History Main / TheBigSleep

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--> ''What did it matter where you lay once you were dead? In a dirty sump or in a marble tower on top of a high hill? You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that.''

--> '''Vivian''': ''You go too far, Marlowe.''
--> '''Marlowe''': ''Those are harsh words to throw at a man, especially when he's walking out of your bedroom.''

The convoluted plot follows the investigation by HardboiledDetective Philip Marlowe (played in the film by HumphreyBogart) into the gambling debts of young dilettante Carmen Sternwood at the behest of her father, an old, wheelchair-bound millionnaire. However, Carmen's older sister, Vivian Rutledge (played by LaurenBacall), claims that the investigation is really about finding what happened to her friend Sean Regan, who has mysteriously disappeared.

As film critic RogerEbert writes, "It is typical of this most puzzling of films that no one agrees even on why it is so puzzling. Yet that has never affected ''The Big Sleep'''s enduring popularity, because the movie is about the process of a criminal investigation, not its results."

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!!Contains examples of:

* AffablyEvil: Eddie Mars
* BigSleep: TropeNamer.
* FilleFatale: Carmen Sternwood.
-->'''Marlowe''': ''She tried to sit in my lap while I was standing up.''
* GentlemanSnarker: Marlowe.
* NeverSuicide: In ''TheBigSleep'', police are initially inclined to treat one of the deaths as a suicide, but a couple of details don't add up.
** In the book, [[spoiler:it probably [[AvertedTrope was suicide after all]]. The answer is never explicitly stated, but Marlowe's investigation accounts for all the not-adding-up details, and he suggests that Taylor's circumstances were pretty desperate. And then the police close the case as suicide, and Marlowe -- whose most endearing characteristic is that he'll keep on a case forever if he's not satisfied -- doesn't pursue it, which would indicate that he considers it settled]].
** In the 1946 film, it's left open. Neither the director nor the writers could figure out what Chandler had intended, so they asked Chandler -- who later told a friend in a letter: "They sent me a wire... asking me, and [[ShrugOfGod dammit I didn't know either]]".
* HardboiledDetective: The character of Philip Marlowe is pretty much the TropeCodifier.

!!!Tropes specific to the book:

* BitterAlmonds: A side character is poisoned with cyanide in whisky and dies in the span of a single page. Notably, although the smell is noted, Marlowe calls the cyanide not because of the smell but because the victim vomited.
* EmpathicEnvironment: Used frequently in the novel.
* GodivaHair: The woman tied to the tree in the stained glass window is nude but for "convenient" hair.
* IgnoreTheFanservice: A beautiful young lady turns up naked in Philip Marlowe's bed and tries to seduce him. His response is basically PleasePutSomeClothesOn.
* ScrewPolitenessImASenior: General Sternwood
* {{Yandere}}: [[spoiler:Carmen Sternwood. Good ''God.'' She'd be a full-blown AxCrazy if she didn't prefer guns.]]

!!!Tropes specific to the film:

