The Big Sleep 1978

[otochari]

"If you listen real hard you'll hear my teeth chatter" Lol, classic.

[wiseass2147]

Yeah, so a lot of stuff had to be left out of the bogart version because of the hays code. dirty books, gay dudes, naked girls etc., so a post hayes remake makes sense, but why london? and putting it in contempory times is a mistake. has to be a period peice in the 40's.

[Smellthecoffee100]

Does anyone know those two tracks that were playing on Marlowe's television in the background, while Miles and his heavy were there, having waited in his apartment, talking to him? The first went something like 'I just can't get you out of mind, seems I'm a cold and hopeless case', and the second; 'Give me a reason, feel like I do'. There was applause between the two so it may have been Top of the Pops. For all I know they were probably dummy songs, made up to avoid royalities....

[liblabyt]

It's just you. :-) If you should ever have the opportunity to watch the complete movie. listen to how Mitchum changes the reading of the line "I'm not looking for Rusty Reagan". He has to say it half a dozen times, and says it half a dozen different ways. I think what you're picking up on is Marlowe's stoic character, which Mitchum captures perfectly. In this and Farewell My Lovely Mitchum is easily the best Philip Marlowe on film.

[cb4life100]

Why was this movie even made?

[JuanMacready]

@cb4life100 They said if nothing else it did bring together a lot of veteran stars for the last time.

[diddymuck]

@cb4life100 response to the success of Farewell My Lovely. MItchem is the greatest Marlowe of them all.

[flhinton]

@diddymuck When it comes to actors who have played Phillip Marlowe, I think it's a toss up between Humphrey Bogart and Dick Powell. By the time Robert Mitchum made this film, he was pushing 60. I'm not saying Mitchum wasn't a great actor, he was. Even Robert Montgomery was better as Marlowe. Mitchum made a lot of great movies such as Out of The Past and The Racket, as well as The Friends of Eddie Coyle.

[MrLunitunz]

@flhinton Watch Humphrey Bogart's films and you'll see that he IS Marlowe. The hard-boiled cynic with the heart of gold, the guy who will do what is right even if it costs him or even if he doesn't quite know what that is. Dick Powell was good, Farewell My Lovely/Murder My Sweet was excellent, but nobody embodies Marlowe like Bogart, he should've definitely done more. Mitchum was an excellent actor as well, but he's done better film noir, he was best when he wasn't trying to be Bogart.

[flhinton]

@MrLunitunz I've seen Bogart in The Big Sleep. I have it on DVD.  I think that Bogart was excellent as Marlowe. But, I also liked Dick Powell in the role. He gave a different take on the character, as did Robert Montgomery. And later on, James Garner. While I think Bogart's portrayal of the character was the best, I also like the other three.

[MrLunitunz]

@flhinton I could see how one would think Dick Powell to be the definitive Marlowe, he's played him more times than anyone else, including Bogart. But y'know, the other two's film adaptations kinda leave a lot to be desired. I don't think that, aside from those two, there will ever be anyone capable of playing Marlowe well, on the big screen or the small one. He's an anachronism now. Chivalry is dead, the hard-boiled mode is, at least in normal proportions, dead.

[flhinton]

@MrLunitunz Dick Powell only portrayed Marlowe in one film. You might be thinking of his radio show, Richard Diamond, Private Detective. That is a particular favorite of mine. I wasn't comparing the two. I said that Powell brought something significant to the role. Murder My Sweet was the only movie he made based on one of Raymond Chandler's novels.

[MrLunitunz]

@flhinton There was the film. Then he did an adaptation of The Long Goodbye for the Climax! TV series, that particular show famous for having one of the villains, who'd been shot dead, just get up and walk off stage while still on camera. And he played Marlowe a couple of times on radio. This in addition to being Richard Diamond.

[flhinton]

@MrLunitunz I don't want to argue which actor or performance was the best. To me, they each stand on their own. The only actor that played Marlowe that I didn't like was Elliot Gould. But, Bogart, Powell and even Montgomery's performances stand on their own. They each brought their own interpretation to the character, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

[MrLunitunz]

@flhinton Certainly not, and I'm not trying to argue that it was. Simply to argue that, of all of them, Bogart was the most like Marlowe, in life and in his other roles.

[CesMan83]

@cb4life100

The only reason why I watched it was due to Mitchum. I'm a bigger fan of that guy than I ever was for Bogart! That being said, this remake is unfortunately inferior to the great original

[wewantsthering]

Wow...this looks really sucky compared to the Bogart version...

[monk22yrs]

@wewantsthering looks arent deceiving...lots of bad acting in this movie; acting comes off like some agatha christie drawing room mystery.

[GustaveKwak]

mitchum was so old then..i wish he played that at least two decades earlier.

[Zacatown]

Mitchum was perfect for the role of Marlowe. Too bad he didn't play him in the 1940's, when he was young. But at least he played him.(twice) It's fun seeing him opposite Oliver Reed.

[Pauluk33]

this was free with one of hte national papes a couple of years ago. its intresting comparing this with the original bogart one, to see how the scene play out ( bet someones already done that)

[suir52]

Apart from cahnging the location to London, it sticks to the original story more than the 1946 version, including the line near the end that gives the book it's title"And in a little while he too,like Rusty Regan, would be sleeping the big sleep" The changes in the 1946 script were to give Bogie and Bacall a romance.

[koln1996]

I saw this film ages ago, and it was quite good - in a bad way.

Someone should post the entire thing!

[nclysander]

This doesn't look nearly as good as the earlier version.

[OmonRa71]

At least they show some tits in the movie.

[mcgiver02]

was that Richard Todd ?

[binker1]

certainly was richard todd

[AbsurdChessOpening]

Anyone know if there is a soundtrack album?

[sakara18235]

one cornball remake.

[GroovyBlackCat]

I don't know, it wasn't that bad. Michael Winner's a fairly limp director. But you can't beat that star power -what a cast!

[PhoenixZappa]

compared to the original film remake of the book - nothing

[pilotpotty]

wow simon was a talented actor as well as a singer

where was it filmed

[binker1]

it's filmed in putney i think