The Big Sleep 1946

The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep

1946 · United States · Directed by Howard Hawks · 114 min

MysteryTense Approachable · Moderate Film noir

Private detective Philip Marlowe takes a blackmail case for a wealthy family and enters a chain of disappearances, debts, murders, and withheld loyalties.

What to expect

Hawks values charged conversation and shifting allegiance as much as solution. Bogart and Bacall give the labyrinth a human centre, while the plot keeps revealing a city where information is another form of currency.

How to ease in

Do not stop for every name. Follow Marlowe, Vivian, Carmen, and the missing Sean Regan; let the smaller criminals register by what they want from the Sternwood family.

Heads-up

A quick, non-exhaustive note Includes murder, blackmail, drugs, gambling, coercive sexual situations, gun violence, and period misogyny.
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Private detective Philip Marlowe takes a blackmail case for a wealthy family and enters a chain of disappearances, debts, murders, and withheld loyalties.

I enjoy how Marlowe listens for the pressure behind each elegant sentence. The mystery stays tangled, but the negotiations tell me who is frightened, who is performing, and who still has a choice.

Open the note ↓

I enjoy how Marlowe listens for the pressure behind each elegant sentence. The mystery stays tangled, but the negotiations tell me who is frightened, who is performing, and who still has a choice.

— Momo

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Credits & versions

Version map

BFI 114-minute presentation114 min114 minutes is attached only to the named BFI 114-minute presentation. No unsupported cut, score, territory, frame rate, source element, or restoration detail is inferred.Runtime reference · Checked 2026-08-21

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