* AbsurdlyHighStakesGame: Vivian bets $14,000 on a single roulette spin and wins (it's rigged, of course).
* AllThereInTheManual: The book sheds some light on a few of the little mysteries in the film, such as the exact nature of the blackmail photos (Carmen wasn't wearing her robe when they were taken) and all that weird business in the back of Geiger's [[UnusualEuphemism rare book shop]] (the back room is selling pornography, which is one of the reasons Eddie Mars cleans it out the next morning).
* AutoErotica: Marlowe and Vivian kiss in his car.
* BelligerentSexualTension: Marlowe and Vivian, proving that the trope was around long before anime.
* BigSisterInstinct: Vivian spends most of her time protecting Carmen from her own mistakes.
* DoubleEntendre (movie version only): Marlowe and Vivian's flirtation is mostly conveyed through double entendre.
-->'''Vivian''': ''Speaking of horses, I like to play them myself. But I like to see them work out a little first, see if they're front runners or come from behind, find out what their whole card is, what makes them run. (...) I'd say you don't like to be rated. You like to get out in front, open up a little lead, take a little breather in the backstretch, and then come home free. (...)''
-->'''Marlowe''': ''You've got a touch of class, but I don't know how how far you can go.''
-->'''Vivian''': ''A lot depends on who's in the saddle.''
* ExecutiveMeddling: Strangely, [[TropesAreNotBad one of the few cases where it was for the better.]] A first version of the film adaptation was completed in 1945 but its release was postponed. Meanwhile, Lauren Bacall's fame rose, and it was decided to make a revised version the following year, giving her character more prominence. This is the version that was released.
* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: It's true, Bogey was not a particularly tall man. Lampshaded a few times.
* GoryDiscretionShot: When Geiger is killed, we only hear gunshots and a woman (Carmen) screaming from inside the house. When Marlowe shows up, he's in a pool of blood on the floor.
* HaysCode: Resulted in some of the steamier elements of the novel being toned down for the film. In particular most references to sexuality and nudity were removed (but see [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything that conversation about "horse-racing"]]) and Carmen's role in the murders is only vaguely implied.
* HighHeelFaceTurn: Vivian finally decides to take Marlowe's side in the end.
* IKnowYouKnowIKnow: When Marlowe confronts Eddie Mars at his gambling den.
* IndyPloy: Marlowe pretending to have a flat tire in order to gain entry to the auto shop.
** Later he pretends to be in Realito to get Eddie Mars to come to Geiger's house, which is where he's actually been the whole time.
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Poor, poor Elisha Cook Jr. When the little guy shows up in this film you just ''know'' he's going to try so ''hard'' to be an effective criminal and that he'll totally suck at it. [[spoiler: He ends up getting killed by a completely unsympathetic and far more effective villain.]]
* JamesBondage: Marlowe gets knocked out and tied up but is rescued by Vivian.
* KudzuPlot: Even viewers who pay close attention to [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters the many names in the film]] will come up baffled at some parts.
* {{Meganekko}}: Marlowe chats up an attractive bespectacled [[HotLibrarian bookstore clerk]] [[GeekyTurnOn who proves quite willing to have information coaxed out of her.]] Lampshaded when she [[TheGlassesGottaGo takes off her glasses]], saying "I don't really need them".
** Also ''[[PlayingAgainstType done by Bogie]]'' (or whatever the equivalent trope for males is), when he [[HollywoodNerd disguises himself]] as a [[NerdsAreSexy nerdy]] [[BadassBookworm book-collector]] with NerdGlasses.
---> '''Marlowe''': Well, I have to go - I'm late for my lecture on Argentine Serrah-Micks.
---> '''Clerk''': The word is 'ceramics' - and they ain't Argentine, they're Egyptian.
---> '''Marlowe''': Oh, you ''did'' read a book once.
* NiceHat: Bogey wears a fedora for most of the film.
* OneSceneWonder: The bookstore clerk. Also, the general appears in only one scene at the beginning of the film despite being an important background character for most of it.
* PrettyInMink: Bacall (Vivian) wears a fur shawl in a few scenes.
* RealLifeRelative: Bogart and Bacall were married; they had been working together for some time, but ''TheBigSleep'' was their first film as a married couple.
* SelfDisposingVillain: [[spoiler:Eddie Mars ends up shot by his own men.]]
* SexyDiscretionShot
* SiblingYinYang: Vivian (cold and calculating, rational) versus Carmen (flighty, childish, ingenuous).
* SlapSlapKiss: Bogey and Bacall get to do a little of it. See BelligerentSexualTension.
* SlipknotPonytail: The bookstore girl. 'Nuff said.
* SmokingIsCool: And never as cool as when Humphrey Bogart lights up.
* {{UST}}: Marlowe and Vivian. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, need one say more?
** Yes: they barely touch each other, and don't tear off any clothes, and yet the sexual tension between them crackles more than any pair of Hollywood-lovers on the screens today.
** Taken ''[[BeyondTheImpossible even further]]'' in ''KeyLargo'', where--despite the fact that they are obviously the romantic-couple of the film--they ''never kiss.''

