“The Big Sleep” is a 1946 adaptation of the eponymous novel by Raymond Chandler starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Bogart plays the part of Phillip Marlowe, a private detective hired by a retired general who supposedly wants him to help clear the debt his daughter Carmen owes to a bookseller/petty criminal. General’s other daughter Vivian shares with Marlowe her suspicions that her father actually wants him to fins his missing friend. His investigation becomes more and more complicated with each new clue, involving both Carmen and Vivian deeper and deeper into a web of crime, gambling, promiscuity and murder. Every answer brings even more questions until Marlowe is unsure whether he can trust anyone. Following his nose he slowly peels off layer after layer of deceit until he begins to see glimmers of truth protruding underneath the lies. Truth turns out to be far more complicated than he could have even imagined at the beginning of the investigation, but Marlowe is there to tie all loose ends into an elegant bow and put an exclamation point on the case. He saves the world and wins the girl, just like all Hollywood heroes should. “The Big Sleep” is considered a film noir masterpiece, and both Bogart and director Howard Hawks received high praise for their work on the film.
Chris O'Dowd never returns borrowed designer suits
