Benefit
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2002
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Whereas The Maltese Falcon kicked off the noir genre in 1941, The Big Sleep (another Humphrey Bogart vehicle) helped cement its enduring legacy as a genre, visual style and cultural movement midway through the decade.
Based on Raymond Chandler's seminal crime novel, the screenplay was adapted by William Faulkner, with Howard Hawks directing, and follows almost exactly the noir template as laid out in The Maltese Falcon. The protagonist, Philip Marlowe, is a cynical and somewhat morally conflicted private detective hired to look into and get rid of some garbage bothering an upper class Los Angeles family. Lauren Bacall, newly arrived in Hollywood and already married to Bogart by the time the film was released, sizzles as the femme fatale, a dangerously sexy counterpart to Bogart's hardboiled detective. You never know exactly where her allegiance lies. The chemistry between her and Bogart is palpable, which is a major part of the film's staying power.
The film was initially finished in 1945, but release was delayed for 18 months or so, so the studio could get rid of its backlog of WWII films before the war ended. During the waiting period, Lauren Bacall shot to stardom in another Bogart-Bacall film To Have and Have Not, so many of her scenes with Bogart were re-shot to capitalize on her new star power and the energy between the two actors. Most people believe the re-shoots took the film from a good film to a great film. I hardly presume to know.
What I do know is Bogie was one ugly fellow with a terribly limited range as an actor, but these hardboiled detective parts are so great for him (though other actors probably could have fit the bill as well since it doesn't require much ability). The Big Sleep's plot is ridiculously complex, partly because certain story elements involving pornography had to be changed around, but the movie is still one of the quintessential examples of noir filmmaking.
It's got everything. A cynical, smooth-talking world-weary detective who always keeps his cool; a ton of extremely sexy women (unusual for the 1940s which, in my opinion, has the odd distinction of making its female leads look like putty); a seedy, rain-soaked Los Angeles; crime; sexual innuendo; neat-o, shadow-wreathed visuals; great throwaway lines (thank you Mr. Faulkner) and big old Packards (of course, it was the 1940s).
I've been watching a lot of films from the 1940s, and a lot of them suck balls. But then I watch films like this, Citizen Kane, and others and it sets up an interesting opposition because they prove that some good films were being made in the 40s... they were just being vastly outpaced by bad ones. Funny how that happens some times.
Lauren Bacall, you are sexy though.
Based on Raymond Chandler's seminal crime novel, the screenplay was adapted by William Faulkner, with Howard Hawks directing, and follows almost exactly the noir template as laid out in The Maltese Falcon. The protagonist, Philip Marlowe, is a cynical and somewhat morally conflicted private detective hired to look into and get rid of some garbage bothering an upper class Los Angeles family. Lauren Bacall, newly arrived in Hollywood and already married to Bogart by the time the film was released, sizzles as the femme fatale, a dangerously sexy counterpart to Bogart's hardboiled detective. You never know exactly where her allegiance lies. The chemistry between her and Bogart is palpable, which is a major part of the film's staying power.
The film was initially finished in 1945, but release was delayed for 18 months or so, so the studio could get rid of its backlog of WWII films before the war ended. During the waiting period, Lauren Bacall shot to stardom in another Bogart-Bacall film To Have and Have Not, so many of her scenes with Bogart were re-shot to capitalize on her new star power and the energy between the two actors. Most people believe the re-shoots took the film from a good film to a great film. I hardly presume to know.
What I do know is Bogie was one ugly fellow with a terribly limited range as an actor, but these hardboiled detective parts are so great for him (though other actors probably could have fit the bill as well since it doesn't require much ability). The Big Sleep's plot is ridiculously complex, partly because certain story elements involving pornography had to be changed around, but the movie is still one of the quintessential examples of noir filmmaking.
It's got everything. A cynical, smooth-talking world-weary detective who always keeps his cool; a ton of extremely sexy women (unusual for the 1940s which, in my opinion, has the odd distinction of making its female leads look like putty); a seedy, rain-soaked Los Angeles; crime; sexual innuendo; neat-o, shadow-wreathed visuals; great throwaway lines (thank you Mr. Faulkner) and big old Packards (of course, it was the 1940s).
I've been watching a lot of films from the 1940s, and a lot of them suck balls. But then I watch films like this, Citizen Kane, and others and it sets up an interesting opposition because they prove that some good films were being made in the 40s... they were just being vastly outpaced by bad ones. Funny how that happens some times.
Lauren Bacall, you are sexy though.
