“The Big Sleep” (Howard Hawks)
Turner Classic Movies had this on last night. I hit the DVR record button. I am glad I did.
I dig film noir. I also dig the hard boiled fiction that inspired it. Raymond Chandler invented it for the most part. There may have been those before but he defined it, gave it its language and set the bar high enough that it is American crime fiction. It no surprise that his novels have made some of the best films in the genre and have even set the expectation of 1930’s and 40’s era for such films.
The Big Sleep is the film adaptation of the novel by the same name. It is true to the novel in style but with a few licenses taken here and there. Bogart is what makes this one though. Teamed up with director Howard Hawks to follow up the success of To Have and Have Not, he gives such a solid performance as the seminal shamus character, Philip Marlowe, that it is his voice I hear when I read Chandler’s work. Lauren Bacall is the bombshell. A great sexy performance for the time, she holds up to the twisty plot and Bogart’s masculine riff.
The plot has the usual noir twists, turns and double crosses with Marlowe just smart enough to get his way out of it all but not with out a few ass kickings. It is complicated but it all unravels appropriately at the end. Chandler’s novels were never easy plot wise and the film stays in the same vein. A big number of characters and they hide intention and truth in the witty and fast dialogue. Take notes if needed. Plenty of dead guys and flirty but subtle innuendo to satisfy. The best scene is the sexual fencing match between Bacall and Bogart as they discuss their love of race horses.
It gets a bit slow towards the third act and if you don’t dig the tough guy lingo then you might check out early. It has the constant soundtrack from the era, which I tend to get annoyed with. Too much.
The cinematography was classic. Easy pan and dolly shots flow through the scenes and classic touches with the close-ups for minutiae that I miss from the action heavy thriller of today. Very minimalist, they stay out and let the actors work the scene and let the dialogue breathe like it should (screenplay by the great William Faulkner). Gorgeous.
This is now on my all time favorite list.
0 Responses to “The Big Sleep - Movie review”