The convoluted plot follows the investigation by PrivateDetective Philip Marlowe (played in the film by HumphreyBogart) into the gambling debts of young dilettante Carmen Sternwood at the behest of her father, an old, wheelchair-bound millionnaire. However, Carmen's older sister, Vivian Rutledge (played by LaurenBacall), claims that the investigation is really about finding what happened to her friend Sean Regan, who has mysteriously disappeared.

* PrivateDetective: The character of Philip Marlowe is pretty much the TropeCodifier.

*** There's also a touch of AmbiguouslyGay there (I doubt Bogie could've done full-on camp like the book.)

*** There's also a touch of Ambiguously Gay there (I doubt Bogie could've done full-on camp like the book.)

*** The movie may have preferred "nerdy" to CampGay (which is what Marlowe does in the book!).

* AbsurdlyHighStakesGames: Vivian bets $14,000 on a single roulette spin and wins (it's rigged, of course).

** Also ''[[PlayingAgainstType done by Bogie]]'' (or whatever the equivalent trope for males is), when he [[HollywoodNerd disguises himself]] [[NerdGlasses as a]] [[NerdsAreSexy nerdy]] [[BadassBookworm book-collector]].

* AllThereInTheManual: The book sheds some light on a few of the little mysteries in the film, such as the exact nature of the blackmail photos (Carmen wasn't wearing her robe when they were taken) and all that weird business in the back of Geigers [[UnusualEuphemism Rare Book shop]] (the back room is selling pornography, which is one of the reasons Eddie Mars cleans it out the next morning).

* ExecutiveMeddling: Strangely, it was for the better. A first version of the film adaptation was completed in 1945 but its release was postponed. Meanwhile, Lauren Bacall's fame rose, and it was decided to make a revised version the following year, giving her character more prominence. This is the version that was released.
* GoryDiscretionShot
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Poor, poor Elisha Cook Junior. When the little guy shows up in this film you just ''know'' he's going to try so ''hard'' to be an effective criminal and that he'll totally suck at it. [[spoiler: He ends up getting killed by a completely unsympathetic and far more effective villain.]]
* {{Meganekko}}: Marlowe chats up an attractive bespectacled [[HotLibrarian bookstore clerk]] who proves quite willing to have information coaxed out of her. Lampshaded when she [[TheGlassesGottaGo takes off her glasses]], saying "I don't really need them".

* SlipknotPonytail: The bookstore girl. Nuff said.

* {{Meganekko}}: Marlowe chats up an attractive bespectacled [[HotLibrarian bookstore clerk]] who proves quite willing to have information coaxed out of her. Lampshaded when she takes off her glasses, saying "I don't really need them".

* NeverSuicide: Disputed.

* ShrugOfGod: Even Raymond Chandler admitted he didn't know [[spoiler:whether Owen Taylor's death was a murder or a suicide.]]

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: During filming, allegedly neither the director nor the screenwriters knew [[spoiler:by whom chauffeur Owen Taylor was murdered or if he had killed himself.]] They sent a cable to Chandler, who later told a friend in a letter: "They sent me a wire... asking me, and [[ShrugOfGod dammit I didn't know either".]]

* AllThereInTheManual: The book sheds some light on a few of the little mysteries in the film, such as the exact nature of the blackmail photos (Carmen wasn't wearing her robe when they were taken) and all that weird business in the back of Geigers [[UnusualEuphemism Rare Book shop]] (the back room is selling pornography, which is one of the reasons Eddie Mars cleans it out the next morning).
* BelligerentSexualTension: Marlowe and Vivian, proving that the trope was around long before anime.

