock", "Winter Kills", "Young at Heart", "Artists and Models", "Man of a Thousand Faces", and her final, 1992's "Basic Instinct". She was married three times (two divorces and one annulment), including her first marriage to actor Jacques Bergerac. Dorothy Malone died in 2018 at the age of 93.
Another actor in “The Big Sleep” who makes a small role significant is Elisha Cook, Jr. as “Harry Jones”, a small-time grifter trying to make a buck, caught up in the goings-on. Cook’s nervous and somewhat timid demeanor make him highly memorable and completely sympathetic (even “Marlowe” feels for him). Cook, Jr. was a prolific character actor who graced movie and TV screens for fifty-four years in well over 200 roles. Playing mostly lighthearted parts in the 1930s, the 1940s saw Cook’s characters darken, and he came to be known for (and excelled at) playing jittery, sometimes psychotic, often doomed, hired guns, convicts, killers, and petty crooks like “Harry” in “The Big Sleep”. He appeared in many notable films and classics, including “Sergeant York”, "The Killing", "Phantom Lady", "Born to Kill”, “Tin Pan Alley”, “Ball of Fire”, “In This Our Life”, “Dillinger”, “The Great Gatsby”, “Rosemary’s Baby”, “The Champ”, and two already on this blog where you can read more about the life and career of the very talented Elisha Cook, Jr., “The Maltese Falcon” and “Shane”.
"The Big Sleep" features a stunning musical score by the legendary Max Steiner, an expert at enhancing emotion and narrative through music, and his lush dynamic sound in this film effectively captures and creates dark, suspenseful, romantic, and sometimes funny moods. You can read more about Max Steiner, who scored many classics, in my posts on "Mildred Pierce" and "King Kong”.
"The Big Sleep" was remade in 1978 by Michael Winner, starring Robert Mitchum, Sarah Miles, and James Stewart, modernized to take place in 1970s London. Lacking all the magic of the original, it was not a success.
This week’s film is among the most beloved in cinema history. With a masterful blend of intricate plot twists and sharp, witty dialogue, the electrifying duo of Bogart and Bacall, a superlative supporting cast, and glorious direction by Howards Hawks, it remains a certified cinematic classic. Enjoy “The Big Sleep”!
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TO READ AFTER VIEWING (contains spoilers):
The plot may be hard to decipher (it does get easier the more you watch the film), but there’s one detail no one knows the answer to, and that’s who killed the chauffeur “Owen Taylor”. And when the cast and crew asked Raymond Chandler (who wrote the character and the novel), he admitted even he didn’t know.
The first version of "The Big Sleep" (before Bacall's role was enhanced) was briefly shown in 1945 to military troops in the South Pacific, after which it sat on a shelf for a year. Twenty minutes of that version were changed in some way for the new Bacall version, and the longest scene cut from it was a nine-minute sequence in which "Marlowe" explains the murders (the first version can be found on some DVDs). However, it’s nearly universally agreed upon that the newer, more confusing version is superior.
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