The Big Sleep review

 Number 214 on the top 1000 films of all time is Howard Hawks' 1946 film noir 'The Big Sleep.'

Based on the 1939 Raymond Chandley book, the Big Sleep follows the exploits of Private Detective Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart.) Marlowe is hired by General Sternwood (Charles Waldron) to investigate the person who is blackmailing his daughter Carmen (Martha Vickers.) But soon Marlowe becomes involved with Sternwood's other daughter Vivien (Lauren Bacall.) And, not before long, he stumbles upon a conspiracy involving murder, gambling and organised crime.

I have to admit that I had a lot of trouble following this film. That's probably because of my poor watching abilities rather than Howard Hawks' film-making. Yet I wonder if things are needlessly complicated. The Big Sleep has a convoluted plot as is often the case with many crime films, especially noir films, that throw in characters and subplots willy-nilly. 

I haven't read the book, so maybe Hawks was just being faithful to Raymond Chandler's source material, but I still think things were needlessly complicated. There are plenty of morally-grey characters who are constantly double-crossing each other. And I did have trouble distinguishing the characters from one another. Characters like Geiger are introduced to later be quickly killed off.

I understand that a lot of the writing, acting and direction was very much of the time, but it still bordered on very cheesy. It seems like Humphrey Bogart's only direction was to flirt with every single female cast member from his love triangle with Carmen and Vivien to the girls working at the book shops he visits. The fight and murder scenes were also hardly the most convincing either.

Perhaps I am being very unfair with my review. I'm sure the right audiences would find this a very entertaining and thrilling film. I guess there has to be a reason it made it into this list. Maybe I shouldn't be judging the Big Sleep by modern standards, but I just wasn't the right audience.