The Big Sleep (1978)

Director:

Michael Winner

Writers:

Raymond Chandler (novel)
Michael Winner (writer)

Release Date:

10 May 1978 (France)

Genre:

Crime | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

Some days business is good - and some days it's murder!

Plot:

Set in England, rather than California, the story follows Raymond Chandler's book fairly closely otherwise...

Plot Keywords:

Blackmail | Investigation | Cynicism | Remake | Craziness

Cast

Robert Mitchum	...	Philip Marlowe
Sarah Miles	...	Charlotte Sternwood
Richard Boone	...	Lash Canino
Candy Clark	...	Camilla Sternwood
Joan Collins	...	Agnes Lozelle
Edward Fox	...	Joe Brody
John Mills	...	Inspector Jim Carson
James Stewart	...	General Sternwood
Oliver Reed	...	Eddie Mars
Harry Andrews	...	Norris
Colin Blakely	...	Harry Jones
Richard Todd	...	Commander Barker
Diana Quick	...	Mona Grant
James Donald	...	Inspector Gregory
John Justin	...	Arthur Geiger
Simon Fisher-Turner	...	Karl Lundgren (as Simon Turner)
Martin Potter	...	Owen Taylor
David Savile	...	Rusty Regan
Dudley Sutton	...	Lanny
Don Henderson	...	Lou
Tom Laughlin	...	Lou
Nik Forster	...	Croupier
Joe Ritchie	...	Taxi Driver
Patrick Durkin	...	Reg
Derek Deadman	...	Customer in Bookshop
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Judy Buxton	...	Cheval Club Receptionist (uncredited)
Roy Evans	...	Delivery man (uncredited)
David Jackson	...	Inspector Willis (uncredited)
Norman Mitchell	...	Doorman at Eddie's club (uncredited)
Barry Purchese	...	Eddie's bodyguard (uncredited)

Directed by
Michael Winner

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Raymond Chandler		novel
Michael Winner		writer

Produced by
Jerry Bick	....	producer
Lew Grade	....	executive producer
Elliott Kastner	....	producer
Bernard Williams	....	associate producer
Bernard Williams	....	line producer (as Bernie Williams)
Michael Winner	....	producer

Original Music by
Jerry Fielding

Cinematography by
Robert Paynter

Casting by
Maude Spector

Production Design by
Harry Pottle

Art Direction by
John Graysmark

Costume Design by
Ron Beck

Makeup Department
Stephanie Kaye	....	hair stylist
Richard Mills	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Clifton Brandon	....	production manager
David Middlemas	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Michael Dryhurst	....	assistant director

Art Department
Terry Wells	....	stand-by property master (uncredited)
Barry Wilkinson	....	property master (uncredited)

Sound Department
Russ Hill	....	sound editor
Mike Le Mare	....	sound editor
Brian Marshall	....	sound recordist
John Poyner	....	sound editor
Hugh Strain	....	sound re-recordist
Steve Hancock	....	dubbing projectionist (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Eddie Collins	....	camera focus
Keith Hamshere	....	still photographer
Ronnie Taylor	....	camera operator

Editorial Department
Frederick Wilson	....	supervising editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Dan Wallin	....	scoring mixer (uncredited)

Other crew
Pamela Carlton	....	continuity
Denis Holt	....	production executive
Roy Beck	....	lead stand-in (uncredited)
Matthew Binns	....	production runner (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Incorporated Television Company (ITC)
• Winkast Film Productions

Distributors

• United Artists (1978) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1980) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Avid Home Entertainment (1992) (USA) (VHS)
• Live Home Video (1992) (USA) (VHS)
• Aquarius TV (2005) (Greece) (DVD)
• Neue Constantin Film (1979) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Elfra Film (2008) (Germany) (DVD)
• Moon Light (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Singapore:M18 | Germany:16 | West Germany:16 (nf) | Australia:M | France:U | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Avery Hill Park and Winter Gardens, Avery Hill Park, Bexley Road, Greenwich, London, England, UK

Company:

Incorporated Television Company (ITC)

Trivia:

Robert Mitchum was sixty when the movie was filmed in the autumn of 1977, much older than the 38-year-old Marlowe of the novel.

Quotes:

Philip Marlowe: Such a lot of guns around town and so few brains!

Movie Connections:

Follows Farewell, My Lovely (1975)

Soundtrack:

Won't Somebody Dance With Me

As a literary adaptation, it is superior to the Bogart version

You may regard the 1946 version as a classic because of the Bogart-Bacall pairing. As a literary adaptation, this version, however, is much better.

First of all, the plot stays true to the novel, whereas the older version had a plot ruined by the restrictions of the Hayes code, so that it contains numerous loose ends and unexplained developments.

Secondly, Robert Mitchum impersonates Marlowe much better that Humphrey Bogart. Bogart essentially recycles his role of Sam Spade in "The Maltese Falcon". Yet, Spade and Marlowe are very different characters. While Spade is a cynic who just barely remembers the remnants of morality (and Bogart is brilliant in that role), Marlowe is way beyond that point. He walks around people in a distanced, almost detached way. Only when he spots a glimpse of humanity in his fellow men, he is willing to engage himself (as with General Sternwood in "The Big Sleep"). Mitchum plays this character with great understatement, as it should be done, while Bogart makes Marlowe just another hard-boiled detective, which could be replaced by any other one.

Finally, both Sarah Miles and Candy Clark (while not being necessarily great actresses) bring over the lunacy of the Sternwood daughters beautifully. While the scenes between Bacall and Bogart a great, they are out of place in this plot, in which there is no place left for romance. It might have been appropriate for the characters of Marlowe and Linda Loring in "The Long Goodbye", but hardly in a movie adaption of a novel, in which Marlowe remarks "both Sternwood women were giving him hell".

So, while this movie transfers the plot to another time and another place, it is a much better adaption of the novel than the version often regarded as a classic.