* DoubleEntendre (movie version only): Marlowe and Vivian's flirtation is mostly conveyed through double entendre.
-->'''Vivian''': ''Speaking of horses, I like to play them myself. But I like to see them work out a little first, see if they're front runners or come from behind, find out what their whole card is, what makes them run. (...) I'd say you don't like to be rated. You like to get out in front, open up a little lead, take a little breather in the backstretch, and then come home free. (...)''
-->'''Marlowe''': ''You've got a touch of class, but I don't know how how far you can go.''
-->'''Vivian''': ''A lot depends on who's in the saddle.''
* EmpathicEnvironment: Used frequently in the novel.
* ExecutiveMeddling: Strangely, it was for the better. A first version of the film adaptation was completed in 1945 but its release was postponed. Meanwhile, Lauren Bacall's fame rose, and it was decided to make a revised version the following year, giving her character more prominence. This is the version that was released.

* GodivaHair: The woman tied to the tree in the stained glass window is nude but for "convenient" hair.
* GoryDiscretionShot
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Poor, poor Elisha Cook Junior. When the little guy shows up in this film you just ''know'' he's going to try so ''hard'' to be an effective criminal and that he'll totally suck at it. [[spoiler: He ends up getting killed by a completely unsympathetic and far more effective villain.]]
* {{Meganekko}}: Marlowe chats up an attractive bespectacled [[HotLibrarian bookstore clerk]] who proves quite willing to have information coaxed out of her. Lampshaded when she takes off her glasses, saying "I don't really need them".
** Also ''[[PlayingAgainstType done by Bogie]]'' (or whatever the equivalent trope for males is), when he [[HollywoodNerd disguises himself]] [[NerdGlasses as a]] [[NerdsAreSexy nerdy]] [[BadassBookworm book-collector]].

* RealLifeRelative: Bogart and Bacall were married; they had been working together for some time, but ''TheBigSleep'' was their first film as a married couple.
* SexyDiscretionShot

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<<|{{Literature}}|>>

* EmphaticEnvironment: Used frequently in the novel.

* EmpatheticEnvironment: Used frequently in the novel.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: During filming, allegedly neither the director nor the screenwriters knew [[spoiler:by whom chauffeur Owen Taylor was murdered or if he had killed himself.]] They sent a cable to Chandler, who later told a friend in a letter: "They sent me a wire... asking me, and dammit I didn't know either".

** Also done by Bogie (or whatever the equivalent trope for males is), when he [[HollywoodNerd disguises himself]] [[NerdGlasses as a]] [[NerdsAreSexy nerdy]] [[BadassBookworm book-collector]].

* AllThereInTheManual: The book sheds some light on a few of the little mysteries in the film, such as the exact nature of the blackmail photos (Carmen wasn't wearing her robe when they were taken) and all that weird business in the back of Giegers Rare Book shop (the back room is selling pornography, which is one of the reasons Eddie Mars cleans it out the next morning).

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse? During filming, allegedly neither the director nor the screenwriters knew [[spoiler:by whom chauffeur Owen Taylor was murdered or if he had killed himself.]] They sent a cable to Chandler, who later told a friend in a letter: "They sent me a wire... asking me, and dammit I didn't know either".

* CrowningMomentOfFunny: A Few, particulary for a film noir. Perhaps the most memorable is the three way phone conversation between Marlowe, Vivian and a confused policeman at the police station.

* WhenAJerkLovesATsundere: Proof that the trope was around long before anime.

* AllThereintheManual: The book sheds some light on a few of the little mysteries in the film, such as the exact nature of the blackmail photos(Carmen wasn't wearing her Robe when they were taken) and all that weird business in the back of Giegers Rare Book shop(The back room is selling Pornography, which is one of the reasons Eddie Mars cleans it out the next morning).

* CrowningMomementofFunny: A Few, particulary for a film noir. Perhaps the most memorable is the three way phone conversation between Marlowe, Vivian and a confused policeman at the police station.