The Big Sleep

The Guide to...
THE BIG SLEEP (1946)
The type of man she hated . . .
was the type she wanted!
What’s it about?
A complex and convoluted web of blackmail and murder, this 1946 Hollywood
movie from director Howard Hawks is a classic example of the “film noir” genre of
moody, atmospheric crime dramas. In the film, Lauren Bacall plays a typical “Hawksian woman”, a tough-talking, strong and witty woman who’s not afraid of going
after what she wants. Humphrey Bogart plays the detective who falls for her after
being called in by her father to resolve a family crisis that’s turned criminal.
Who made it?
Hollywood great, Howard Hawks (1896 – 1977), made hugely successful films in a
wide variety of genres during a career which spanned six decades. Some of his best
include gangster movie Scarface (1932), screwball comedy His Girl Friday (1940)
and and musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).
The Big Sleep was also notable for its pairing of Humphrey Bogart (1899 – 1957) and
Lauren Bacall (1924 - ), who were a famed romantic combination both on screen
and off - despite the 26 year age-gap. They met on the set of To Have And Have
Not, when Bacall was only 19 and were married until Bogart’s death, 13 years later.
Backstory
The first film version of Raymond Chandler’s 1939 novel of the same name, The Big
Sleep helped cement Bogart’s tough-talking screen persona, although he had
already played a similar role as P.I. Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon (1941). It was
also hoped that the film would capitalise on the “Bogie and Bacall” phenomenon
which has started with To Have And Have Not, also directed by Hawks.
The production
The plot of The Big Sleep was so convoluted that during filming neither the director
nor the screenwriters knew whether chauffeur Owen Taylor was murdered or had
committed suicide. They sent a cable to the book’s author Chandler, who told a
friend in a later letter: “They sent me a wire ... asking me, and dammit I didn’t know
either.”
The reviews
“Wakeful fare for folks who don’t care what is going on, or why, so long as the talk is
hard and the action harder.” Time, 1946
“Bogart as Marlowe is compelling in this classic thriller that is complex but a triumph
of atmospheric cool.” Empire, 2009
“Don’t try too hard to follow the story, just get swept away by the mood of the film.”
Washington Post, 1997
What happened next?
After the film’s completion, its release was delayed, due to the war ending and
Warner Bros rushing to release a backlog of war films before the public lost interest in
them.
While Hawks went on to make more classic films, Bogart and Bacall remained
married and had two children. The American Film Institute has ranked Bogart as the
greatest male star in US cinema’s history.
The Big Sleep continues to influence modern filmmakers and its influence is
particularly noticeable in Coen brothers film, The Big Lebowski (1998) and the film
noir parody, Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982).
Talking points
• In the film Bacall plays a typical “Hawksian woman”. What is her character like?
Can you think of any women in other films who are similar?
• The plot is very complicated and difficult to follow. Do you think this matters?
What do you think makes the film so popular despite this?
• The “Bogie and Bacall” romance helped fuel the film’s success. Can you think of
an other acting couples with great screen chemistry?
Look out for...
How much of the notoriously tricky plot can you work out? How many murders are
there, and who kills who? Don’t worry, sometimes the writer wasn’t even sure…
Review starters
Forget Brangelina. Bogie and Bacall are the truly great on-screen couple…
The plot’s a total confusion. But that’s no biggie for The Big Sleep…
“Such a lot of guns around town and so few brains.” The snappy dialogue of The Big
Sleep is just one of its strong points…
What we think
Though it’s tricky – maybe impossible - to follow what’s going on at times, this hardly
matters when the cracking dialogue and sultry action are thrown at us so fast. The
Big Sleep is one of the coolest films to have come out of Hollywood.