The Big Sleep (1978 film)
Encyclopedia
The Big Sleep was the second film version
of Raymond Chandler
's 1939 novel of the same name
. The film was directed by Michael Winner
and stars Robert Mitchum
in his second feature film portrayal
of the detective Philip Marlowe
. The cast includes Sarah Miles
, Candy Clark
, Joan Collins
, and Oliver Reed
. James Stewart
appears as General Sternwood.
The action was set in London
, England rather than California
. The movie contained material more explicit than what could only be hinted at in the 1946 version
, such as homosexuality
, pornography
and nudity
. Mitchum was 60 at the time, far older than Chandler's 33-year-old Marlowe (or the 1946 film's
38-year-old Marlowe played by a 46-year-old Bogart
).
) is asked to the stately home of General Sternwood (James Stewart
), 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 (Candy Clark
).
Marlowe's investigation of the homosexual pornographer Arthur Geiger (John Justin
) leads him to Geiger's employee, Agnes Lozelle (Joan Collins
), and to a man she has taken up with, Joe Brody (Edward Fox
). 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 (Oliver Reed
), who owns the house where Geiger's body was found. Mars's wife Mona hasn't been seen in a while and may have run off with Charlotte's missing husband, Rusty Regan (David Savile). And 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 now is 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 who is 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 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 Sternwood appears to be grateful to Marlowe, but she ends up pointing a gun at him. Marlowe was prepared for this and had put in blanks. It turns out that the emotionally disturbed Camilla was behind the disappearance of 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 truth about his two wicked daughters.
three years earlier in Farewell, My Lovely
, although that film was shot as a period piece rather than set in the present day. Mitchum remains the only actor to play the character in more than one movie, although he is not the only actor to play Marlowe more than once, Dick Powell
having portrayed him in an episode of Climax! adapting The Long Goodbye
as well as in several radio plays. Actors who had earlier played Marlowe in feature-length films include Dick Powell (1944), Humphrey Bogart
(1946), Robert Montgomery
(1947), George Montgomery
(1947), and James Garner
(1969).
The Big Sleep (1946 film)
The Big Sleep is a 1946 film noir directed by Howard Hawks, the first film version of Raymond Chandler's 1939 novel of the same name. The movie stars Humphrey Bogart as detective Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as the female lead in a film about the "process of a criminal investigation, not its...
of Raymond Chandler
Raymond Chandler
Raymond Thornton Chandler was an American novelist and screenwriter.In 1932, at age forty-five, Raymond Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in...
's 1939 novel of the same name
The Big Sleep
The Big Sleep is a hardboiled crime novel by Raymond Chandler, the first in his acclaimed series about detective Philip Marlowe. The work has been adapted twice into film, once in 1946 and again in 1978...
. The film was directed by Michael Winner
Michael Winner
Michael Robert Winner is a British film director and producer, active in both Europe and the United States, also known as a food critic for the Sunday Times.-Early life and early career :...
and stars Robert Mitchum
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...
in his second feature film portrayal
Farewell, My Lovely (1975 film)
Farewell, My Lovely is a neo-noir film directed by Dick Richards and featuring Robert Mitchum and Charlotte Rampling. The picture is based on the novel Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler.-Plot:...
of the detective Philip Marlowe
Philip Marlowe
Philip Marlowe is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler in a series of novels including The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. Marlowe first appeared under that name in The Big Sleep published in 1939...
. The cast includes Sarah Miles
Sarah Miles
-Early life and career:Sarah Miles was born in the small town of Ingatestone, Essex, in South East England.She first attended Roedean but at the age of 15 she enrolled at RADA, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...
, Candy Clark
Candy Clark
Candace June "Candy" Clark is an American film and television actress, well known for her role as Debbie Dunham in the 1973 film American Graffiti, which garnered her an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress, a character she reprised in 1979 for the sequel More American Graffiti...
, Joan Collins
Joan Collins
Joan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...
, and Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his burly screen presence. Reed exemplified his real-life macho image in "tough guy" roles...
. James Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
appears as General Sternwood.
