The Big Sleep (1978 film)
| The Big Sleep | |
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 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Michael Winner |
| Produced by | Jerry Bick Lew Grade Elliott Kastner Bernard Williams Michael Winner |
| Written by | Raymond Chandler (novel) Michael Winner |
| Narrated by | Robert Mitchum |
| Starring | Robert Mitchum Sarah Miles Richard Boone Candy Clark Joan Collins Edward Fox James Stewart |
| Music by | Jerry Fielding |
| Cinematography | Robert Paynter |
| Editing by | Christian Nyby |
| Studio | ITC Entertainment |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | March 13, 1978 |
| Running time | 99 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Big Sleep (1978) 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).
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[edit] Plot
In modern-day England, private detective Philip Marlowe (Robert Mitchum) 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.
[edit] Cast
- Robert Mitchum as Philip Marlowe
- Sarah Miles as Charlotte Sternwood Regan
- Richard Boone as Lash Canino
- Candy Clark as Camilla Sternwood
- Joan Collins as Agnes Lozelle
- Edward Fox as Joe Brody
- John Mills as Inspector Jim Carson
- James Stewart as General Sternwood
- Oliver Reed as Eddie Mars
- Harry Andrews as Norris
- Colin Blakely as Harry Jones
- Richard Todd as Commander Barker
- Diana Quick as Mona Grant
- James Donald as Inspector Gregory
- John Justin as Arthur Geiger
[edit] Production
Mitchum had also portrayed Philip Marlowe 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), James Garner (1969) and Elliott Gould (1973).
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- The Big Sleep at the Internet Movie Database
- The Big Sleep at the TCM Movie Database
- The Big Sleep at AllRovi
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