Eddie Muller's intro to "The Big Sleep" (1946) on TCM Noir Alley

[@ggtights_com7661]

"Comprehending the film, is not as important as enjoying it". Absolutely. Despite its non-sensical nature, there were so many great lines. I love love love SF during the 30s and 40s ❤ and this film is a great time capsule for that. Everyone was brilliant, Bogie was in top form, loved both of the bookstore gals!! And the scene in the bookstore still makes me blush

[@EasternRomeOrthodoxy]

Those films are timeless and they are the only true cinema, everything done later is boring trash

[@TheLookingOne]

Isn't Joe Brody the most obvious killer of the Sternwood chauffeur? Joe admitted to stopping and knocking him out. Marlowe pointed out that it would be incredible if anyone else drove the car and chauffeur all the way to and off the Ledo Pier.

[@roseymalino9855]

Brody owned up to everything he did and denied having anything to do with killing Taylor. I figure Carol killed Taylor to even the score for Taylor killing Geiger; Carol's boss. The question for me is why did Carol kill Brody since he and Brody were in cahoots and he knew Brody didn't kill Geiger.

[@TheLookingOne]

@@roseymalino9855 Interesting. However, it's hard to see how Carol could have the opportunity to kill the chauffeur. No matter who killed him, Carol's motive for killing Brody is not presented in the movie. I wonder what the book has about this.

[@roseymalino9855]

@@TheLookingOne Marlowe berates Carol telling him 'You killed the wrong guy; Brody didn't kill Geiger'. But why Marlowe thinks that was Carol's reason isn't clear. After the shooting, Marlowe sees the limo speed away followed by the station wagon used later to load Geiger's office material. Carol's not in the house after the shooting so he must be in that station wagon chasing the limo. I figure after Brody zapped Owen, Carol drove the limo to the pier. Maybe Carol was supposed to drive the limo elsewhere and leave it but decided to to avenge his boss's murder by driving it into the harbor. Brody would have known Carol offed Owen and could rat him out which may have been Carol's motive for murdering Brody.

[@TheLookingOne]

@@roseymalino9855 Ah. So both Brody and Carol could have been in the station wagon. (There is Carol's opportunity.) Then Brody comes up, plays copper, and saps down the chauffer. Carol or Brody drive the car to and off Ledo pier. The other follows in the station wagon and they both drive away. That would suggest that Carol killed Brody because each one had the goods on the other about the killing.

[@terenzo50]

I'm tired of this. It was a suicide and Marlowe made out a perfectly good case for that IN THE BOOK.

[@Hard_Boiled_Entertainment]

Yes AND no. Marlowe mulls over how it COULD have been a suicide, but he finds it unlikely. Ultimately, though, he lets it go, especially when reading a newspaper article that came to the suicide conclusion.

[@ThePiratemachine]

I agree with you on that one. I thought it was forced and Bogart too obviously almost playing Sam Spade. Shallow skimming the surface film, far from the definitive noir - a long way off. Even the music seemed to have elements from The Maltese Falcon. Yes, entertainment it is. Like To Have and Have Not, not one of Bogart's best ones - not like the superb The Desperate Hours ( though there is a flaw in the story )

[@dantean]

A novel--and film--I can barely stand. Despite recognizing Hammett's genius, he could not actually write detective stories himself, as evident in everything he did and said regarding the film, up to, and including the idea that Cary Grant should have played Marlowe. He's like a guy who'd read a book on the kinds of things that happen in detective noir, then shoe horned them around his admittedly brilliant dialogue. His contribution to an ACTUAL great noir--James M. Cain's Double Indemnity--represents his true worthwhile contribution to the genre that should in any way be considered BIG.

[@stevensica89]

The remake in 1978 with Robert Mitchum is a poor movie but actually makes more sense and is easier to follow, though it requires a really long expository scene close to the end of the movie. I've never been impressed with the original, and after 3 viewings I have just accepted that I am in the minority of this one.