The action was set in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England rather than California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. The movie contained material more explicit than what could only be hinted at in the 1946 version
The Big Sleep (1946 film)
The Big Sleep is a 1946 film noir directed by Howard Hawks, the first film version of Raymond Chandler's 1939 novel of the same name. The movie stars Humphrey Bogart as detective Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as the female lead in a film about the "process of a criminal investigation, not its...
, such as homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
, pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
and nudity
Nudity
Nudity is the state of wearing no clothing. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic. The amount of clothing worn depends on functional considerations and social considerations...
. Mitchum was 60 at the time, far older than Chandler's 33-year-old Marlowe (or the 1946 film's
The Big Sleep (1946 film)
The Big Sleep is a 1946 film noir directed by Howard Hawks, the first film version of Raymond Chandler's 1939 novel of the same name. The movie stars Humphrey Bogart as detective Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as the female lead in a film about the "process of a criminal investigation, not its...
38-year-old Marlowe played by a 46-year-old Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
).
Plot
In modern-day England, private detective Philip Marlowe (Robert MitchumRobert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...
) is asked to the stately home of General Sternwood (James Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
), 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
Sarah Miles
-Early life and career:Sarah Miles was born in the small town of Ingatestone, Essex, in South East England.She first attended Roedean but at the age of 15 she enrolled at RADA, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...
) and wild younger daughter Camilla (Candy Clark
Candy Clark
Candace June "Candy" Clark is an American film and television actress, well known for her role as Debbie Dunham in the 1973 film American Graffiti, which garnered her an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress, a character she reprised in 1979 for the sequel More American Graffiti...
).
Marlowe's investigation of the homosexual pornographer Arthur Geiger (John Justin
John Justin
John Justin was a British stage and film actor.John Justinian de Ledesma was born in London, England, the son of a well-off Argentine rancher. Though he grew up on his father's ranch, he was educated at Bryanston School, Dorset...
) leads him to Geiger's employee, Agnes Lozelle (Joan Collins
Joan Collins
Joan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...
), and to a man she has taken up with, Joe Brody (Edward Fox
Edward Fox (actor)
Edward Charles Morice Fox, OBE is an English stage, film and television actor.He is generally associated with portraying the role of the upper-class Englishman, such as the title character in the film The Day of the Jackal and King Edward VIII in the serial Edward & Mrs...
). 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 (Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his burly screen presence. Reed exemplified his real-life macho image in "tough guy" roles...
), who owns the house where Geiger's body was found. Mars's wife Mona hasn't been seen in a while and may have run off with Charlotte's missing husband, Rusty Regan (David Savile). And 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 now is in possession of them. Marlowe intervenes but Brody is shot and killed by someone unseen.
A man named Harry Jones (Colin Blakely
Colin Blakely
Colin George Blakely was a Northern Irish character actor. He was considered an actor of great range.-Early life:...
) 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
Richard Boone
Richard Allen Boone was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns and for starring in the TV series Have Gun – Will Travel.-Early life:...
), a hit man who is 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 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 Sternwood appears to be grateful to Marlowe, but she ends up pointing a gun at him. Marlowe was prepared for this and had put in blanks. It turns out that the emotionally disturbed Camilla was behind the disappearance of 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 truth about his two wicked daughters.
Cast
- Robert MitchumRobert MitchumRobert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...
as Philip MarlowePhilip MarlowePhilip Marlowe is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler in a series of novels including The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. Marlowe first appeared under that name in The Big Sleep published in 1939... - Sarah MilesSarah Miles-Early life and career:Sarah Miles was born in the small town of Ingatestone, Essex, in South East England.She first attended Roedean but at the age of 15 she enrolled at RADA, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...
as Charlotte Sternwood Regan - Richard BooneRichard BooneRichard Allen Boone was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns and for starring in the TV series Have Gun – Will Travel.-Early life:...
as Lash Canino - Candy ClarkCandy ClarkCandace June "Candy" Clark is an American film and television actress, well known for her role as Debbie Dunham in the 1973 film American Graffiti, which garnered her an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress, a character she reprised in 1979 for the sequel More American Graffiti...
