"The Big Sleep" published in 1939 was Raymond Chandler's first novel. The book introduced the character of tough, cynical private detective Philip Marlowe, who became one of the icons of crime and mystery literature. Marlowe starred in seven more Chandler novels, including his last, "Poodle Springs." In 1944 Howard Hawks teamed up with writers William Faulkner and Jules Furthman to adopt Ernest Hemingway's novel "To have and Have Not" to the screen. The film was a hit. Warner Brothers wanted Hawks to duplicate that success. He picked Chandler's hard-boiled detective story ("The Big Sleep") as his next project. Having been impressed by the crime novel "No Good from a Corpse," Hawks hired Leigh Btrackett to write the screenplay with Faulkner. One famous story about the film is that neither Hawks nor any of the writers could figure out who killed chauffeur Owen Taylor. They contacted Raymond Chandler, but even he couldn't figure it out. Neither could I.

ahhhh Bogart & Bacall. They were one of Hollywood's all-time legendary couples, on screen & off. The chemistry is legendary and this classic film noir benefits greatly from their extraordinary sparks on screen. The story is a bit disjointed in spots, likley due at least in-part to many scenes being replaced a year later to bolster Bacall's presence & likability in the film. She just had some terrible reviews of her previous project & it was decided to rework the film a bit to protect the studios investment & her career. It worked in large part adding some of the most memorable moments in a film punctuated by many great moments. The whole scene at the restaurant when Bacall & Bogart are taking about horse racing ..or are they? It's fantastic! Bogart is really likable in this film masterfully stewarded by Howard Hawks. The charcter of Philip Marlowe had men of the time trying to emulate his physical mannerisms such as touching his ear the pulling of the upper lip back exposing his top teeth etc. This film was truly a star vehicle for its stars and despite it's somewhat complicated & slightly disjointed story the film is a joy to watch. Highly recommend The Big Sleep as a great classic!

Talk about a convoluted plot! Sheesh! Still love the film, nevertheless. Clever, witty dialogue. And yeah, the Acme bookstore clerk (Dorothy Malone) was a hottie, but I preferred the ditzy thumb-sucking nymphet Carmen (Martha Vickers). (lol) Lauren Bacall was stunning, too. (25 years younger than hubby Bogie!) Interesting that they shelved this flick for a year because WWII had just ended and the studio wanted to push its remaining war movies, (obviously) knowing that a crime noir had more shelf life. Well, I'm gonna go watch this again to see if the butler did it (kidding) FIVE STARS.

OK let's get real, this supposed "classic" should have been called The Big Snooze. The story can only be described as contorted and confused. Of course it has Bogart and Bacall and if it had two lesser known actors, this film would long ago been forgotten. The DVD contains a special feature that shows the original deleted scenes with redone scenes. Looks like this film was such a mess back in 1944 that they didn't release it, a year later they went back and added new scenes and then released it. One of the deleted scenes had Bacall wearing this stupid hat with a veil over her face-good thing they took that out. Anyways another redone scene had Bogie and Bacall in an office but they just dubbed in new dialogue-so their mouths are saying different words from what you hear. Bacall is perched provocatively on a desk- maybe they thought no one would notice. Some of the sets are very creative especially a house where a murder takes place. This set can only be described as wacky asian. But who am i to bash Bogart and Bacall? Have a cocktail, relax and be transported back to the shadowy world of film noir where everyone smoked, drank, hung out in nightclubs, played mind games and occasionally shot each other.

One of the best of the early film noir. I've seen it several times. One time I stopped the DVD player after somebody mentioned a name for the first time. See there is a string of murders so that the authorities could never determine who was guilty of some of the murders . The amazing thing is that Raymond Chandler, the author of the novel, actually could not explain who killed all of the various victims. What is very important though, is that you don't really have to follow everything to totally enjoy the interaction between all of the characters.

Apt title. I stick this one in the dvd player and I am guaranteed a snooze. That's not to say it's bad. But it's so labyrinthine. Even the scriptwriter claims he was unsure who the real villain was. The heat between Bogey and Bacall make this worth watching over and over. I personally think bookstore clerk Dorothy Malone is the sexiest woman in the film. I've never seen the ending because I'm usually fast asleep.

A real disappointment after reading the book.

An absolute classic!

Bogie never looked so suave and Bacall never looked so devious in this wonderful and twisted thriller noir. A great one for a stormy night at home!