The Big Sleep (1978)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

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:

According to director Michael Winner, Robert Mitchum and Richard Boone were both very drunk in the final shootout.

Quotes:

Philip Marlowe: [of Mrs. Regan] She'd make a jazzy weekend, but she'd be a bit wearing for a steady diet.

Movie Connections:

Version of The Big Sleep (1946)

Soundtrack:

Won't Somebody Dance With Me

No Substitute for the Original

In recent years we have seen a number of Hollywood remakes of classic British crime films, such as 'Get Carter', 'The Italian Job' and, most recently, 'The Ladykillers', a phenomenon that has aroused some critical comment, especially in Britain. This film shows that, nearly thirty years ago, this same phenomenon was happening in reverse, and the British were remaking classic American crime movies.

The plot broadly follows that of the 1946 film, with the striking exception that the action takes place in London rather than Los Angeles. This does not, however, mean that the original has been completely anglicised. Both Philip Marlowe and General Sternwood are American expatriates living in London rather than Englishmen, and they are played by two of Hollywood's biggest stars, Robert Mitchum and James Stewart. With the exception of Richard Boone as Canino and Candy Clark as Sternwood's younger daughter, the other main parts are all played by British actors.

The film was clearly made as homage to the famous Humphrey Bogart classic, and it is inevitable that comparisons will be made between the two. In some respects, in fact, the later film is superior to, or at least as good as, the earlier one. (I have not read Raymond Chandler's novel, so I cannot say which film is closer to the original source material). The 1946 film is a fine one, but it is not perfect and has a number of weaknesses, not least its insanely complicated plot containing threads that are never developed and events that are never explained. The plot of the 1978 film, while complex enough, is somewhat easier to follow than that of its predecessor. To the purist Bogart fan there can be no substitute for the original, but to anyone else Robert Mitchum, himself a fine exponent of the film noir style during the early part of his career in the forties and fifties, seems like the best possible replacement. He is, of course, older than Bogart was when he played the role, and his portrayal of the character is perhaps less cynical and more thoughtful, but it is a perfectly acceptable interpretation. There are also good performances from Stewart in the cameo role of Sternwood, from Oliver Reed and from Joan Collins.

As a whole, however, the film does not live up to the standard of the original. Certainly, not all the actors are as good as their 1946 counterparts (Sarah Miles, for example, is no Lauren Bacall), but the main reason for its comparative failure goes deeper. The Bogart movie is perhaps the quintessential film noir, a film that one watches less for its plot, or even for its acting, than for its unique atmosphere of cynicism, menace and dubious glamour. An important factor in creating that atmosphere is its dark, brooding black-and-white photography. Unfortunately, in the late seventies the use of black-and-white was generally regarded as the equivalent of hanging a sign on the cinema door saying 'Warning! Art-house Movie! Intellectuals Only!' A few established auteur directors such as Woody Allen ('Manhattan') and Martin Scorsese ('Raging Bull') could get away with using monochrome, but there was no way that the studio would allow such latitude to Michael Winner, a director generally associated with violent commercial thrillers. So colour it had to be. In fact, the photography of London and the English countryside is quite attractive, but it is no substitute for the authentic film noir look.

I mentioned that the atmosphere of the earlier film was also one of dubious glamour; besides Bacall it has a large number of other strikingly beautiful but sinister women (some of them only in minor roles). The later film cannot compete in this respect. With the exception of Joan Collins (who could do sultry but sinister glamour in spades, even in her mid-forties), none of the female characters has the required touch of the femme fatale about her.

As a London-based crime thriller, Winner's 'The Big Sleep' is not a bad film; it is better than most of its director's other thrillers and better than a lot of other British films from the seventies. As homage to its namesake, however, it falls some way short of its aims. 6/10