The Big Sleep (1946)

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall team up to create the classic Private-Eye film directed by Howard Hawks. It is a fun, mysterious, sexy piece of entertainment that is a bit heavy in the content, but lifted up by Bogart's mischievous detective, Philip Marlowe.

A decrepit old general--creepier then I think the writers actually intended him to be--hires Marlowe to hunt down an unknown man who is threatening to blackmail him with information about his lusty and reckless daughter, Carmen. In addition, he has been asked to keep his eye out for a very close family friend who has disappeared with a mobster's wife. As Marlowe begins to hunt the layers he peels back reveal a dirtier story with many more players than he might have imagined.

As Marlowe brings himself closer to danger he finds himself coming closer to love as well. Bacall plays Carmen's sister, Vivian, much more level-headed but equally as troublesome. The more Marlowe and Vivian try to push each other away the more they fall for one another. The two actors have excellent chemistry together and are really enjoyable to watch playing off one another.

This film is faulted by having too intricate a plot with too many supporting characters, but no real motivation for anything happening. I love Private-Eye films because the leads are always crackling with ingenuity and solving the mystery with them is loads of fun, but only when the mystery is involving. Frankly, the goals that Marlowe wanted to achieve were not interesting at all. What do I care if a millionaire is blackmailed out of a few thousand pounds? or that there is a gambling ring? or what happened to this family friend that I have yet to meet? There is plenty of violence and lots of mysterious murders, but we don't come to know them and Marlowe went too fast for me to register their importance to the story. I didn't care that they died, and that is never something good.

I still liked the movie because I love Bogart and the character that he created. He loved playing this role, and it was very apparent. When an actor enjoys what he is doing and is good at what he is creating then it makes watching him all the more entertaining. Marlowe is a speed talking, crafty, whip-smart detective who loves playing games and charming the pants off of women--both of which he does with an effortlessness that I am very jealous of. This was the Bogart of The African Queen more than it was the Bogart of The Maltese Falcon. Both are awesome, but the former gives the wink to the audience that they eat up.

I would recommend this film. I think I just need to watch it one more time, and perhaps then I'll learn why I should care.

3/4