The Big Sleep Movie

The Big Sleep is a popular American film adapted from author Raymond Chandler's novel of the same name. In the film, private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a rich family to keep tabs on their youngest daughter who has fallen in with a bad crowd.

The film is partly renown for its convoluted plot. Rumor has it that neither the director nor screenwriters knew who killed the character Owen Taylor or if he had killed himself. After the film was completed, it sat on the shelf until the war subsided. By that time, the public's fascination with the film's stars "Bogie and Bacall" had reached a fever pitch thanks to the release of To Have and Have Not. The studio shot new scenes for The Big Sleep to capitalize on the duo's off-screen relationship. The revised version of the film was released on August 23, 1946. Both versions of the film were released on a double-sided DVD with the 1945 "film noir" version on one side and the 1946 "movie star" version on the other.

In 1997, the film was added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for preservation.

Fast Facts

1. Directed by Howard Hawks
2. Screenplay written by William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett and Jules Furthman
3. Released: August 23, 1946
4. Run Time: 116 Minutes
5. Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely and Martha Vickers

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