''The Big Sleep'' is a 1978 neo-noir film, the second film version of

Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...

's 1939 novel of the same name. The picture was directed by Michael Winner and stars Robert Mitchum in his second film portrayal of the detective

Philip Marlowe Philip Marlowe () is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler, who was characteristic of the hardboiled crime fiction genre. The hardboiled crime fiction genre originated in the 1920s, notably in ''Black Mask'' magazine, in which Dashiel ...

(following ''Farewell, My Lovely'' three years earlier). The cast includes Sarah Miles,

Candy Clark Candace June Clark is an American actress and model. She is well known for her roles as Debbie Dunham in the 1973 film ''American Graffiti'', for which she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and Mary Lou i ...

Joan Collins Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. Collins is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primeti ...

, and

Oliver Reed Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle. After making his first significant screen appearances in Hammer Horror films in the early 1960s, his ...

, also featuring

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality ...

as General Sternwood. The story's setting was changed from 1940s Los Angeles to 1970s London. The film contained material more explicit than what could only be hinted at in the 1946 version, such as homosexuality, pornography, and

nudity Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to h ...

. Mitchum was 60 at the time of filming, far older than Chandler's 33-year-old Marlowe (or the 1946 film's 38-year-old Marlowe played by Bogart who was 44 at the time).

Plot

In 1970s England, private detective Philip Marlowe ( Robert Mitchum) is asked to the stately home of General Sternwood (

), who hires Marlowe to learn who is blackmailing him. While at the mansion, he meets the general's spoiled and inquisitive daughter Charlotte ( Sarah Miles) and wild younger daughter Camilla (

). Marlowe's investigation of the homosexual pornographer Arthur Geiger (

John Justin John Justin (24 November 1917 – 29 November 2002) was a British stage and film actor. Early life John Justinian de Ledesma was born in Knightsbridge, London, England, the son of a well-off Argentine rancher. Though he grew up on his fathe ...

) leads him to Agnes Lozelle (

), an employee of Geiger, and to Joe Brody ( Edward Fox), a man that Agnes has taken up with. He also discovers Camilla at the scene of Geiger's murder, where she has posed for nude photographs, and takes her home safely to a grateful Charlotte. Returning to the crime scene, Marlowe is interrupted by gambler Eddie Mars (

), who owns the house where Geiger's body was found. Mars' wife Mona hasn't been seen in a while and may have run off with Rusty Regan (David Savile), Charlotte's missing husband. Due to Charlotte Regan's gambling debts, Mars appears to have a hold over Charlotte as well. Camilla tries to get her pictures back from Brody, who is now in possession of them. Marlowe intervenes but Brody is shot and killed by someone unseen. A man named Harry Jones ( Colin Blakely) comes to Marlowe with a proposition. He is working with Agnes now, and she is willing to sell information as to Mrs. Mars' whereabouts. But on the night Marlowe shows up for their meeting, Harry is poisoned by Lash Canino ( Richard Boone), a hit man working for Eddie Mars. Marlowe pays Agnes for the address. He tracks down Canino at a remote garage, where he is overpowered and taken prisoner. Mars' supposedly missing wife Mona (

Diana Quick Diana Marilyn Quick (born 23 November 1946) is an English actress. Early life and family background Quick was born on 23 November 1946 in London, England. She grew up in Dartford, Kent, the third of four children. Her father was Leonard Q ...

) is there as well. At a moment when Canino is out, Marlowe persuades her to set him free. In a shootout, he then kills Canino. Camilla appears to be grateful to Marlowe and asks him to teach her how to use the gun so that she can protect herself. He takes her to a wood and sets up an empty can on the ruins of a Roman castle for her to use as a target. She points the gun at him and pulls the trigger repeatedly, but Marlowe was prepared for this and had given her a gun loaded with blanks. She becomes hysterical at the ruse and he takes her home. It turns out that the emotionally disturbed Camilla had murdered her sister's husband Rusty and that Charlotte had covered everything up with Eddie Mars' help. After confronting Charlotte with the facts, Marlowe tells her to have Camilla hospitalized. He then drives away from the Sternwood residence the same way he came in, hoping that the gravely ill general will never know the complete truth.