as Camilla Sternwood - Joan CollinsJoan CollinsJoan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...
as Agnes Lozelle - Edward FoxEdward Fox (actor)Edward Charles Morice Fox, OBE is an English stage, film and television actor.He is generally associated with portraying the role of the upper-class Englishman, such as the title character in the film The Day of the Jackal and King Edward VIII in the serial Edward & Mrs...
as Joe Brody - John MillsJohn MillsSir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...
as Inspector Jim Carson - James StewartJames Stewart (actor)James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
as General Sternwood - Oliver ReedOliver ReedOliver Reed was an English actor known for his burly screen presence. Reed exemplified his real-life macho image in "tough guy" roles...
as Eddie Mars - Harry AndrewsHarry AndrewsHarry Fleetwood Andrews, CBE was an English film actor known for his frequent portrayals of tough military officers. His performance as Sergeant Major Wilson in The Hill alongside Sean Connery earned Andrews the 1965 National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor and a nomination for the...
as Norris - Colin BlakelyColin BlakelyColin George Blakely was a Northern Irish character actor. He was considered an actor of great range.-Early life:...
as Harry Jones - Richard ToddRichard ToddRichard Todd OBE was an Irish-born British stage and film actor and soldier.-Early life:Richard Todd was born as Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd in Dublin, Ireland. His father, Andrew William Palethorpe Todd, was an Irish physician and an international Irish rugby player who gained three caps for...
as Commander Barker - Diana QuickDiana Quick-Life:Quick was born in London, England. She grew up in Dartford, Kent, the third of a dentist's four children. She was educated at Dartford Grammar School for Girls, Kent. She was greatly aided by her English teacher, Miss Davis, who encouraged her to pursue acting...
as Mona Grant - James DonaldJames DonaldJames Donald was a Scottish actor. Tall and thin, he usually specialised in playing authority figures.Donald was born in Aberdeen, and made his first professional stage appearance sometime in the late-1930s, having been educated at Rossall School on Lancashire's Fylde coast...
as Inspector Gregory - John JustinJohn JustinJohn Justin was a British stage and film actor.John Justinian de Ledesma was born in London, England, the son of a well-off Argentine rancher. Though he grew up on his father's ranch, he was educated at Bryanston School, Dorset...
as Arthur Geiger
Production
Mitchum had also portrayed Philip MarlowePhilip Marlowe
Philip Marlowe is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler in a series of novels including The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. Marlowe first appeared under that name in The Big Sleep published in 1939...
three years earlier in Farewell, My Lovely
Farewell, My Lovely (1975 film)
Farewell, My Lovely is a neo-noir film directed by Dick Richards and featuring Robert Mitchum and Charlotte Rampling. The picture is based on the novel Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler.-Plot:...
, although that film was shot as a period piece rather than set in the present day. Mitchum remains the only actor to play the character in more than one movie, although he is not the only actor to play Marlowe more than once, Dick Powell
Dick Powell
Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.Despite the same last name he was not related to William Powell, Eleanor Powell or Jane Powell.-Biography:...
having portrayed him in an episode of Climax! adapting The Long Goodbye
The Long Goodbye
The Long Goodbye may refer to:*The Long Goodbye, a 1940 one act play by Tennessee Williams*The Long Goodbye, a 1953 novel by Raymond Chandler*The Long Goodbye, a 1973 film by Robert Altman adapted from the Chandler novel...
as well as in several radio plays. Actors who had earlier played Marlowe in feature-length films include Dick Powell (1944), Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
(1946), Robert Montgomery
Robert Montgomery
-Public officials and clergymen:*Robert Montgomery , or Robert Montgomerie, Archbishop of Glasgow, 1581–1585*Sir Robert Montgomery , Irish-born British Colonial official in India...
(1947), George Montgomery
George Montgomery
George Montgomery was an American painter, sculptor, furniture craftsman, and stuntman who is best known as an actor in western style film and television....
(1947), and James Garner
James Garner
James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
(1969).