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The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep

Mystery · Crime · Thriller · 1946

Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood regarding a matter involving his youngest daughter Carmen. Before the complex case is over, Marlowe sees murder, blackmail, deception, and what might be love.

Movie details

The Big Sleep

“The picture they were born for!”

1946 Mystery · Crime · Thriller 1h 54m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.6 / 10

Community rating

Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood regarding a matter involving his youngest daughter Carmen. Before the complex case is over, Marlowe sees murder, blackmail, deception, and what might be love.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Big Sleep?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

L.A. Confidential

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Farewell, My Lovely

Farewell, My Lovely

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Devil in a Blue Dress

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In late 1940s Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins is an unemployed black World War II veteran with few job prospects. At a bar, Easy meets DeWitt Albright, a mysterious white man looking for someone to investigate the disappearance of a missing white woman named Daphne Monet, who he suspects is hiding out in one of the city's black jazz clubs. Strapped for money and facing house payments, Easy takes the job, but soon finds himself in over his head.

Kiss the Girls

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Forensic psychologist and detective Alex Cross travels to North Carolina and teams with escaped kidnap victim Kate McTiernan to hunt down "Casanova," a serial killer who abducts strong-willed women and forces them to submit to his demands. The trail leads to Los Angeles, where the duo discovers that the psychopath may not be working alone.

Miss Marple: 4.50 from Paddington

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A Walk Among the Tombstones

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The Long Goodbye

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Howard Hawks

Written by

Leigh Brackett · William Faulkner · Jules Furthman

Humphrey Bogart

Humphrey Bogart

Philip Marlowe

Lauren Bacall

Lauren Bacall

Vivian Sternwood Rutledge

John Ridgely

John Ridgely

Eddie Mars

Martha Vickers

Martha Vickers

Carmen Sternwood

Louis Jean Heydt

Louis Jean Heydt

Joe Brody

C

Charles Waldron

General Sternwood

Regis Toomey

Regis Toomey

Chief Inspector Bernie Ohls

Court is in session

Put The Big Sleep on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Big-Idea Head

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.