Cast

* Robert Mitchum as

* Sarah Miles as Charlotte Sternwood Regan * Richard Boone as Lash Canino *

as Camilla Sternwood *

as Agnes Lozelle * Edward Fox as Joe Brody *

John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portray ...

as Inspector Jim Carson *

as General Sternwood *

as Eddie Mars * Harry Andrews as Norris the butler * Colin Blakely as Harry Jones * Richard Todd as Commander Barker *

as Mona Grant * James Donald as Inspector Gregory *

as Arthur Geiger *

Simon Fisher Turner Simon Fisher Turner (born 21 November 1954) is an English musician, songwriter, composer, producer and actor. After portraying Ned East in the 1971 BBC TV adaptation of '' Tom Brown's Schooldays'' and roles in films such as ''The Big Sleep'' ( ...

as Karl Lundgren * Martin Potter as Owen Taylor

Production

The film was originally developed for United Artists, as when that studio bought the Warner Bros. library they obtained the remake rights. It went to the Rank Organisation before eventually finding finance via Lew Grade. Michael Winner said an American was meant to adapt it but did not agree with changing the locale to Britain so Winner did it first. "I've changed the storyline far less than in the Hawks film", said Winner. Diana Quick performs the song " Won't Somebody Dance with Me", a ballad composed by Lynsey De Paul.

Critical response

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4 and wrote that "despite all the great costumes and sets and London locations they’re given to work with, the actors don’t seem engaged".

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

of ''The New York Times'' described the film as "senselessly gaudy" and "overloaded with big names, and in this case the net effect of an all-star cast is to make an already confusing mystery even harder to follow".

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the '' Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his ...

of the ''Chicago Tribune'' gave the film 1.5 stars out of 4 and wrote: "All of the zigs and zags of the original story are in the remake; what's missing is the enthusiasm. Talented actors such as Edward Fox and Oliver Reed sleepwalk through their parts." Kevin Thomas of the ''Los Angeles Times'' panned the film as "a flat, routine procedural detective mystery utterly devoid of any film noir atmosphere". Arthur D. Murphy of ''Variety'' wrote: "The production is handsome, but in the updating and relocation a lot has been lost." Gary Arnold of ''The Washington Post'' wrote: "Everything is out of whack in this transposition of Chandler's material. The actors seem to be going through the motions, but they look wrong, sound wrong and inhabit the wrong settings." John Pym of '' The Monthly Film Bulletin'' wrote that the location and time change had "destroyed the crucial geographical and temporal context of Chandler's novel; almost every aspect of the narrative now seems ludicrously out of place". He added that Winner "ploughs step by step through the complicated plot with a curious lack of interest in, among other things, the nature of his hero's character".

Home media

''The Big Sleep'' has been released twice on DVD: * Artisan Home Video (now Lionsgate) under license from Carlton Media (successor in interest to ITC Entertainment) on April 30, 2002 as a Region 1 fullscreen DVD. * Shout Factory, under license from ITV Studios (successor in interest to ITC Entertainment and Carlton Media) on September 23, 2014 as a Region 1 widescreen DVD. ''The Big Sleep'' was released in high-definition on Blu-ray by Shout Factory on February 20, 2018 as part of a two movie package along with '' Farewell, My Lovely'' (1975 remake). Both the 1946 version (featuring Humphrey Bogart) and this version have been released on Blu-ray.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Big Sleep, The (1978 Film) 1978 films 1978 crime films British crime films British neo-noir films Films based on American novels Films based on mystery novels American detective films British detective films Films directed by Michael Winner Films scored by Jerry Fielding Films set in the 1970s Films set in London ITC Entertainment films United Artists films Films based on works by Raymond Chandler American crime films American neo-noir films Films produced by Elliott Kastner Films with screenplays by Michael Winner Films produced by Michael Winner 1970s English-language films 1970s American films 1970s British films