The Big Sleep

How does Philip Marlowe translate to the 1970s? In London? 1978's THE BIG SLEEP, another adaptation of Raymond Chandler's novel, makes such changes with what one might not call the greatest of ease, but for me it worked well enough.  It's funny what handsome production design and nice location shooting can do to make you forget the whole affair is just tepid.  There were numerous neo-noirs in the '70s and for every CHINATOWN there were also a few PEEPERs.  Robert Mitchum scored with his stab at Marlowe in '75 with FAREWELL, MY LOVELY enough for an invitation to reprise the role.  By now, he was in his sixties and looking worn.  That's not a damning criticism as that's how I always pictured Marlowe - worn down by the ugliness of human nature.

And in his voiceover, Philip Marlowe reaches the end of this twisty story with such words of resignation.  Writer/director Michael Winner was apparently more faithful to the novel than Howard Hawks was with his 1946 classic.  Certainly for the seamier elements.  Relaxed censorship allows more adult content here but this does not make or break the picture, nor should it.  The trenchcoat crowd has/had plenty else with which to busy themselves.

It's complicated.  Marlowe is hired by General Sternwood (a beaten looking James Stewart) to discover who's blackmailing him.  Soon a disparate group emerges, all in some way connected to the old man and his two daughters, Charlotte (Sarah Miles) and Camilla (Candy Clark).  The girls are somewhat frisky and duplicitous, but aren't they always.  We'll learn also of their connection to pornography and gambling.  The cast includes the likes of Oliver Reed, Edward Fox, and Joan Collins.  Richard Boone plays a crusty hit man with a broken foot; the actor had actually suffered this injury in real life and it was worked into the script.

Through a series of sardonic and sometimes dangerous exchanges with this bunch, Marlowe always maintains a sense of control and decorum.  He rebuffs sexual advances with charm, but also a bit of strong arming.   This noir hits all the usual notes, but nothing really plays as if a maestro was at the keys.  Yes, Winner includes a few nude scenes and some brief bloody violence, which didn't sell the thing, or make the convoluted plot any more interesting.  The cast tries.  Mitchum is fine, as are most everyone else.  I found Clark cute (even when clothed), but shrill and often embarrassing.  Miles isn't sexy or particularly intriguing.

THE BIG SLEEP is an agreeable middle brow remake, a pleasing ITC production that played well enough on a Corona virus quarantined Sunday afternoon.