Bogie and Bacall Weekend: the Big Sleep February 26, 2011

Shown in 35mm on a big 50ft wide screen. Starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Directed by Howard Hawks. 1946, 114 mins., Black and White. One of the most popular noir films and most influential detective movies ever made, 'The Big Sleep' nevertheless has one of the most convoluted scripts of any movie made in classic Hollywood. Director Howard Hawks literally blew past red herrings and possible dead ends by letting dialogue and action spill out so fast that there is barely time to acknowledge, never mind contemplate, a new plot twist. But Hawks did slow down to let the audience fully appreciate the erotic innuendo in the repartee between Bogart's Philip Marlowe and Bacall's Mrs. Rutledge - performances that were made palpable by the couple's real-life relationship. This was cutting edge stuff for a Hollywood still under the Production Code. It's the combination of this razor sharp sexual edge with the disquieting murky mystery that gives the film its distinctly hot yet cold, dream/nightmare feeling