Rent The Big Sleep (1978)
2.9 of 5 from 81 ratings
1h 35min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Robert Mitchum is the definitive Philip Marlowe. The ageing General Sternwood (James Stewart) is worried for his two daughters Camilla and Charlotte and his £10 million fortune. He receives a note demanding he pay gambling debts incurred by Camilla (Candy Clark). Charlotte's (Sarah Miles) gun-running husband has mysteriously disappeared. Marlowe starts off with a simple case of blackmail but he soon discovers a seedy world of crime hidden under the surface of leafy suburban London.
- Actors:
- Robert Mitchum, Sarah Miles, Richard Boone, Candy Clark, Joan Collins, Edward Fox, John Mills, James Stewart, Oliver Reed, Harry Andrews, Colin Blakely, Richard Todd, Diana Quick, James Donald, John Justin
- Directors:
- Michael Winner
- Producers:
- Elliott Kastner, Michael Winner, Jerry Bick
- Writers:
- Raymond Chandler, Michael Winner
- Aka:
- Tote schlafen besser
- Studio:
- Prism Leisure
- Genres:
- Drama, Thrillers
- Collections:
- Getting to Know: John Mills, The Instant Expert's Guide to: Robert Altman, Top Film and TV Detectives: Guide to Screen Sleuth
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Reviews (1) of The Big Sleep
Currently no reviews - The Big Sleep review by BN
...so I'll make one.
Story is from the novel by Raymond Chandler, first filmed with Humphrey Bogart in 1946. This is Michael Winner retelling a tale of extreme blackmail in 1978 in London, to protect a drug crazed girl called Camilla, daughter of General Sternwood played by James Stewart.
Mitchum is Marlowe. Winner has rounded up other top stars, Sarah Miles, Edward Fox, Oliver Reed, Joan Collins, John Mills and Richard Boone in a blood fest with loads of guns (rather unusual in UK). It's OK and Mitcham has some good lines.
I love the opening with a drivers view peeling off a motorway and flying up an exit and down the lane to Sternwood's fancy house. The ending has Marlowe leaving via the same route. Interesting closure after multiple murders and mayhem by the above celebrities.
TBH I switch off about halfway, I've seen it multiple times but fail each time to remember Whodidit. The settings in probably Hampstead and Chelsea are fun and attractive.
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